Sugarlips (Beefcakes Book 2)

by Katana Collins

  “Hey!” Chloe cried out, slapping me sarcastically. “Are you saying my services aren’t worth it?”

  “Not at all. I’m saying that if there’s anything I’ve learned from you, it’s that growing your followers isn’t as important as organic engagement.”

  She grinned and gave me a wink. “He’s a good student.”

  Tanja rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. So, can you help me get more organic engagement or whatever?”

  Chloe bit her lip, but nodded. “I can help. I’m stretched pretty thin, but I can squeeze in a few brain-storming strategy sessions with you.”

  Tanja beamed and sat back in her chair. “Great! Why don’t we go to brunch again Sunday?”

  “Well…” Chloe glanced up at me, wincing. “I was supposed to have lunch with Liam and his mom. But…” Not only was she supposed to have lunch with Mom and me, but I knew she also had dinner plans with her parents Sunday evening. It was supposed to be our one day off this week. I offered her a genuine smile. “It’s no big deal,” I said. “We could even see if our parents would be open to combining our plans—one big family dinner with my Mom and your parents.”

  She sighed, relieved. “That would be great,” Chloe said. “My parents have been wanting to see Linda, too.”

  Tanja clapped her hands together. “Great! Brunch on Sunday it is!”

  “And of course,” I added, because I couldn’t stop myself, “Tanja will be treating you to brunch since you’re helping her with her social media. Isn’t that right?”

  I would have bet my food truck that Tanja had no intention of paying—for services rendered or for brunch. I’d seen it at least three times now; the way Chloe always picked up the tab. Still, she was my best friend’s other best friend. I needed to try to like her for Chloe’s sake.

  Tanja’s returning smile was tight. “Of course. Brunch is on me.”

  I gently scooted Chloe’s notebook to the side and set the sandwich and the can of seltzer down in front of her. “Here. You need to take a break and eat before your next appointment.”

  Chloe smiled up at me and though she looked happy, she also looked exhausted. “Thank you.” She reached up, touching her hand gently to my arm and my own fingers twitched, aching to brush them across her flushed cheek. Instead, I held them firmly at my side.

  “Any time.”

  “Oh! You’re making paninis now? I’ll take a ham and cheese,” Tanja said, eying Chloe’s sandwich.

  “I was actually finishing up my shift,” I said, unable to hide my scowl.

  “Great! So, you’re not busy.”

  I couldn’t prove it, but I was pretty sure this was her secret/not-so-secret way of getting back at me for suggesting she pay for brunch.

  “Here,” Chloe slid her plate across. “Why don’t we split my panini—”

  “No.” I covered her hand. Chloe needed to eat. It was her busiest day of the week with these meetings back to back—then with us running The Dump Truck tonight. “I’ll make you your own panini, Tanja.”

  Tanja smiled a saccharine grin in my direction. “You’re the best, Liam.”

  “Wish I could say the same,” I grumbled under my breath as I turned and stalked back to the kitchen.

  That night was mostly business as usual. We opened the truck sometime between 7:30 and 8:00 and things between us were running smoothly. Even if Chloe’s energy was low.

  Who could blame her? She was exhausted.

  When we had a lull between customers, she ducked to the side and sat down at the small table and chairs we’d added to the truck a few weeks ago.

  “Eat up,” I said, handing her a donut. “The sugar will help give you a boost.”

  She grinned a lazy smile at me, and I saw in my peripheral as her gaze swept my body in appreciation when she thought I wasn’t looking. I smiled, keeping my eyes cast down toward the mac & cheese balls. “First a panini for lunch. Pizza for dinner. Now this? You trying to fatten me up or something?” She objected, but not so much that she didn’t already have a bite of donut in her mouth.

  “The pizza was from Nick,” I reminded her. It was his thank you for her work so far at the bar. Revenue was already up for him because of the vouchers we were giving out at the food truck, but in the last week, Chloe had also set him up with online ordering for take-out. That alone had his revenue up another thirty percent, and he wasn’t even doing delivery.

