by Natalie Ann
Mason let go of Cade’s shirt only to have Ella haul off and punch Cade in the arm.
“Hey,” Cade said. “I’m sorry. Geez, Mason. You’ve never moved that fast before. I was joking. Why don’t you guys ever get it when I say I’m joking? Brody would have laughed.”
“No, he wouldn’t have,” Ella said. “Not if you said that about Aimee.”
Mason walked away and saw Jessica sitting in the chair out of the way. Her eyes wider than Cade’s had been, but filled with tears. “Cade, you’re an ass,” he said pulling Jessica up. “Don’t listen to him. He didn’t mean any of it.”
“I’m not trying to distract you from your job. I’m sorry.”
“Ouch,” Cade said a second time. “Why did you hit me again, Ella?”
“You know why, you ass,” she said. “I might just tell Mom on you.”
Cade walked over and pulled Jessica out of his arms and looked at her. “I’m sorry, Jessica. I meant nothing by it at all. Everyone knows shit just flies out of my mouth when I’m comfortable. Take it as a compliment that I’m comfortable around you. I really meant no harm by it. You were busting on me the first day we met. I just thought it’d be fine if I busted back with you.”
“He’s right,” Ella said. “As much as I hate to admit, he does slip the most around family. That doesn’t excuse it though.”
“It won’t happen again. Believe me,” Cade said, shaking his head. “Now when does Dale come in and are we pressing charges or not?”
Mason debated laying into Cade some more, but decided to hold off for now. He’d gotten his point across. “He’ll be in at ten. I just want to fire his ass,” Mason said. “It’s not worth pressing charges. It’s not worth the headache.”
“I agree with that,” Ella said. “It’s your call, Cade. You know the law the best.”
“It’s not worth the publicity of it. Fire him and be done. That’s enough. And we’ll need to tighten security again if we have to. Maybe get more measurements in place.”
Mason nodded. He didn’t trust himself to say much more and knew he needed to do some damage control with Jessica. He wasn’t sure what was worse. Her being upset over Cade’s words, or his actions with his brother that she’d witnessed.
Defending Her Honor
“I shouldn’t have gotten upset,” Jessica said on the drive back to the brewery. “Cade’s right. I was picking on him and acting all tough when we talked. I don’t think he meant anything by it.”
The last thing she wanted was to be a source of conflict between his siblings.
“He not only insulted you, but he insulted me. Cade does that all the time. He has no control of the crap that comes out of his mouth. It’s like he lost the filter the rest of us were born with.”
She’d known that from other comments Mason had said. “Still. I shouldn’t have gotten upset about it. Maybe I’m just tired, and you need to focus on dealing with this right now, not me.”
“I’m sorry about how I reacted with Cade.”
“Why’s that?” She wasn’t going to tell him that it was pretty darn sexy. She probably shouldn’t have been thinking along those lines, but like Cade and his mouth, she had no control over her thoughts. Mason very rarely lost control of anything and here he was defending her honor. Yeah, it was a major turn on. “Don’t be. I shouldn’t have let it bother me.”
“It was hurtful,” he said.
“Not as much as I felt at fault for your family thinking you weren’t pulling your weight.”
“That’s what your tears were for?” he asked, turning to look at her. There was something in his eyes and she wasn’t sure what. Part surprise, part confusion.
“Mostly.” She didn’t want to admit that she was offended, because she was afraid that Mason might attack Cade again and it was the last thing she wanted on her conscience. Even if it was sexy. When had she turned into a woman who wanted men to fight over her?
Mason looked like he didn’t believe her, but he didn’t argue either.
“I shouldn’t be gone that long. I’m going to bring Dale over to the office with me. Brody and Aiden will be there by that time. I’ll have Mac clean out Dale’s stuff and run it over too. Dale won’t be allowed back on site.”
“Why will Brody and Aiden be there?” she asked.
“Because this is a serious infraction and we’ll want everyone there when it’s done. Partly for witnesses, and partly for taking a stand and showing if you mess with one, you mess with us all.”
She’d been learning that all along.
A few hours later, Mason came back fighting a scowl on his face. She was in the middle of a tour and she’d have to wait before she could go see him.
Mac had come up to her after Mason had left earlier and said he’d never seen Mason so angry before. Jessica didn’t bother to say that that was nothing to what she’d seen with Mason and Cade earlier. It was best to not start rumors when she knew Mac would elaborate on the story as it was.
“How did it go?” she asked, running up to Mason’s office and popping her head in. She was glad he was alone for the moment.
“Not good. He argued with us, saying he didn’t do anything wrong. We showed him the video and he counted the trips and said that is how many it takes.”
“Why didn’t you tell him right away you had him on tape?”
“Because Cade likes to see if someone will admit their guilt. See if they will fight us or not before he drops the hammer on them.”
“So Dale said that there was no mistake?”
“That was the first thing he said, yes. Then I told him I did an inventory count and found we were short twenty cases.”
“Did you tell him I was the one that noticed it?” She didn’t want anyone to think she was spying on them.
