Malt Me (Liquor Cabinet Series #1)

by D. L. Gallie

  I’m sure he’s right. “Yeah, you’re right babe. Thanks for reassuring me.” Helping unload, I grab a few bags from the boot and head down to where the fun tonight will happen.

  As soon as I have finished arranging the cheese platter, Mike rocks up with De-Niece. There is something about her, the way she looks at me all the time is really off putting. Plastering on a fake smile, I say, “Hey guys.” Before I quickly rush back upstairs, pretending that I have forgotten something. I secretly hope that Sarah and Josh get here soon. No sooner do I finish that thought and reach the top of the stairs, they pull up. Looking to the skies, I say a silent thank you.

  Walking out, I greet Sarah, “ Heya. Let me help you there, bitch.”

  She envelops me in a hug, “Thanks, ho, how’ve you been? It’s been ages since I have seen you.”

  “I’m doing okay. Had a little freak out earlier, like I did that day you and I went to the movies but Jordan and I came to the conclusion it was someone just looking at the house and my mind overreacting.”

  “Kenz, you’re allowed to freak out. It was a lot to deal with. I can only imagine how you feel but I’m glad you are talking about it now.”

  Wanting to change the subject I say, “To tell you the truth, Sarah, I’m nervous about tonight. I know you guys have played guinea pig before, but tonight it’s different. This is the final test run for our Malt Me beers, there is a lot at stake.”

  “Kenzie, it will be fine. Jordan would not be doing tonight if he weren’t one hundred and ten percent sure with the recipes. Hell, you wouldn’t even give me a taste test and I’m your sister from another mister. Now, let’s get these chairs set up and drink some amazeballs beers.”

  Just as we have set up the chairs, Jordan comes out with six beers. What perfect timing. Passing them out, he toasts, “Cheers everyone, here’s to a beertabolous evening”

  We all salute and clink mugs. “Cheers!”

  Mike takes a sip. “Ahhhh, one of the best brews around. Here’s to a beertabolous evening.”

  All our guinea pigs are seated and Jordan dives right in. He goes into professional beer man mode, explaining each beer. We try six different beers.

  ~ Standard beers ~

  Grid Mesh Larger

  Checker Plate Pale Ale

  Tarnished Amber Ale

  Rust Stout

  ~ Specialty beers ~

  Titanium Ale

  316 White Ale

  He describes the different flavours and how mellow and crisp they each are. It’s quite a turn on seeing him all professional.

  We proceed to have a great night, and we score six out of six with the beers. By the end of the night, everyone is absolutely shitfaced. Mike and De-Niece, and Sarah and Josh, decide to crash at our place, as they are in no state to drive, and getting a taxi this time of night is a total bitch.

  As usual, everyone else has crashed out and I’m still cleaning up. I’ve taken the last of the dishes upstairs and just turned the dishwasher on. I head down to the beer cave and pour myself a beer. Heading back upstairs, I sit on the Jack and Jill on the front verandah. As soon as I sit down, my hairs stand on end again, just like they did earlier in the day.

  Looking towards the road, I see there is someone standing on the other side of the street, staring at me. I’m absolutely frozen, I can’t move. They start to walk across the road, towards the house when Jordan opens the front door. Startling them, they turn and run off.

  Jordan looks at me, and he immediately knows something is up. Striding towards me, he says, “Kenz, what’s wrong?”

  He’s in front of me, holding my shoulders and lovingly rubbing up and down to bring me back to the moment. I’m still frozen and all I can manage to say is, “Clint.” He immediately turns around, runs to the street, and looks up and down but there is no one in the there.

  A few moments later, he comes back and sits down next to me on the Jack and Jill. Reaching over, I take his outstretched hand, and climb onto his lap, he rubs my back just like I like, not saying anything but telling me everything with the way he caresses my back.

  Eventually I look into his eyes and the tears begin to flow down my cheeks. “How is he here?” SOB, “He should be in hospital.” SOB

  “Kenz, I checked, there’s no one out there. You’ve had a lot to drink and tonight was a big night for us. You’re on a high, your exhausted and your seeing things. Trust me, there is no one out here, except you and I. We will call the hospital again tomorrow to make sure he is still there. They would have called us if anything happened. ”

  I’m too tired to argue. “Okay,” I sniff, but I know what I saw and deep down, I know that he’s back.

  “Kenz, if he is out there, I will not let him hurt you again. Look at me, Kenz.”

