Tanner: Becca?
Cam: Becca? You okay?
Gray: Should I call her? Make sure she’s not ill?
Cam: Hold on. I’ll message Mia, she can check on her.
Tanner: Well? It’s been five minutes, is she okay?
Cam: According to Mia, she’s working in the still room. She has a break at one, and she’ll probably get back to us then. So could you all calm yourselves down and stop panicking?
Becca checked her watch. Cam’s last message had been sent twenty minutes ago. If she didn’t reply soon, they’d probably send a SWAT team to the distillery.
Becca: Guys, some of us have to work for a living. Can you stop with the protective big brother panic now? And I can’t babysit for any of you on Saturday, I’m busy.
Tanner: What are you doing on Saturday? Can you still make me a cake on Sunday?
She shook her head. Nope. I’m busy then, too.
She conveniently ignored his other question. She wasn’t ready for them to know anything about Daniel Carter. The thought sent shivers down her spine, and not in a good way.
Gray: Well, I know you’re not going out with the girls, because I asked Maddie.
Tanner: Wait. Are you going on a date? Is it that guy from the other week?
Cam: He flew to Afghanistan, numbnuts.
Tanner: So who’s she going on a date with?
Rolling her eyes, Becca tapped out a reply.
Becca: It’s not a date. It’s a work thing, idiots.
She was already regretting joining this stupid group chat. It had been Gray’s idea to add her to the brothers’ group. She had a feeling he was worried about her being lonely when she moved out.
Right now, the chance to feel lonely would be a wonderful thing. It was almost impossible to do anything without them knowing. To the rest of the world they were chilled, handsome guys who were laid back to the point of falling asleep. But to Becca they were like annoying flies she couldn’t quite bat away.
Cam: Mia didn’t say anything about working on Saturday.
Oh shit. There went that plan. She had a feeling that as soon as Mia got home, Cam would be asking about whether the distillery was running that weekend. Maybe sooner – she wouldn’t put it past him to call her now and check. Becca locked her phone and slid it back into her pocket, then grabbed the soup she’d just warmed up and carried it to Mia’s office.
“Do you have five minutes?” she asked, when Mia looked up from her laptop.
Mia smiled. “Sure. Sit down. What’s up? Oh, did Cam get ahold of you? He called me earlier. It was weird, because he sounded all panicky and wanted me to check on you.”
“Yeah, I replied to their group chat.” Becca rolled her eyes. “I know he’s your fiancé, but he’s such an ass sometimes. They all are.”
“Hey, you have my sympathies. I can imagine how annoying they can be. I’m just glad I’m an only kid.” Mia folded her laptop closed. “So, what’s up?”
“I need you to lie to them for me.”
Mia started to laugh. “You’re not serious.”
“I am. If Cam asks you whether I’m working this weekend, please tell him yes.” Becca offered her a pleading smile.
“But you’re not working.” Mia frowned. “Unless there’s a backlog I don’t know about. We caught up on the schedule, didn’t we?” As the marketing manager for GSC, Mia wasn’t involved in the production, but the distillery was small enough that everybody knew what was happening and when.
“There’s no backlog. And I’m not working.” Becca traced the line of her phone in her pocket, then looked up with a sigh.