“No, just that something was off, another employee noticed it and brought it to my attention. I didn’t list names.”
She wasn’t sure how she felt about that, but it was out of her hands at this point. “Then what happened?”
“Then we asked him again if he took more than what the order was for. He denied it and got agitated that he was even being questioned over it.”
She couldn’t imagine someone blatantly lying about committing a crime. Then again, her conscience wouldn’t let her take a pen by mistake. “I don’t understand how people can do that.”
“Some people don’t care. Ella turned the video on showing him removing the extra cases from the truck after most of the staff were gone for the day and loading them into the bed of his own truck. Who knows how many times he’s done that before? My guess is often.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because it was too planned. We were watching the rest of the plant while it was happening to see if anyone else was involved. It was late enough in the day and there weren’t that many around. No one in the warehouse and no one in the bottling plant since that was shut down. There were just a few left in the brewery at the other end cleaning up. No witnesses and no one would come to see what he was doing because he was in charge of the warehouse and bottling plant.”
“What are you going to tell everyone else?”
“There aren’t that many staff working today. I’ll tell those that are here and then call the rest in tomorrow to explain. I’m just going to tell them that we discovered some theft and that that employee is no longer employed.”
“You’re not going to say Dale’s name?”
“I won’t need to. But I’ll be sure to explain to everyone that it was all caught on video.”
“Will you tell them about the new cameras and security in place now?” she asked.
“No. For now, I’m going to let it go. I’m hoping this is isolated, but until I’m positive, I’m going to let it go as if Dale was too stupid to realize he’d get caught. There is going to be talk as it is, so let people wonder.”
She walked over to stand in front of him. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into his lap. She wanted to be embarrassed. She
wanted to blush. She wanted to wiggle away.
Instead, she laid her head on his chest and let him hold her. It seemed he needed it and part of her was glad she was able to offer him comfort for once.
***
Mason couldn’t remember the last time he felt this annoyed over something. This upset even.
Not that someone stole from him.
Not that Cade insulted Jessica.
No, it had to do with him letting his guard down. That maybe Cade was right and he was too focused on his relationship with Jessica and not enough on the family business that they all put everything they had into. That they all put above anything else in their lives.
He’d been getting ready to leave the bar to go back to the brewery when Brody and Aiden both pulled him aside. Brody started with, “Don’t let what Cade said mess with your head.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
“Sure you do,” Aiden said. “We’ve both been there before. We’ve all put everything we’ve had into this business for years. You told me months ago that we were entitled to a personal life. Don’t think you’re excluded from that.”
There was no use arguing with his brothers. “Was this my fault? Did I miss it?” he asked instead.
“No,” Brody said. “Or maybe it is your fault.” Mason snapped his head up wanting to charge Brody, only he didn’t. Brody just laughed, almost reading Mason’s thoughts. That nonviolent stance of his was out the window. “Hear me out. You’ve always been so laser focused. Whether Jessica was in the picture or not, this would have happened because you still are so focused on everything else. We’re human and we make mistakes. Trust me, I know.”
“Same here,” Aiden said. “We’ve been in your shoes in some form or another. Cade is the same ass he’s always been. His day will come and when it does we get to ride him too. Until then, let it go. Go back to the brewery and put your arms around Jessica and thank her.”
“For what?” Mason asked.
“For noticing it and bringing it to your attention. For standing by you and keeping you calm last night when we know you probably wanted to rush right over,” Brody said.
“For understanding that Cade is who he is and that he doesn’t mean any harm,” Aiden said. “He really does like Jessica. You know he’ll get punished over that, but we’d never be told.”
Mason had smiled when Aiden said that because their parents would be told what happened today with Dale and Cade would feel so guilty, he’d end up blabbing to his mother what he said about Jessica. None of his siblings would rat him out, but he’d confess. Then his mother would find a way to make sure Cade didn’t do it again. Except it never seemed to work with Cade.
But right now Mason was in his office up above and if anyone looked up from below they’d see Jessica in his lap and he didn’t give one damn about it. Because his brothers were right. He should thank her for showing him what it felt like to be in love.
Not Like Before
A full week went by and Jessica was balancing on eggshells at work. Every movement caused another one to crack under her feet until she felt for sure there’d be blood in her wake.
Mason hadn’t had to say who was fired, but it was obvious when Dale didn’t show up. Nor was it a secret that she’d been in the warehouse with Mason taking inventory that morning, thanks to Mac.
For as much of a big teddy bear as Mac was, his mouth ran on energizer batteries like the bunny running around beating a drum, never stopping and always adding more than needed.
She had no clue if anyone thought she was the one who noticed the discrepancy, but it sure felt like they knew.
If the men had given her a wide berth before because of her relationship with Mason, they did more so now. Those that talked to her in the past weren’t saying much now, or if they did, it was short and clipped.
There was a time she could call on them during the tours and they’d laugh and joke. Now it was less. Sure, they’d answer her questions and be polite in front of customers, but things had changed.