  “It’s amazing how few people want to actually call a restaurant to place an order anymore,” she said, practically reading my thoughts as she took a second big bite of her donut.

  Her groan was sexy as hell, and for a moment, I was jealous of the stupid donut.

  “Hot damn,” she said, smacking her hand to the table. “I forgot how good your donuts are!”

  “You forgot?” I clutched my chest in horror. “How could you forget? It’s your product, too.”

  “Yeah, but since I’ve been helping you bake everything, I’ve been so busy, I haven’t been sampling the goods as much.”

  I narrowed my eyes, studying Chloe. “Are you okay?” I asked, suddenly serious. Chloe loved junk food. She thrived on it. But in the last few weeks, she’d lost weight; weight that, frankly, I didn’t think she could afford to lose because she was already so thin. Her face, though beautiful as always, looked a tad gaunt without its normal pink flush. And below her eyes, there was a light tint of blue.

  She was exhausted.

  She was exhausted because she was helping me live out my dreams. “I was thinking… maybe we should hire someone to help back here in the food truck? That way you wouldn’t have to commit to six nights a week slinging donuts while also running a marketing empire and helping me bake.”

  She jerked back as though my words were a slap. “You don’t want me here serving with you?”

  I sighed. Dammit. “No, that’s not what I meant. I love working with you, but you’re doing too much.” I knelt in front of her and brushed my thumbs to the dark circles beneath her eyes.

  “I’m not doing anything more than what you’re doing. You run Beefcakes and bake and do this in the evenings.”

  “Well, maybe it’s too much for me, too.” I shrugged. “Just think about it. We can hire someone to help us bake the donuts and stuff instead, if you enjoy being here in the truck. Hell, maybe even Remy would want the extra hours working for us, too. He could pull double-duty. Some baking for Beefcakes and some for The Dump Truck.”

  She smiled, her brows jumping playfully. “Like a double agent… a double donut agent!”

  I laughed, grateful to have a glimpse of the fun, carefree Chloe.

  “Hello?” A deep voice called from the outside of the truck and my spine immediately bristled. I knew that voice. I hated that voice.

  “Dan?” Chloe launched from where she was sitting and leaned out the front of the truck beneath the awning.

  “What the hell is he doing here?” I asked through gritted teeth. It was one thing to run into each other at an event. But for him to come to our business? He was seeking Chloe out. Trying to win her back. Even if he hadn’t done anything yet or moved in on her, I knew it. I felt it in my bones.

  “I had to come see for myself the food truck that has this damn state all abuzz.”

  I blinked as I moved to stand behind Chloe and looked down at Dan. He looked rough. His hair was messy, his shirt and chinos were wrinkled, and… I inhaled. Was that the smell of alcohol? “No one could stop talking about you two at the networking event. Every time we turned around, it was all, blah, blah, blah Dump Truck.”

  “Dan, are you drunk?” Chloe asked and looked around. Luckily, there was still a lull in customers, which was pretty typical around nine o’clock. It was that weird between time—too late for the after-dinner crowd, but too early for the late-night munchies. But it wouldn’t last long. It never did.

  “Psssssh.” Dan’s puckered lips made a sound not unlike air escaping a tire and he waved both hands at us. “Just had a couple gin and tonics with dinner.
”

  Chloe’s jaw set firm and she glared at him as I eyed some of the bystanders starting to watch. Dammit, he was drawing attention—and not the good kind. “Go home, Dan. Go home to Raina and sleep it off.”

  “Raina? Raina’s no longer in my home. I kicked her out.”

  Fuck. I knew it. He and Raina were on the fritz… and he wanted Chloe back. My Chloe.

  Except she wasn’t my Chloe. She wasn’t my anything.

  Every bit of my body screamed with this news. But I watched her carefully for her reaction. So far, there was none. “Well then, go home to no one.”

  He snorted and stumbled a bit as he stepped back. “I’m sorry, is this not a public park? In a free country? If I want to sit here and stare at you two lovebirds serving us broken-hearted bastards all night… I will.” He folded his arms and plopped down on a park bench a few feet away from the truck.

