I announced to my family that Sarah and I were together on Saturday morning, and I expected a lot bigger of a response than I got.
“Well, of course you are, dear,” Aspen said, patting my hand with an indulgent smile.
Noel frowned and shook his head. “I’m confused. You’re saying you two weren’t together before?”
I sighed and ground my teeth. “Well, it’s official now. And exclusive,” I felt the need to add since Mason had brought it up.
“And it’s about damn time,” Colton spoke up, meeting my gaze with some reservation. “I’m happy for you.”
Glancing away, I nodded. “Yeah.”
Honestly, it was strange to look any of them in the eye these days. Things had become weird. They treated me as if I was...breakable. I hated that they knew now, and yet these days I was more certain than ever that they loved me no matter what. I just wished we could all relax around each other again. Nothing had gotten stilted and weird between Sarah and me because of it; why did it have to with my family?
I guess that was why Sarah was so important to me.
Even though I wished I could’ve taken her on that second date Saturday evening, I had to work again.
It was karaoke night at Forbidden. Bleh.
But I got to work it with Knox and some other dude who halfway picked up after himself. I was glad I didn’t have to work with Julianna.
She’d stopped asking me about making up our date, so I was pretty sure she’d gotten the hint that it was never going to happen. But a part of me still tensed around her, worried she’d ask again and we’d have to have that talk. Those talks sucked ass, so I usually tried to play our drink-mixing game with her when we worked together to distract her from going there.
I know, I was a fucking coward. But I did like her, which was why I wanted to avoid telling her I didn’t like her in that way.
Happy I didn’t have to worry about any of that tonight, I served a couple college girls I swore I had a class with some margaritas. As they were paying, some guy called my name. I glanced up to find Asher carrying his wife Remy piggyback toward the bar.
“Brandt! How’s it going, man?”
I grinned at the couple as Asher slid Remy off his back to let her sit on a barstool. “Hey, guys. What’re you doing here tonight?”
“My lady felt like singing, so we’re going to get in on a little karaoke action.” Asher looped an arm around Remy’s neck so he could kiss her cheek.
She kissed his cheek right back before offering me a fist bump. “Hey, Bo Bo. Hope your ears are ready for us to sing the house down.”
I shook my head as I knocked my knuckles against hers. “You two crack me up. You’re freaking rock stars and you still come here to sing karaoke? Man...you could charge for that shit, you know?”
Grinning, Asher merely shook his head. “Nah. We’re just having fun. Besides—” He glanced at Remy and shared a meaningful gaze with her. “It’s kind of our thing.”
Damn it. Watching them do that made me miss Sarah.
“Well, hog as much mike time as you can,” I ordered. “So I don’t have to listen to any sucky tone-deaf amateur drunks.”
“We’ll see what we can do.”
After they begged a couple bottles of Angry Orchard from me, they drifted away into the crowd, heading toward the stage.
Business grew busy for a couple minutes, until I turned to the next customer, only to see my boss Pick waiting for my attention.
“What’re you doing here?” I asked, blinking in surprise. “Thought you were on paternity leave with the new baby.”
“I am,” he answered, gazing around the nightclub to peruse his kingdom. “Just popping in a few minutes to check on things.”
I shook my head. He never could stay away for long, the damn workaholic. I knew his family came first to him, but he treated Forbidden like his second family.
“How’s Eva?” I asked.
He finally focused on me. “Wondering why you haven’t come to see her new baby yet, ya slacker.”
“I will!” I argued. “It’s been a crazy, busy week with finals approaching. But I’m sure Sarah and I can stop by tomorrow afternoon and see the kid.”
With a knowing grin, he nodded. “Yeah, I heard about that, too. About time you two finally gave in to it.”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that, so I just shrugged. He laughed at my sudden bashfulness and pointed at me before pushing away from the bar and heading in the direction of his office.
“We’re running low on tequila,” Knox said, bumping my arm to get my attention. “I swear, everyone and their dog are ordering margaritas tonight.”
“Yep.” I’d noticed that too. “I’m on it.” I was about to turn away and make my way to the storage room for more Jose Cuervo when a face through the crowd caught my attention.
“What the hell?” I squinted and waited impatiently until I could see the guy again.