Page 48 of Bad Luck Club

“Nicole?” Bear prompted.

“Look,” Nicole said matter-of-factly. “I don’t trust nobody, and it gets me into trouble. Especially with the guys I date. A man might take the occasional accusation of cheating in stride, but he tends to get pissed when he finds out you’ve hacked into his phone and turned on a location app so you can find him no matter where he goes or who he’s with. But I’ve learned. And okay, yeah,” she said in exasperation, “maybeI search Evan’s car and the pockets of his clothes after he’s fallen asleep.” She grimaced. “AndmaybeI go through all his texts and social media occasionally to see if he’s hooking up with some other girl. But, trust me, I read cheater forums, and there are people who are far worse. At least I didn’t crash a business lunch and throw iced tea in his business partner’s face.”

“You did, Nicole,” Dee said with a weary sigh.

“Was it me? I thought I read that on one of the cheater forums.”

“It was you,” Augusta said in disgust. “You talked about it at your first meeting.”

Confusion filled Nicole’s eyes. “Huh.” Then she shrugged, seeming to take it in stride. “I figure there must be some decent people in the world, and maybe this group can help me find them.”

Lee shrank back an inch in his seat. She was like a miniature Victoria in the making, only with more psychotic tendencies.

“How old are you?” he asked before he could stop himself. “How did you get so cynical?”

“What’syourstory?” Nicole challenged with a fire in her eyes. “Why areyouhere,Gramps?” She motioned toward him. “You, with your shiny loafers and your expensive button-down shirt. What made you stoop down to our level?”

He was wondering that himself. He couldn’t very well tell her that he was here so he could spend time with Blue. After listening to their stories, he had serious doubts this ragtag group could help him, but he had to tell them something, so he said, “I’m thirty-two years old, and I’m starting over here in Asheville, helping my siblings with our newly inherited brewery. I guess I’m here because I’m trying to restart my life, and I want to make sure I’m on the right path.”

It was utter bullshit. He had no intention to stay in Asheville or at the brewery, but he sure wasn’t going to tell them his father had slept with his almost fiancée, and the two of them had stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars from nearly two dozen clients. And he wasn’t going to tell them he’d exhausted all of his contacts to find a way out of this hellhole. His only saving grace was that these people, aside from Blue, had likely never heard of Buchanan Luxury or Prescott Buchanan.

Okay, so outright lying to them nagged him a little. Just a little bit.

But it was the warm look that Blue gave him that made him feel lower than a slug. She’d bought every line of it. And that made him an utter asshole.

Chapter Fourteen

Lee wanted to stay.

He wanted to work at the brewery.

Even though Blue wondered whether he was being like her, a people pleaser, she hoped there was at least a glimmer of truth to it. Maybe a glimmer he didn’t see yet, but one that came from a deep, untapped well inside of him. Either way, it had made her strangely happy to hear him say those words. She told herself she was happy for Adalia, who’d made no mystery of her desire for him to stay, but she knew it was more than that.Shewanted him to stay in Asheville. The question was why she wanted him to stay—was it for herself or because she thought it was best for him?

She was more confused than ever after their kiss, and she could tell it had muddled things for Lee too. Or maybe he was just overwhelmed by hearing about the way everyone had addressed their challenges from the previous meeting. Augusta had been the only holdout.

Dee’s challenge had been pretty tame—Bear had chosen five jobs for her to apply to, positions she claimed she wasn’t remotely qualified for, with the caveat that she couldn’t make any excuses for herself in the cover letters. The challenge had terrified her, she’d admitted, but a glass of wine had given her liquid courage, and one of the employers had actually asked for an interview. Cal’s task for Harry had been more extreme. He’d challenged him to stop living in fear of his receding hairline and buzz his head (something he’d avoided for three years). Lee’s eyes had bugged out and he’d reached for his hair, then whispered to Blue, “And he had to do it?”

“He didn’thaveto,” she answered in an undertone, “but there’s a three-and-a-half-strikes-and-you’re-out policy. They’re actually pretty strict about it. We had one guy who got booted because he never did his challenges. Bear was sorry to see him go, but the whole point is to challenge ourselves.”

“Three and a half? What counts as a half?”

“It counts as a half strike if you put in the bare minimum for a challenge after blowing off three others.” His hand was still on his hair, so she bit back a smile and said, “Don’t worry. I’d never ask you to buzz it off. I like it too much.”

Something smoldered in his eyes, as if he was thinking about the way she’d woven a hand into his hair too, back in the car, but the heat was banked the next moment.

What was he thinking?

Was he pissed at her for pulling away, or angry at himself for kissing her in the first place?

She didn’t have time to ask because Nicole launched into a story about her challenge—Dee had told her to attend her work’s happy hour, which she’d never once gone to, have at least two drinks, and Uber home. Lee flinched next to Blue.

“She’s over twenty-one?”

“Twenty-two, actually.”

He clearly didn’t believe it—like maybe he thought she was a high schooler who’d talked her way into an office job—but he didn’t say so. He just went stony-faced again.

Finally, it was Blue’s turn. She glanced at Lee, suddenly nervous, then confessed, “My challenge was to help someone because I wanted to…not because they asked for help, or because I felt beholden to do something.”

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