Deliciously Thick (Naked Brews Book 2)

by KB Jacobs

  Simon shook his head. “And that’s the sad thing. We can see that you could be so much more, but you just...don’t.”

  Then Simon walked out, too.

  I laid my head on the pillow and shut my eyes before anyone else had a chance to add their two cents. I didn’t want to hear it. I was completely and totally done with this day. Screw them, anyone who thought they had a right to judge me. My life was good...darn good.

  Chapter 6

  Melissa

  Dodging a pile of falling snow, I slid into Naked Brews and slammed the door behind me. The heavy scent of smoke and charred wood filled the space that used to be our brew pub. Walking into the reminder of last night’s catastrophe did nothing to improve my mood. Maybe scones hadn’t been my best idea, but what kind of monster saves a girl’s life only to yell at her for saying thank you?

  I shook my head. It didn’t matter. Anthony was the least of my concerns. Figuring out how to get this pub up and running as soon as possible was way more important. Voices floated from the office, so I waded through the fire debris in my impractical ballet flats to find my friends.

  Alex, Lake, and Walsh were all crowded into the tiny office that appeared to be mostly unscathed from the fire that had started in the pub kitchen. Only the boarded-up windows that normally looked out over the pub showed the aftermath.

  In here it was my three friends who appeared worse for wear. None of them had been to bed yet, and soot and grime covered their exhausted faces. They were huddled over paperwork spread over the desk. Walsh rubbed soothing circles low on Lake’s back, and that little motion sent a tinge of longing through me.

  I’d never have that. That connection I read about in my romance novels. That one true love. I shook my head. My brush with mortality last night was making me more emotional than normal. I needed to buck up.

  “It’s going to take weeks to get this report back, and the insurance company is adamant they can’t move forward without it.” Lake waved at me as I walked into the cramped space. “Hey, can you shut the door?”

  I squeezed in next to Alex and closed the door just in time for Lake to send a dart flying through the air to thud into the board on the back of the door. Walsh grabbed the rest of the darts from her long fingers, and Alex took them from him, shoving them into the filing cabinet. The smoky smell permeated this room, too, but at least the fire hadn’t destroyed anything in here. Or touched the people standing around me.

  We had all been in the brewery last night, and if the explosion had happened even twenty minutes earlier, we might not be here at all. Perspective time. Anthony and scones, not a big deal. These people I considered my family, a very big deal. Emotion clogged my throat, but I cleared it away. No time for that.

  “What report are you talking about?” I asked.

  “The incident report from the fire marshal.” Lake sank into a desk chair. “Chief Ellison is a good guy, but the whole fire department here in town is a volunteer squad. We have to wait for an official report from the fire marshal in Denver, and that could take weeks. Until then, the insurance company won’t even start the claims process.”

  “Oh gosh.” My heart hurt for Lake. She’d just gotten the brewery back from her mom and now this. “We’ve really had a run of bad luck lately.”

  Lake and Walsh looked at each other in the way that only two people completely in touch with each other could. It helped take the sting out of the situation. Lake deserved to be happy. I just wish I could find a little bit of what she had.

  Alex pointed back and forth between the two of them. “No fair sharing secret glances that only the fiancé understands. What’s going on?”

  Walsh eased his tall frame onto the corner of the desk. “Lake has a theory—”

  “Supported by loads of evidence,” she added.

  “Circumstantial evidence at best.” Walsh rolled his eyes but wrapped one of her hands into his. “She thinks it’s more than just a string of bad luck.”

  “What else would it be?” Alex asked.

  Lake shrugged, but I knew that look. The one that said doubt me at your own peril. “All I know is odd things have been happening in the brewery for several months now, and some of it’s starting to feel not so accidental. Change orders I swear I never signed. Bottle caps we don’t use ending up on our competition samples. By themselves, an unfortunate accident. But put together with a kitchen fire that almost took down the whole brewery and nearly killed one of my best friends...”

