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Ransom (Whiskey Run Heroes 1)

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She pushes me to the side and strides out the door, but not before I see the devastating hurt on her face. I put my hand to my face and then push it through my hair. In less than ten minutes, I’ve managed to lose the one person that has come to mean everything to me.

3

Brook

Get it together, Brook.

I take one last wipe at the tears on my face. I didn’t wait around at the warehouse. As soon as I got into my car, I drove off toward Jasper, not stopping until I pulled into the parking lot of the Del Rio Mexican Restaurant. I’m early, but I need time to get myself together anyway. The meeting with Walker didn’t go the way I had it planned out. I’m not a crier. Of course you’d never know it by looking at me now. Which sort of sucks because when I do cry, my nose gets all red, my skin gets splotchy, and my eyes swell.

I flip the mirror up on the visor in frustration. I grip the steering wheel harder than I need to and take three big, deep breaths. Get it together, I tell myself again.

My phone rings, and a part of me is hoping it’s my date calling to cancel, but then I realize that he doesn’t have my number. We’ve only talked on the dating app.

I rummage through my purse and pull the phone out. My sister’s face is smiling back at me, and I click the answer button. “Hey, sis.”

“What’s wrong?” she asks immediately.

There’s no use trying to hide anything from Cassie. Sometimes I think she knows me better than I know myself. “Well, let’s see.” I pause and take a deep breath before going into a big ramble. “I turned in my notice. Walker is not happy with me. I’m here at the restaurant for my date, and I’m trying to hide the fact that I’m a mess and have been crying.”

In a low, sweet tone, Cassie says, “You had to know that Walker would not be happy about this, sis. He won’t know what to do without you.”

I roll my eyes. My sister has it in her head that Walker likes me. I have to admit, she’s said it so many times that sometimes I’d started to believe it could be true. But just as fast, I convinced myself otherwise. If he liked me, he had five years to tell me, and he didn’t. As a matter of fact, he’s made it perfectly clear that what we have is a business relationship.

I sigh and sob at the same time. “He’ll be fine. He wants me to stay on a month to train someone else.” I can feel the tears fill my eyes again, and I clench my eyes shut to try and hold them back. Stop crying!

“A month? Wow, that’s a big notice and sort of excessive, right? I mean, it’s going to be hard to get another job and tell them you can’t work for a month. Did you tell him no? And I mean, I know you have savings, but I also know it will kill you to dip into it.”

I shake my head. “He uh, he said that when I quit, I get the company car and a year’s severance package.”

“Shut the fuck up! Are you kidding me right now, Brook?”

I roll my eyes. Of the two of us, Cassie definitely has the potty mouth. “No, I’m not kidding you.”

“Brook, listen, that’s not something a boss would do for just anyone. I’m telling you... you have to tell him how you feel.”

I flip the mirror back down and pull the makeup bag out of my purse. “I’m putting you on speaker,” I tell her as I lay the phone down on the dash. “I’m not telling him how I feel. There’s something going on with him and Sam, and I’m not going to mess that up. I need to leave with my dignity intact.”

“Brook—” she starts, but I interrupt her.

“No, please let’s stop talking about it. Please? Now I have to get ready for my date.”

She sighs. “You’re still doing that? Why don’t you cancel? You’re not really wanting to do this anyway, and I mean, I don’t know, it’s just...”

I am reapplying my mascara and shove the stick back into the bottle too hard. “Look, we can’t all meet our husbands the normal way... some of us have to try new things.”

Cassie starts to snort. “Really? Normal... is that what you’d call it? He is our stepbrother. Trust me, there’s nothing normal about my marriage.”

I roll my eyes. I mean yeah, it caused a little bit of family drama, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. “Our mom was married to his dad for like a minute. It’s not as taboo or forbidden as you make it sound.”


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