Page 18 of A Sip of Sherry

“You’re abandoning me?”He grabbed his chest and pretended to fall backward.“Even after I almost died hanging that sign for you.”

“What did I say?”I laughed.

“And I appreciate you didn’t die, but you’ve been hogging my time, and I miss my best friend.”

Nero let out an exaggerated sigh.“That’s okay.”He slapped Ben on the shoulder.“Ben and I have plans.”

“We do?”Ben exclaimed while Lainey and I exclaimed, “You do?”at the same time.

“Dude, go with it,” Nero said with a shake of his head.

“Ugh, we do.”

Nero sighed.“You’re terrible at lying.”

Ben lifted his shoulder, his mouth twitching as his gaze flicked to me.

“You two have fun tonight,” Nero said.“Brady’s tapping a new cask tonight, and I’ve been trying to find out a way to ask you if I could go.”

“Since when do you need permission to do anything?”I stared at Nero, trying to figure out who this man was because he was not my brother.

“Since I am in a committed relationship with the woman I love and want to devote all my time to, and because his past is a bit shady, I’d rather not give my girl the wrong idea.”

Lainey rolled her eyes.“Don’t be an idiot.I trust you.You know that.Go have fun tonight.”

“Am I actually invited?”Ben asked.“Or was I just part of the skit?”

“You’re invited.”

“Great,” Ben said.“Brady makes some awesome whiskey.”

Ben caught my gaze just as before he and Nero pushed the cart around the corner.And that smirk lingered with me far longer than it should have.

Chapter 7

Ben

After work, I stepped into my apartment in Robin’s Landing, a townhouse community within Vine Valley.It was filled with people more nosy than the next, but I always managed to keep my privacy despite having to turn down a million invitations.I should have turned down Nero’s invite tonight, but I couldn’t pass up a whiskey tasting from a freshly tapped cask.I loved whiskey almost as much as I loved wine.The complexity and craft that went into the making was something I admired and appreciated.Besides, saying no to Nero was like saying no to a golden retriever.He was persistent and could guilt you with a single look.

I had enough guilt weighing on me.I didn’t need to add to it.Sherry’s light brown eyes flashed in my mind.God, I wanted to pin her against that shelving unit and crash my lips to hers, strip her of those tan pants and orange sweater that should have made her look like a ripened carrot, but only made her glow like the goddess she was.

Staying away from her had been the right choice, but after coming face-to-face with her today, I couldn’t shake her from my mind.It was different than the sex dreams.I hadn’t lied to her about those.They were very real and a pain in my ass… or, more accurately, my balls.

I placed my keys on the kitchen countertop and moved through the small hall to my bedroom.I didn’t have much.A bed, a dresser, a desk and a chair were all I needed.The walls were stark white without a single picture, poster, or painting.I ripped off my work shirt, grabbed a change of clothes, and headed toward the bathroom.

I stopped in the middle of the apartment, my eyes scanning the small space.It had been six months since I moved in, and the place somehow felt even starker than that first day.The white walls felt like an asylum, and the lack of color mirrored the emptiness I hadn’t been able to shake.Not since I left everything behind to chase a dream that crashed and burned in an epic catastrophe.

The living room held a single recliner, a television stand made of fake wood, and a TV.I told myself I was embracing a minimalist lifestyle, but really, I didn’t fucking care.This place wasn’t a home.It was a temporary situation while I cleaned my mess and tried to figure out what was next.

An invisible pull lured me to the kitchen.I opened the cabinet next to the fridge and retrieved a bottle that symbolized my failure.Everything I had worked for, all my money and dignity… gone.The bottle served as a reminder of how easily life could change.

I shoved the bottle into the cabinet and shut the door, closing it in the darkness it deserved.Snatching my clothes off the counter, I headed to the shower.

Steam filled the small bathroom, and I took a moment to close my eyes and let the damp warmth coat my skin.My body didn’t hurt nearly as much as it did during those first couple of weeks at the warehouse.Going from sitting behind a desk was a real contrast to manual labor.

My body had grown used to it, and I actually enjoyed the physical aspect of the job.I’d get home exhausted, and the minute my head hit the pillow, I was out cold.Until dreams of Sherry woke me up.

I stepped into the hot stream of the shower, closing my eyes and remembering Sherry bent over the table.I knew she had done it to break eye contact, to fight the intimacy we couldn’t seem to avoid.If she only knew how fucking beautiful she looked, arched and spread, waiting for me.

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