  I gulped down a stinging breath of smoke-scented air. Could the fire have been intentional? Why would someone do that? It was bad enough when I had thought it was faulty wiring or a burner left on. If it was on purpose...and they knew I lived upstairs. My heart pounded in time to the headache pressing at the backs of my eyes.

  “Okay.” Alex drew out the word a little too loud and put an arm around my shoulder. “I think that’s enough talk about someone intentionally setting the building on fire. Let’s talk about a game plan.”

  “There isn’t one.” Lake reached into a jar and grabbed a handful of red M&Ms. “Without the report, there isn’t any insurance money. Without the money, we can’t afford to repair the pub.” She shoved the candy into her mouth.

  “I have a thought about that.” Walsh grinned at Lake, and she melted a bit more into her chair. Watching them eased my panicked breathing. How could I be worried when my best friend was completely in love?

  “Spill it, lover boy.” Alex squeezed my shoulder and smiled down at me.

  “Okay, the whole reason I came here was so GSC could honor Ice—Jimmy. Just because we aren’t buying the brewery doesn’t mean we don’t still want to honor him in some way.”

  “Go on,” Lake said from the other side of the desk.

  “Ice loved coming in here during leave to get a cold Naked Brews beer right from the tap. He always said he never felt like he was home until that first sip. So why not let GSC build the new brew pub and name it after Ice?”

  Lake grabbed another handful of candy. “I just got the place back, Walsh. I appreciate the offer, but I don’t want a business partner.”

  Walsh shook his head. “No, not a partnership. A charitable donation. That’s exactly what we’ve done with everyone else from the squad. Ice is the last guy. We don’t need an investment. This will be an amazing way for GSC to go out with a bang.”

  Lake chewed on the M&Ms and stared at a picture of her and her dad, Pat, hanging on the wall. She was going to need some persuading.

  “Why did Pat start brewing?” My voice was small in the crowded room.

  Lake quirked an eyebrow at me. “Because he loved beer.”

  “Did he drink it much when it was just him in the garage?” I knew the answer already. Lake had told the stories about her dad founding this place a million times. I needed her to remember, too.

  “He never brewed alone. There were always at least a couple other guys standing around the garage, swapping stories and sipping on home brew.” The corner of her mouth drew up in a smile, and she closed her eyes. I could almost see the memory she must have been thinking about.

  Walsh mouthed a “thank you” to me and squeezed Lake’s hand. “Naked Brews was never just about the beer. It was about bringing people together and celebrating friendships. That’s what the pub does. Without it, Naked Brews isn’t whole.”

  Lake nodded. “I guess Ice’s Brew Pub has a nice ring to it.”

  I smiled and felt my heart rate calm.

  Alex opened a cabinet and pulled out several notebooks. “Let’s start planning.” She handed paper to Walsh and Lake, but she withheld mine. “We’ll make notes while you tell us how it went with Anthony.”

  I groaned as hot blood rushed to my neck and cheeks. So much for my relaxed heart rate.

  Chapter 7

  Anthony

  Drake walked into my living room, chewing on one of my mom’s famous, oatmeal raisin cookies that she’d left when they’d brought me home from the hospital. He glanced around the
room warily and whispered, “Is your mom gone?”

  I rolled my eyes at him. “Yeah, and thanks so much for the backup. You could have at least brought me a cookie.”

  A shout rose up from the hall outside the living room, and a girl squealed as two guys took chase, spilling beer as they ran by.

  Drake snorted and shook his head at me. “You don’t pay me enough to tick off your mom when she’s already pissed. How can she be scary while still looking so calm? Fuck, man.”

  I rubbed a hand over my face. “Tell me about it. I grew up with her like that. She can be terrifying.”

  A pounding bass started somewhere in the house, probably from the sound system in the game room upstairs. My head couldn’t deal with Eminem yet. “And she’s going to be back, so how about you do me a solid and get everyone out of here? Tell them they can come back tomorrow. I don’t need all these people hanging around today, and there’s no reason to antagonize her more.” My mom had very little patience for the people who hung out here even though they were my friends.

