I’d already wasted more than an hour making this worse for myself, and had just decided to go home since I would be useless for the day when my office phone rang. I glared at it and the screen that flashed Eli’s last name, and hesitantly answered it.
“Yeah?”
“My office . . . now. I don’t care if you’re hungover.”
“I’m no—” I cut off when I heard the distinctive click, and groaned as I set the phone down.
I didn’t need a pissed-off Eli right now. Not when I was driving myself crazy, and definitely not when I was afraid I would shout out that I’d fucked his niece as soon as I saw him.
I was still avoiding everyone as I walked down the halls, and knew I needed to do something soon to get out of this funk. I knew I was only making it worse, but it was damn hard to stop it. I didn’t even glance at Eli’s secretary as I passed her desk and walked right into his office, ready for whatever this meeting would bring.
“I’m not hungover,” I said as soon as I was stepping through his door. Shutting it behind me, I walked over and fell into one of the chairs closest to me.
Eli’s eyebrows rose up high and a corner of his mouth tilted up. “You sure about that?”
“Seeing as how I haven’t even had a beer for a week . . . yeah, I’m fucking sure.”
“Someone’s having a great morning, then,” he mumbled sarcastically, and came around his desk to sit in the chair near me. “I had a handful of employees stop me on my way to my office this morning, and every one of them wanted to know what had happened to you.”
“Suddenly my moods are their business?”
Eli was still trying to conceal a smile, but he wasn’t doing a great job. “Cecily seemed more than happy and was quick to let me know how qualified she was for your position.”
“I bet she did,” I said on a sigh, and leaned my head back until I was staring at the ceiling. Maybe Eli was right. I felt hungover, only without the benefit of the fun night and need for greasy food this morning.
“You know I’m not mad at you—”
“Mad at me?” I asked, cutting him off. He just kept talking.
“—I actually called you in here to thank you.”
“Thank me? For what?”
“Kira and Kennedy got the jobs. Whether or not that had to do with you, I needed to thank you for at least giving them the opportunity to interview. As for this weekend, I know how much pressure I put on you when it came to them, so I don’t blame you for not wanting the girls wherever you were.”
Mother fucking son of a bitch. “Did they?” Eli nodded, and I continued, “No, I had nothing to do with that. I haven’t talked to my dad since before their interview started, and he knew that they didn’t have to get the job. As for this weekend, I’m telling you I didn’t leave my apartment once, and no one else was ever there. I told you I’d call you if I was doing something, I’m not going to lie to you.” I’ll just forget to mention the fact that I slept with your niece, I thought to myself. Whichever one she is.
“Well, then you can thank your dad for me. And really, you’ve already done more than enough for them. Like I said, I put too much pressure on you, it wasn’t fair. So we can just agree to have your part with them be over, no hard feelings.”
A feeling close to panic began putting pressure on my chest. Eli and I both knew I would run into the girls from time to time since they were working at my dad’s gym, but I still needed a reason to be near Moon more often than that. The last thing I wanted was to help them meet people, and over the weekend I’d thought of anything to get out of the situation. But now that my opportunity was there, I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t risk not having time with her.
“Eli, it’s not a big deal. I know I didn’t respond well the day you asked, but I didn’t fully understand the situation then. I really have no problem introducing them to people; this past weekend just wasn’t the right time.”
His face lit up with surprise, and I hated that it was because he thought I was doing a favor for him, when it was really for myself. “Really? Liam, you have no idea how much I appreciate this. Thank you, man.” He stood up and extended a hand, and when I followed his actions, he pulled his arm back. “But for the record, I tried to let you off the hook. ’Cause Paisley was livid when she found out what Mason and I had asked you to do.”
I huffed softly and nodded. “Well, if your wife asks, I’ll be sure to let her know this is on me.”
“I owe you,” Eli called out as I retreated to the door, and I just flashed him a smile as I left. If only he knew how backward that statement was.
4
June 3
Kennedy
“ONCE YOU REMEMBER the ingredients for each drink, it’s pretty simple. All right! If you need anything, just ask Kristi. Good luck, ladies,” our new boss, Brandon, said with a loud clap.
Kira and I had gotten hired on at McGowan’s over the weekend, and after a crash training course with the boss and his daughter, Kristi, over the past two days, they were letting us take over the drink station. The drinks weren’t hard to make, and we had cards strategically placed that had the ingredients for each one in case we forgot, so there wasn’t much to worry about in that department. However, I was worried about the dozens upon dozens of men going in and out of the gym each day. I’m pretty sure I stared way more than I was supposed to, and I had a feeling boss man wasn’t going to be thrilled that my greatest perk to working here was his customers. On the plus side, Kira had finally noticed that there were other members of the opposite sex than Zane, and her crying had diminished drastically.