Page 7 of Sleeping with the Frenemy

“Everything looks good so far,” Mandy said to Leo and Liam. “The new lighting is in, the glass walls are up, and the old catwalk has been extended and reinforced to allow for seating.”

Leo looked at everything Mandy pointed out. Kane Distillery had definitely undergone a transformation, almost as radical as the one at El Coquí, which was in the same building. Where there used to just be an open space with a bunch of machines, there were now glass walls that allowed the machines to be viewed without any rando having access to them. The main wall still displayed the original Kane Distillery logo that Liam had painted all those years ago, but it now also housed a brand-new bar with built-in shelves. In Leo’s mind he could see the finished product, a trendy, new, low-key hangout where people could just come and chill while drinking artisanal drinks made with one hundred percent local products including spirits made from other local craft distilleries. Mandy had originally tried to get Liam to branch out and make gin, vodka, or even brandy, but that was a step too far for him. Liam was a whiskey distiller. Point-blank period. There was still a lot of work to do to get everything ready for the grand opening in a few weeks, but Leo was willing to put it in.

Unlike Mandy, Leo’s involvement had happened accidentally. It all started because Liam needed some help and Leo had been on medical leave from the Chicago Fire Department recovering. Suddenly, Leo found himself spending more and more time at the distillery with Liam, the only person who didn’t treat him like he was made of crystal. Then Leo had made an offhand comment to Mandy and Liam about how creating a bar on the distillery side would bring in more people and not just for tours. From there things just sort of happened and now Leo, who had tended bar at El Coquí part-time for years and even managed the place when his parents and sister were gone, was the head mixologist and manager at Kane Distillery’s Tasting Room. It was probably what he deserved after failing, yet again, to keep his damn mouth shut, but Leo didn’t always have the ability to filter his words before they came out of his mouth. He just said shit and then wondered how he’d gotten himself in trouble. Not that working with Mandy and Liam on expanding the distillery was trouble. If anything, it was one of the few things holding Leo together at the moment.

Mandy turned to Leo. “We need to finalize the drink menu soon. I want to have them printed with plenty of time to get anything fixed because there will inevitably be an error.”

Leo fought a grimace. “I’m fine-tuning it.” If someone had told Leo a year ago that he’d be carefully curating a drink menu for the new Kane Distillery bar, he would’ve laughed his ass off and then gone to tell his buddies at the fire station. Life was crazy like that.

Liam turned to look at him and raised one brow. “Fine-tuning, hmm?”

So Leo was lying. The truth was he’d barely begun and Liam knew it. “Shut up,” Leo told him. “I work best under pressure anyway.”

Mandy cleared her throat. “Look, I’m here to help with whatever you need. I’m not a mixologist, but I do know plenty.” She’d already proved that by basically holding Leo’s hand throughout the entire process. She was like his personal tutor when it came to learning how to actually manage a bar.

Leo was about to thank her when the sound of someone yelling Liam’s name interrupted their meeting. Leo titled his head. That sounded like...no it couldn’t be. But of course it was, because she always showed up when he least expected.

Sofia Santana came barreling around the entryway. “Liam,” she panted.

“Sofi?” Leo was so shocked to see her that it took him a moment to realize how panicked she was.

“Something’s wrong with Kamilah,” she said before spinning on her sky-high heels and running back into El Coquí.

The three of them took off after her, booking it through the dining space and into the kitchen. They pushed through the office door in tandem, like a bunch of kids trying to be the first in the classroom, and found Kamilah sitting on the floor sobbing so hard she looked like she couldn’t breathe.

Liam literally jumped over the desk to get to her and pulled her into his arms. Kamilah continued to shake and cry as he did his best to comfort her.

Leo hadn’t seen Kamilah this worked up since the night she’d fought with everyone in her life and they had walked out on her, including the best friend who was now back looking like she’d just stepped off a cruise to the Bahamas. “What the fuck did you do to my sister?” Leo asked Sofi.

Sofi’s eyes rounded for a moment, hurt flaring, before narrowing at him in disdain. “I didn’t do anything.” She turned to Liam, who was also glaring at her while he held and rocked Kamilah in his lap. “She got a call from someone about the wedding and then she just collapsed and started crying,” Sofi explained. “She was trying to talk to me, but I don’t understand her like this. All I got were the words ‘ruined’ and ‘Liam,’ so I figured it best to come get you.”

“What happened, Coquí?” Liam muttered to Kamilah.

Kamilah held up a finger.

It took a few minutes, but eventually Kamilah calmed down enough to speak. She wiped at her face with her hands. “Our reception hall flooded,” she told Liam in a waterlogged voice. “Our wedding is ruined.”

“What?” Liam exclaimed. “What happened?”

Kamilah shook her head. “I don’t know. Something about the plumbing from the upper floor having work done on Friday and someone not tightening a piece all the way. Sometime in the night it disconnected and no one found out because this was the one weekend they didn’t have an event.”

“Oh my God, Kamilah,” Sofi said. “That’s terrible. I’m so sorry.”

More tears welled up in his sister’s eyes and trickled down her cheeks. “We’re getting married in less than three months, we booked this place a year ago, and now we don’t have a place to hold the reception.”

“They can’t fix it by then?” Leo asked.

Liam shook his head. “Think about how long it took us to get permits from the city to do any kind of work in the distillery—and we aren’t even considered a historical building.”

Shit. They’d been forced to wait weeks just to get an engineer to come check out the space and look over their plans. That didn’t include the almost two months it had taken to be seen by a city inspector. Leo couldn’t imagine how much more a pain it would be to have to work with the Historic Preservation Division of the city’s planning and development department. It was going to take the venue forever to get repaired unless they greased some palms and pulled off a miracle.

As if reading Leo’s mind, Liam said, “I’d be surprised if they get everything done by the end of the year.” He rubbed a hand up and down Kamilah’s back in comfort.

Kamilah wiped at her face with the collar of her tank top. “Even worse, they were taking care of everything, the food, flowers, centerpieces, everything. I mean I was picking it, obviously, but they had the vendors.” She looked up at them, her eyes red and heartbroken. “What am I going to do? Our wedding is ruined and I promised—” she paused, choking on her emotions “—I promised Killian—” She cut herself off before covering her face and beginning to cry again.

Leo hated seeing his sister like this. He and Kamilah were the closest in age with a little over a year between them. It was probably one of the reasons they fought constantly growing up, but in the last year it had also been something the two of them relied upon. It took him over thirty years, but Leo finally considered his sister his friend instead of his adversary. He was willing to do whatever it took to help her. “Just hold the reception in the distillery,” Leo blurted.

Her head snapped up, surprise causing her to stop crying. “What?”

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