  Besides, I wasn’t up to the party today. After getting chewed out by Mom, I really wanted a nap. Being in the hospital, I’d barely gotten any sleep last night. Exhaustion and pain pulled at me. It was probably time to switch out the ice on my ankle and take some more painkillers.

  “Sure, and then we need to strategize on what we need to do next.”

  I nodded. So much for my nap, but we had to figure out how to fix this mess I’d created before I lost my entire revenue stream. It would be hard to party without the crib and my regular Naked Brews delivery.

  Fifteen minutes later, the door clicked shut as the last of the partiers left the house. The place was so quiet. I could actually hear a clock ticking somewhere. I’d forgotten what it sounded like without the crowd here. For a moment, my chest clutched at the loss. It was only one day...just until I felt a little bit better and able to deal...with everything.

  Drake walked into the living room, his iPad in hand. “You okay to talk now?”

  My anxiety eased. I wasn’t alone. “Yeah, hit me with it.” Anything to fill the silence. Besides, this was vital for my career.

  In the game of pro sports, there was a balance to maintain between the public persona and sports persona. Now that I was hurt and probably out for the rest of the season, we had to do something to keep up my visibility. To keep any endorsement dollars, I had to stay in the public eye. This was why I had hired Drake. His job was to make sure I kept that balance, and that was more important now than ever.

  The muscles in my back tightened with stress and pain from last night’s stunt. Why had I thought it was a good idea to leave a perfectly good party?

  I’d been calling Melissa “Juliet” in my mind. I should have been calling her Jezebel. It was the lure of seeing her that had pulled me out into the frigid night, and I’d paid the price.

  Drake opened up his e-tablet where he kept the calendars and engagements organized for my career. “We need to hold a press conference to explain exactly what your injury is, but I think it’s important that we have the girl there. Everyone—including your sponsors—needs to keep in mind that you may be out for the rest of the season, but because of you, that gorgeous little gal is still alive. The press will eat her up...she’s just so wholesome and innocent looking. Putting her in front of the camera can only do good things for you as her knight in shining armor. You know, make it sound romantic. I think you should play this up to its full potential.”

  My gut instinct was to shut that idea down. It seemed so crass to use her misfortune that way, but then I really considered the PR game. I was paid huge bucks because of my fun-loving personality. Yeah, there was some athletic ability that had gotten me noticed in the first place, but there were dozens of other guys on the circuit who were just as good. Without my personality, the ads and commercials wouldn’t fly. Wasn’t that what I was offering Melissa with this, too? This would get her noticed. Everyone wanted their fifteen minutes of fame, right?

  “It’s bad PR for sponsors to take their contracts away from a bona-fide hero,” Drake continued, working through our spin. “If we play this right, we might even be able to get Hi5 and Ski Balaclava back, but we need the girl to appear with you.”

  A boulder crushed my chest. I could see what he was saying, but that might be asking a lot. After the way I’d treated her earlier in the day, I’d be lucky if Melissa agreed to walk on the same side of the road as me much less do me this huge favor.

  But I did owe her an apology. My stomach shrank with regret every time I thought about how I’d acted so awful toward her earlier in the day. I was an idiot who had been having a gut reaction to the events, my shame over the state of everything, and I’d been in a lot of pain. I needed to tell her that and throw myself at her mercy.

  “I’d already planned on calling her, but if she doesn’t want to do it, we can’t pressure her into it. She’s already been through enough stress. She lost her home last night.”

  I hadn’t really considered it until I said that. I’d been making this all about me, but what about Melissa? What was she doing today after I’d been so rude to her? Had anything from her place been salvageable? Where was she sleeping tonight? Did she have a teacup and a book wherever she was? A swarm of concern flooded me. Forget about my bum ankle and how to spin this for the media. How was Melissa?