Or maybe she was being overly sensitive. The whole air of the brewery had a different feel to it. Heavy now, like it was weighted down with rolls of pennies that no one wanted to be in possession of but didn’t know how to get rid of them. She’d heard Becky talking about it too. So maybe it wasn’t her as much as everyone was just on edge now.
She sure knew Mason was different. Not so much different with her, but with everyone in general. He was more focused. More businesslike. Even at work and around her if others were in their presence.
And their time together wasn’t much, other than Friday and Saturday night. Even then it was later than normal. A late dinner at his house both times, they’d spend the night together, then she’d see him early mornings when he kissed her on his way out the door, leaving her sleeping in his bed.
If it wasn’t for the fact he was letting her come and go at his house alone so often, she’d think he was pulling away from her. Only he wasn’t, because when they were alone he was actually more attentive. Just in public he wasn’t.
Then again, she was pulling back at the brewery too. She was over thinking it, she knew, but her mind was playing tricks on her, it seemed.
An hour before her class was supposed to start on Wednesday, she’d heard her phone go off with an email. Most of her emails and texts were school related and this one was no different. Class was being canceled, her instructor was sick. That gave her a free night, but she had no clue what to do with it.
One thing she knew—she was hungry, so she grabbed her coat and keys and decided to get a burger and a beer.
“Hey, Jessica,” Aimee said to her when she sat at the bar. “What are you doing here?”
“Class was canceled last minute so I figured I’d treat myself to dinner.”
Brody had slipped over to say hi, having heard her comment to Aimee. “You couldn’t convince Mason to join you?”
“No,” she said. “I didn’t even tell him my class was canceled. He’s been working a lot lately. No reason to bug him.”
Brody snorted. “Mason always works a lot. This whole situation has pushed a lot of his buttons. Don’t let him pull away.”
Jessica frowned. “I didn’t know he was.” Geez, was she missing the signs all along?
Aimee shooed him away. “Go, Brody. If you can’t say it right, then don’t say it at all.” When Brody walked away shaking his head, Aimee said, “What Brody meant was don’t let Mason overdo it. These five get off track of work and finally find time for a personal life, then something goes wrong in their eyes and they push the outside world away and just focus on the business again. It’s fine when they’re single, but not when they aren’t.”
“Oh,” Jessica said. “What am I supposed to do though? When Mason and I are together, he’s great.”
“He’s just not around as much, right?” Aimee said.
“Well yeah. But really, we don’t see much of each other Monday night through Friday morning anyway. I think he uses the time I’m in school to work more and it seems to work for us. I’ve got things I’ve got to do too.”
“Except when it’s not working,” Aimee said, winking. “What can I get you to drink? Want some food too?”
Jessica placed her order and then just sat there watching the action in the bar, how everything moved so smoothly. It wasn’t as busy at the moment, but the place still didn’t have more than one or two empty tables and that was only because the people just vacated. It was barely five, so she was thinking it was going to pick up some more with the dinner crowd.
She turned when Nic came out and sat next to her at the bar. “Hey, Jessica. We didn’t get to talk much the other day. Things were kind of crazy in the kitchen.”
“I know. Then I got thrown into dinner with Jolene and Gavin,” she said, smiling.
“That had to be fun. Jolene is a riot. I love spending time around her, even if the five try to avoid her.”
“Are they always calle
d ‘the five’?” she asked. First Aimee and now Nic had called them that.
“Usually. I know they all have their own personalities, but to the outside world they’re the Fierce Five. To those of us in the family it’s different, but I find myself saying ‘the five’ at times too.”
“Are you done working tonight?” Jessica asked. Nic was in a black chef coat with her hair pulled back.
“Yeah. I finished up about an hour ago and was doing the schedule for next week. I’m not in the kitchen as much unless they need a shift filled.”
“What do you do then?” Jessica asked, enjoying the girl talk. Something she never got much of before.
“She took a lot of the paperwork away from Aiden and he’s never been happier,” Aimee said, sliding over. It seemed Aimee was everywhere, filling orders and still participating in the conversation. For that moment, Jessica felt like she really belonged. That the time she and Mason weren’t together was being replaced with a family acceptance. That made up for that small bit of insecurity she was pretending she wasn’t feeling.
Nic giggled. “Yes. Aiden hates doing paperwork. He just wants to focus on the cooking, so he was thrilled when I said I’d do some of those things. I do all the scheduling of staff and most of the food orders, with him just looking things over. Plus, it lightens his load here at work so he can be home more. So other than the paperwork and filling in, I do all the photography for the business too.”
Jessica caught the look both of the girls were sending her, but the last thing she’d do would be asking Mason if there were things she could help him with. They weren’t at that stage yet. She’d only been employed a few months, dating him just slightly less than she’d been employed.
She did tours, not paperwork. And even if Mason did get around to showing her some of the brewing process, it wasn’t as if she’d be taking any work from him. No, Aimee and Nic couldn’t be thinking she’d help Mason out that way.
