Page 36 of You Don’t Kiss Your Brother's Best Friends

With that, he leveled a long finger at Andre’s face. I half-hoped, half-expected my lover would snap it right off.

“This isn’t okay, you know,” the man snarled. “The guests haven’t arrived, and you’ve already broken the rules!”

“I know,” said Andre. “I—I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t believe it! Even if this man was his employer, the way he was talking down to Andre was absolutely sickening. I wanted to tell him to fuck off. Very badly, I wanted to defend the man I’d just spent the most wonderful week of my life with.

But some self-preserving part of me told me to shut up.

“Just do things by the book,” the man growled. “No surprises. No more mistakes.”

Andre nodded, guiltily.

The man turned away, and in doing so looked down at my bare feet and frowned. By now, I was standing in a puddle of rainwater.

“And for fuck’s sake, get this mess cleaned up,” he grunted, before storming off.

~ 23 ~

JOCELYN

It didn’t know what the hell was happening, but I knew it wasn’t good. I knew enough to play along, though. If not for my sake, at least for Andre’s.

But I strongly suspected it was for my sake, too.

“C’mon,” said Andre, extending a hand. “I’ll show you your room.”

Gritting my teeth, I shook my head. “In a minute. I’m supposed to see the head chef, remember?”

Andre nodded numbly for a moment. Then he blinked. “Jocelyn! Wait—”

I shoved his arm away and pushed past him, walking straight into the kitchen. Bishop saw me first, standing at one of the giant, stainless steel refrigerators. He went stark white, and his expression was like someone who’d seen a ghost. It might’ve even been funny if I wasn’t so pissed.

“Hello everyone!”

Kayden and the brunette were standing side by side, going over several pieces of paper spread out over the island. At the sound of my voice, they looked up. Kayden was open-mouthed, and utterly speechless. But not the brunette. Standing there in her sleek black dress, the look she gave me was angry and suspicious.

“Who the hell are—”

“This is Emily,” Andre cut her off, scurrying into the room behind me. “She’s one of the servers.”

Now the brunette’s mouth dropped open as well. I wanted to punch it.

“The servers are here!?”

“No, no,” Andre said quickly. “Just one. Just her.” He cleared his throat. “She came a day early because—”

“She came early because Itoldher to come early,” Kayden finished smoothly.

Bishop, still holding the milk carton he was about to drink out of, looked even more thunderstruck. But the raven-haired woman was looking at Kayden in confusion.

“You… you did?”

“Yes,” Kayden affirmed. His eyes met mine, and silently they conveyed the same message Andre had: that above all else, I was to play along.

“Does Raif know?” the brunette demanded. “Because he’s going to—”

“Yes,” Andre jumped in. “Raif knows. He already cleared it.”

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