  God, I’d been such an idiot, so focused on myself earlier. She’d probably lost everything last night, and then she’d taken time out of her day to bring me scones when she should have been picking up the fractured pieces of her life. I owed her more than an apology. I had to fix this.

  Suddenly, an idea began to form. An idea that might help both of us.

  Chapter 8

  Melissa

  There were very few things not to love about Aspenridge, Colorado, but a lack of affordable apartments was definitely one of them. Two hours on the couch with Lake’s borrowed laptop resulted in a long list of complexes with a wait for open apartments. With the university solidly into the second semester, it was unlikely anything I could afford would be available until summer.

  Walsh walked past Lake rinsing dishes in her kitchenette and pinched her butt.

  I wouldn’t last until summer.

  Lake turned around and slapped his shoulder before pulling him in by the belt loops for an enthusiastic kiss.

  There was no way I could last another week, let alone months, with the lovebirds.

  Being happy that Lake had found her happy ever after didn’t mean I wanted a front row seat for the show. Plus, they needed their privacy. There’s nothing sexy about a whispered, “Keep it down or Melissa will hear you.”

  I refocused on the computer, but it was hopeless. Unless someone died, I was out of luck. There was always the Astonian, but staying there would eat through my savings faster than I cared to admit. Maybe I could get into one of the vacation rental cabins?

  I pulled up the rental company’s site and groaned. Of course there weren’t any cheap availabilities in the middle of the ski season. The only available cabin was a monstrous, lodge-sized place by Alex. It could be mine for the low, low price of my monthly salary every week. There had to be another option. Walsh had hired a team out of Denver to work double time in getting the pub and my apartment back up to par, but even with nearly round-the-clock shifts, it would still be several months before I could move back in.

  “Melissa, sweetie, we’re going to bed.” Lake giggled when Walsh growled at her and walked to the bedroom. “Do you need anything before I turn in?”

  “Not unless you have another spare apartment tucked away somewhere.” I closed the laptop and set it on the coffee table with a sigh. “I’m striking out in my hunt.”

  Lake moved around the couch and lifted my feet to sit on the end. “I know it’s not ideal, but you’re welcome to stay here are long as you need.”

  “Thanks, Lake.” I leaned my head back on the arm of the couch to stare at the ceiling. “But we bo
th know this isn’t going to work for another three months.”

  A moment of silence stretched between us while I wallowed in my own self-pity. Twenty-two, homeless, and sadly underserviced without a potential husband in sight. Unless I counted Anthony, which I didn’t. Fantasies do not have potential. I had learned that lesson when Kate Middleton had stolen my obvious soul mate. If Charles could marry a commoner, why not William? Of course, there was the obvious disadvantage of having been born on the wrong side of the pond, but soul mates could overlook little things like that.

  “What’s going on in that head of yours?” Lake pinched my foot until I lifted my head to look at her.

  “Just lamenting the marriage of William and Kate.”

  Lake didn’t even roll her eyes at me. “I understand that’s a burn that still stings, but what else? You’ve been a little off ever since you went to visit Anthony.” She straightened her shoulders and pinched her face into a classic Lake glare. “Did he do something to you?”

  I shook my head. Nope. He was just guilty of being a perfect male specimen with an ego as big as his muscles.

  Lake tilted her head and stared at me for a beat. “I’ve known Anthony for a long time, and he was always bigger than life. By the time we hit high school, he was already missing half the year to travel to competitions, but his reputation when he was home made up for the absence.”

  “What kind of reputation?” My stomach clenched.

  “If there was a party, Anthony was likely there.” She scratched her chin and smiled. “Hell, he was probably the one who started it. And he was never without at least one girl hanging all over him.”

  I tried to keep my expression neutral, but I must have failed. Lake reached over and gave my hand a squeeze.

  “Anthony is charming and fun to be around. Not to mention he’s stupid hot.” She grinned at her bedroom door. “Don’t tell Walsh I said that.”

  “I feel like there’s a but coming.”