  “Dammit,” Chloe whispered. “What do you want Dan?”

  “I want to talk to you. Alone.” His glare shifted to me and I gave it right back to him.

  Chloe folded her arms. “Why?”

  His jaw clenched. “Because I fucked up. I fucked up big.”

  My stomach plummeted. It was the day I knew was coming. For months, I knew it was only a matter of time before he woke up and realized what he’d given up.

  Chloe’s eye roll was punctuated with a sharp sigh. “I’m sure whatever you did, Raina will take you back if you apologize.”

  She didn’t get it. She didn’t hear what he was saying. “Chloe—” I whispered.

  “Not with Raina. I fucked up with you.”

  Her gasp was nearly silent. Nearly. But I heard it all the same. And that gasp was the final knife twisting into my heart. “Chloe, no,” I said. “Don’t do this. Don’t give into him.”

  She swallowed, her tear-filled gaze shifting slowly to me and I felt my own eyes burn, filling with moisture. Only this time, it wasn’t sympathy tears. It wasn’t a reaction to seeing her emotion. It was my own gutted pain wringing out before her eyes.

  “He’s making a scene,” she said, yanking her apron off her body. “He’s not going to leave us alone tonight. I’ve seen him get like this, and when he’s drunk, he’s stubborn as hell. He also pukes… a lot.”

  I sniffed and tilted my head down. Heat flooded my gut. I didn’t want her to see me react this way. And I definitely didn’t want Dan to fucking see it. “Great.” I clamped my hands on my hips, squeezing them just a tad too hard. “So, all he has to do is show up drunk and you’re going to give in to him? Why the hell didn’t I think of that?”

  She pulled back, startled, the tears in her eyes quickly replaced with all kinds of questions. “I’m not giving in to him. He’s being a menace to our business, and we have too much to lose to let him embarrass us.”

  “You know he’s going to try to get you back. He’s going to try to convince you to—”

  “Well, he’s not going to succeed.” She pressed her palm to my chest in an action that was so uncharacteristic of her, it made my heart jolt against my ribcage.

  I flicked a glance toward Dan who was clearly trying to eavesdrop… with very little success.

  I wanted to believe her. I wanted to believe that this was harmless and she would have a quick conversation and be back here with me in a matter of minutes.

  With a step back, her hand slipped away from my chest. The absence of her touch was physically painful. I was losing her. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

  I watched as she exited the side door of the food truck and held out her hand to Dan. “Give me your keys.”

  “Why? Where’re we going?” he asked, swaying.

  “If you want to talk, we’re doing so as I take your ass home.”

  The jangle of metal on metal rang through the quiet night as Dan dropped his keys into her palm, then threw a quick look at me, a smug smirk curving to his eyes. They walked shoulder to shoulder, fading into the darkness of the park.

  I should have felt better with her affirmation. He’s not going to succeed. But even when all reason and rationality told me she didn’t want Dan, my gut wobbled.

  Then again, my gut had been wrong about Chloe back in high school.

  And it had been wrong back when she kissed me the first time two months ago.

  Maybe my gut wasn’t the most dependable gauge.

  But it wasn’t wrong about Dan, was it? A little voice sang in my head.

  And that’s what scared me.

  33

  Chloe

  It took me twenty minutes to get Dan back to his new house—and his house was only a ten-minute drive outside of town.

  On the walk to his car, he could barely stay upright and stumbled at least three times. I practically had to hoist his body up, clutching my arms around him to keep him upright.

  But we were finally here. Dan’s house. I gripped the steering wheel, peering at the two-story home. It was a lot like Dan. Boring. Nondescript. Not ugly or unattractive… just plain. Milk toast.

  This was the house he had left ours for. The life he had left us for. The woman he’d run to while I sat behind picking up the pieces of our shattered life.

  The more I thought about it, the more enraged I felt. “Dan,” I grunted and shoved my palm into his shoulder. “Get out. You’re home.”

