Page 2 of Beyond the Hate

And completely unnecessary to draw tourists to the island. There are enough true stories about smugglers and their use of the island to hide their loot during Prohibition. There are even ‘secret’ underground passages under city hall visitors can tour.

Sophia sighs. “I thought we were past this when you agreed to name the Saison beer Mystic Mermaid Saison.”

“I agreed because you convinced me the name would be good for marketing.”

Sophia is the marketing manager of the brewery the five of us own,Five Fathoms Brewing.Since marketing is not my area of expertise – my expertise is limited to the brewing of beer – I followed her advice with regard to the name of our latest Saison beer.

“Based on sales, the idea was great,” Maya says.

Maya is the financial manager for the brewery. Sales and numbers I understand. They are fact based after all.

“Customers are loving it,” Chloe adds. “I ran out of stock on the first night at the bar.”

In addition to brewing beer,Five Fathomsalso has a bar and restaurant. Chloe manages them.

“And it’s easy to sell to our clients,” Nova says.

Everything is easy to sell for Nova. The woman smiles and people rush to do her bidding. Which is good forFive Fathomssince she’s our sales manager.

Sophia glares at me. I lift my eyebrows. “What?”

“You changed the subject to beer.”

“You’re the one who brought up our Saison beer.”

“If you don’t go up there and sing, I’m going to steal moonshine from those women.” Chloe points to a table of women dressed as mermaids. Guessing by the way they’re swaying to the music, they’ve had enough moonshine.

I snort. “You’ve been eyeing their table for five minutes. You’re going to steal their moonshine anyway.”

She huffs. “Could you be less observant for five minutes?”

Not really. I’ve tried to be less observant. To not notice everything happening around me. To not remember everyconversation we have. To bite my tongue before I note another fact no one cares about.

It didn’t work so I leaned into it instead. And Paisley the Perpetual Know It All was born.

My stomach sours. I sincerely hate the nickname everyone in high school loved to taunt me with. I especially hate the boy who coined the phrase.

And there I go thinking about Eli again.

I simply can’t eradicate him from my thoughts. The cute boy from high school with jet black hair and bright blue eyes has become a handsome man with a deep, gravelly voice I long to hear the sound of. And then there are those muscles. Why does a billionaire have a need for strong biceps and wide shoulders?

He should—

I cut those thoughts off. I am usually in perfect control of my thoughts. But not when it comes tohim.

I blame his return to the island. I was fine when he was off living his billionaire life somewhere else. But he moved back to Smuggler’s Hideaway a few months ago and now my mind conjures him at the oddest of times. It’s beyond annoying.

There is one surefire way to get my mind and everyone else’s off of Eli. I can challenge Chloe.

“I dare you to jump on this table, run across the room to the bar without touching the floor and without getting caught by Sloane.”

“Or any of the security,” Sophia adds.

Chloe rubs her hands together. “I got this.”

“I thought you weren’t the wild child anymore,” Nova says.

Chloe has a bit of a reputation for being wild. Although, really, no one in this friend group can point fingers. We’ve all gotten into our fair share of trouble. None of which was instigated by me. Naturally.

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