Page 5 of On the Rocks

Christ.

I took a sip from my Old Fashioned and reminded myself that the round wasn’t over yet. There was still time for her to feature Elixir. She cut the lime in half.

“Forty seconds!” the host announced.

The Masked Mixer looked around, then grabbed a bottle from the counter. An Elixir bottle! She made eye contact with me, gave me the biggest shit-eating grin, then brought the bottle down hard on one half of the lime. When she’d smashed it to a pulp, she shoved the Elixir bottle aside like it was hazardouswaste. She tipped the lime juice into her drink just as the host called, “Time! Contestants, please step away from your workstations! Let the judges see what you’ve mixed up for our prompt:a drink to have on a deserted island.”

I whirled away from the bar, clutching my glass and gritting my teeth. What the hell was her problem? All I wanted was for her to add a splash of my alcohol to her drink, but instead, all I got was her using the bottle as a goddamn juicer.

Ididnotice some of the other entrants had used Elixir…but who the hell cared about them? The Masked Mixer was the draw here—she was the one everyone was watching. And she was the one tonight was supposed to be about. We’d paid through the nose to get Elixir featured in this contest, had lined up a whole squawking flock of social media influencers to come along and spread the word. Getting the Masked Mixer on board was supposed to be the final element to turn this night into a slam-dunk triumph for Elixir.

“Just charm her,”Dominic had said.“You always have women falling over you, though god knows why,”my best friend had teased.“Do it on purpose this time, and we’ll be golden.”

Yeah, well, easy for him to say. I’d made him my chief marketing director because he wasgoodat the small talk and glad-handing and endless,endlesssmiling I’ve never had the patience for. He should have been the one here tonight, but he’d needed me to step in, and I wasn’t one to let a friend down. But this fiasco wasn’t going anything like I’d imagined. How could I have known the famed Masked Mixer was obnoxious and self-centered with a superiority complex? Who rejects a free bottle of alcohol? Also, why the fuck did she think she was too good for Elixir?

“Woooow,” Elio Almatta said, standing right beside me. He was an up-and-coming make-up influencer, his eyelids a bright shade of blue, contrasting with the flaming pink tips of his perfectly coiffed hair. “The Masked Mixer is out for blood.”

He gave a wry smile to Cassie Harvey, a popular fashion influencer, and Artie Symmons, a young but talented street artist.

“Is it just me or did she go out of her way not to use Elixir?” Artie said. “It’s like she went for every ingredient on the barbutthat.”

“Pretty sure she actually pushed the bottle away from her workstation at one point,” Cassie whispered in a way that made sure the entire group heard her.

“I’m sure she’s just saving it for the next round,” I cut in, forcing a smile. I was going to makesurethe Masked Mixer used it, no matter what it took.

“I’m sensing some drama,” Cassie sang, ignoring me as she swayed to the upbeat music playing overhead. She giggled, making a face as Elio held his phone up to snap a group selfie in front of one of the statement brick walls.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. If these brats didn’t have follower counts in the millions and an absolute chokehold on the college scene, one of Elixir’s target markets, I wouldn’t have given them the time of day.“Try to be patient,”Dominic had told me when prepping me for the night.“Or if you can’t handle that, just be quiet.”

“Drama or not, she looked damn good doing it,” Elio said. “I wonder where she shops?”

“That dress is fire,” Cassie agreed. “Her ass looks amazing.” She pouted, sticking her bottom lip out. “Do you think I have a flat ass?”

Elio stuffed his phone in his pocket and cradled her face. “Babes, no. You’re perfect. Don’t do anything crazy. Remember, the BBL is out, and butt-sculpting exercises are in.”

I gulped my drink down so quickly I almost choked on it.Remember the college students, I told myself, rubbing the space between my eyes. College students who graduated into jobs with adult money they could spend on Elixir.

“And the Masked Mixer makes it through with her drink titled Rescue Boat,” the host announced, rattling off the list of ingredients. Elixir was expectedly absent. “She’s on a roll tonight, folks. Let’s see what she mixes up in round three. That’ll be coming up in fifteen minutes.”

“Let’s go check out the judges’ table,” Cassie said, grabbing Artie’s hand and tugging him into the crowd.

Elio clapped me on the shoulder, clearly already a little buzzed. “At least you know now that the bottle is sturdy,” he said. “I thought it would shatter with how hard she was hitting that lime!”

“Yeah, thanks,” I muttered through my teeth. Elio danced off into the crowd, and I darted for the end of the bar. It was time for the Masked Mixer and me to have another little chat.

“Hey!” I called, shoving past a group of people.

“You again?” Her eyelashes fluttered behind that mask. She had pretty brown eyes and a smattering of freckles along what I could see of her nose. But my gaze was drawn to her lips. Full.Pouty. The kind of lips I’d usually like to get acquainted with after a night like this. The dress she wore didn’t hurt either. The influencers were right; it was like she’d been poured into the material the way it clung to her ass. And it was onehellof an ass. Let the influencers worry about what was trendy. I knew what was hot-like-fire, and that was her to a tee.

Hot like tabasco sauce right in your eye,I reminded myself, thinking of our talk before.Approach with caution.

“Me again.” I forced a smile. “I guess congrats are in order. You totally crushed that second round. Almost as well as you crushed that lime.”

Her eyebrow arched. “Figured Elixir had to be good for something.”

A sharp, humorless laugh escaped me. “I wouldn’t think I’d have to point this out to a mixologist, but alcohol usually works betterinthe drink.”

“Yeah,” she said, heavy on the sarcasm, “you might have missed that announcement back there, but the judges didn’t seem to mind.”

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