  “Home,” he repeated. With the grace of an ox, he dropped his head into his hands. “This isn’t home. Home was with you. Terrybrook Lane is home. Not this.” He glanced up at the plain two-story house and waved a dismissive hand.

  My throat went dry. Liam had been right. He wanted me back. He regretted leaving me for Raina. It was everything I had wanted to hear. Everything I had longed for and was waiting for… only it didn’t feel good. I didn’t feel vindicated or at peace.

  In fact, it felt horrible.

  “This is your home now, Dan. By your own choice.” I turned my head to glance at him… only he wasn’t looking back at me. His gaze was set ahead. “And it was the right choice.”

  “Was it?” His pleading eyes finally turned to look at me in the dim light of his car. “Raina’s a nice girl and all, but I feel ridiculous when I’m with her. She doesn’t fit in at all with my colleagues. She’s quirky and kind of ridiculous. She puts crystals under our pillows for God’s sake.”

  “You left me for a reason. You must have liked all that quirkiness at one point.” Somehow, I managed to keep my voice even when in reality, I wanted to scream at him. Thank God he left me! Who knows how many years I would have wasted with him if he hadn’t?

  “It was… different. Fun at first. I thought I wanted that, but I was wrong. She’s all wrong for me. And you? You and I were good together. I love you.”

  I clenched my hands tighter at the wheel, trying to still the angry trembling of my white-knuckled grip. “We were not good for each other. And you don’t love me… people in love don’t cheat. They don’t betray each other and hurt each other. They don’t ask their partner to be someone she isn’t.”

  He shook his head, his mussed, brown hair falling into his eyes. “I did love you. I just don’t think I’m capable of being monogamous. I mean… fuck. Look at you. If I can’t be faithful to you, there’s no hope for any woman.”

  My throat tightened and a thousand hot needles burned behind my eyes. Look at you. “Because I’m pretty,” I whispered. “That’s all I ever was to you. Arm candy. A beautiful Stepford Wife who would be quiet and smile and latch onto your arm at all the functions.”

  “That’s not—”

  “Not what?” I sneered. “Are you really going to sit there and tell me that’s not true? When you told me to quit my job? Everything that I am today, you would hate. But because you can’t have me, somehow I’m all shiny and new and appealing again.”

  Liam was right. Dan wanted what he couldn’t have. I yanked at the door handle, shoved the door open, and got out of the car, and he followed me, nearly stumbling out of his passenger side seat.

&nb
sp; He was on his feet and rushing around the front of the car, trying to catch up to me. “Don’t follow me! I’ve moved on… and you need to move on, too.”

  I left him in his driveway as I took off, walking back into town. Clearly, I hadn’t thought this plan all the way through.Initially, when I drove his car back to his house, I thought I would drive it back to the park, and Liam and I would find a way to get it back to Dan. But now? Hell no. I wasn’t sitting in that car another second. I wasn’t doing him any favors.

  It wasn’t that I hated Dan—that was actually the brilliant thing about that interaction. I didn’t hate him… and I certainly didn’t love him. I didn’t even miss him. It was the perfect reminder of all the reasons why he was bad for me. Why I deserved better than Dan.

  The walk back to the center of town took way longer than I’d thought it would. Over thirty minutes later, I was finally entering the truck again, happy to see that business had picked up and we had a nice, long line.

  But as I got closer, I realized something was off. The window was open, but the Back in Five Minutes sign was dangling off the edge of the ordering counter. Oh, shit. My heart started pounding and I ran toward the back entrance of the truck. Was Liam okay? Was he hurt? Exhausted?

  I swung open the side door, jumping up, taking the stairs in one single leap. I froze, feeling my body go icy and stiff when I saw Tanja sitting on the table, her spread legs wrapped around Liam’s waist…

  And Liam had his hands all over her.

  34

  Liam

  Forty-three minutes.

  Chloe had been gone… with him… for forty-three minutes. But, hey, who’s counting?

  Our line was twice as long as it usually was because I had to handle the orders, the money, and the cooking. It was doable. And I was moving as fast as I could. But even still, we were way behind in sales just from the sheer decrease in output from me doing it all myself.