Page 8 of Brewing Up a Bad Boy

“How are you related to his cousin?” Sera asked.

“I’m not. They...um, invited us because of Poppy. We had a good time at her wedding reception and sort of became friends.” Merle’s explanation was the easiest.

No use saying that Gemma had been one of her best friends and had come over to visit Poppy in Maine once a year since Poppy had left the UK. She didn’t want to rub salt in the wound for Alistair, but the truth was he’d crushed her, and she’d needed the support of Gemma and Merle, until she’d met Liberty and Sera.

“Did your mom and dad take your invite?” Poppy asked Merle.

“I asked if they could attend in my place, and you know Gemma, she was good with it.”

“Classic Gemma. She’s very generous,” Alistair said.

Gemma had always been one of those people who treated everyone like they were her family. Which was how Poppy had first met Alistair. Freshers week, she hadn’t really known anyone—none of them had. It was her first week at uni with a bunch of other new freshmen. The university put on a series of events so that all the kids could get to know each other. Gemma, her roommate then, had thrown a pre-drinks get-together at their dorm, and her cousin Ali had been there.

At the time, he’d just been this hot bad boy, but looking back, it seemed his family had used Gemma to connect her with Ali.

“Yeah, she is,” Poppy said, not really wanting to take a trip to the past and the night she’d met him. She’d taken one look at him and fallen hard.

“What are you up to these days?” Alistair asked Merle. “Still doing tech stuff?”

“Yeah. I’m a white hat. I write code and algorithms for an online company that tries to stop cyber fraud.”

“Wow, that sounds fascinating.”

“You still a corporate dou—”

“Dude,” Merle cut Liberty off, which made Liberty punch his shoulder.

“Nah, I’m on a leave of absence. I’ve been brewing beer. Really getting into unusual blends. Recently, I decided to try hard kombucha. That’s why I joined Poppy’s tea group.”

“What kind of blends?” Wes asked. “My brother got my dad a kit for Christmas, and he struggled with the first batch. So now he’s determined to get it right. He keeps trying variations on recipes.”

Alistair relaxed as he started talking about brewing and giving Wes tips for his dad. Apparently, most problems stemmed from not getting the yeast right or not having a completely dry, clean container to brew in.

“Hey, would you mind if I called him, and you could tell him what you told me?” Wes asked.

“Not at all. Want to step outside to do it?” Alistair offered.

The two men got up and left.

“Why’d you punch me?” Merle demanded of Liberty.

“Why’d you stop me from calling him a douche?”

“Poppy hasn’t decided what she’s doing yet. If they reconcile and you alienate him, witch, you’ll have to apologize, and you’d hate that.”

“You did it for me?” Liberty put her arms around Merle’s shoulders and kissed him. “Thanks, nerd.”

“No problem.” Merle was blushing slightly, but he kept one of Liberty’s hands in his.

Poppy had almost stayed home tonight but was glad she hadn’t. She wouldn’t deprive herself of seeing her closest friends in love. Maybe her reluctance was about potentially seeing Alistair again. It was interesting because he seemed more like the guy she’d first met, but mixed with this interesting guy she’d never seen before. A fun-loving man who could talk about anything.

He was good at putting people at ease, and he’d done it tonight. And his beer brewing was interesting. Ali had never really had passion around Lancaster-Spencer... Ambition and determination, yes, but nothing like the way he was when he talked about brewing. She knew him well enough to see that he was genuinely passionate about it. There was a cute little wrinkle between his brows when he got earnest.

She’d never asked any details about his brewing process in their Discord group. Maybe she hadn’t been ready to see that side of him.

“Wes seems to like him,” Sera said.

“Yeah. He’s a nice guy. It’s okay if you guys like him too,” Poppy said. “Lots of people are friends with their ex.”

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