  Looking up into his mesmerizing green eyes, which are currently sparkling in the moonlight, he reassures me, “I love you to the moon and back, and I’ll do everything in my power to protect you, but you have to remember you’re strong.” He leans over and kisses my forehead, “You are the strongest person that I know. You need to tell yourself, ‘I’m Mackenzie “Kenzie” McRoberts nee Merlot. I’m strong and hot, and I’m not afraid.’ Now, say it, Kenz.”

  Again I sniff and wipe my nose on Jor’s shoulder. “Sorry,” I giggle.

  “Kenz, say it.”

  Taking a deep breath I say, “I’m Mackenzie “Kenzie” McRoberts nee Merlot. I’m strong and hot, and I’m not afraid.”

  “That’s my girl, now let’s get you into bed. It’s been a long day and I want to fall asleep with my wife in my arms.”

  “Sounds perfect to me.” Jordan slings his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer. I wrap my arm around his waist and snuggle in.

  After locking the doors, we climb into bed together. Jordan pulls me close and whispers, “I love you, Mrs. McRoberts nee Merlot” He then places a kiss on my lips.

  “And, I love you too, Mr. McRoberts.”

  The next morning after everyone has left, Jordan and I call the hospital. They confirm that Clint is still safely locked.

  Jordan is relieved but I still have an uneasy feeling.

  Jordan and I are both a bundle of nerves at the moment. On Thursday, we have a meeting lined up with the cranky ass who owns the co-op. Fingers crossed the stick up his ass has been removed and that he will sell it to us for a great price.

  The meeting with old Mr. Cranky Ass went better than either of us could have hoped for; he passed away, unfortunately, yeay, and left it to his son. Luckily for us, the son has no interest in the co-op. He’s happy to sell it to us, for a bargain price and has agreed to a quick settlement. In ninety days time, subject to us finalising our finance, we will have a building for Malt Me.

  Fortunately, I had already started the finance ball rolling after the success of our tasting. The bank is on board and in ninety days time, we will officially have our premises.

  That’s when the fun will begin: gutting, designing, rebuilding, and setting everything up on a larger scale for the opening of our dream; Malt Me brewery.

  Holy shit, we bought the building for our brewery.

  Holy shit, we are starting a brewery.

  Holy shit, our dream is coming true.

  Holy shit, I’m a real adult now.

  The next ninety days fly by and as of 2:00 p.m. today, Jordan and I are now the proud owners of the co-op, future home of the Malt Me brewery.

  Just as the agent leaves, Mike and De-Niece pull up; I’m glad to see Mike but De-Niece, not so much. It’s confusing as to why she is still around. Normally, Mike would have moved on by now, but he seems to be hypnotized by her. She must have a magical voodoo pussy.

  Mike jumps out of his Bronco, goes to the boot and they emerge with a huge balloon bouquet saying, CONGRATS, an esky full of beer, another full of food, and a huge bunch of sunflowers, which I presume are for me.

  Running over to Mike, I wrap my arms around him. “Oh My God, Mike, you are awesome.” He hands me the flowers and I hug him
again.

  “Don’t thank me, this was De-Niece’s idea.”

  Looking over his shoulder at De-Niece, I’m slightly confused, she has always being such a bitch to me. Why is she being nice now? She’s standing there with her creepy smile; I walk towards her, “Thanks De-Niece. This is totally awesome.” I pull her in for a hug, her body is really stiff at first, but she eventually relaxes and hugs me back.

  Releasing her from the hug she says with a smug smile, “Your welcome, Mackenzie.” Emphasising, Mackenzie.

  “Please, call me Kenzie. I hate being called Mackenzie.”

  “I know.” She smugly smiles at me.

  Shaking my head, I see Sarah’s Corolla pull up and grin. She jumps out of her car, yelling “Surprise!” Running over to me, she envelopes me in a huge hug. “Congrats, bitch, I’m so happy for you guys.”

  Standing the in car park of our brewery, we all toast “Cheers to Malt Me”

  The next three weeks were freaking crazy and full on. It took two solid weeks of working, sun up till sun down, in order to gut the inside. Once we had cleared everything out, that’s when the fun began.

  Now that it has all been gutted, and we had finally decided on the building plans, it is over to our builder to work his magic. Four long exhausting months later, our builder is finished with the construction. It is now up to us to paint, fit it out and get everything ready to start production and then open to the public.

  The co-op building is just perfect for Malt Me. I’m so happy that we were able to get it. Everything is falling into place.

  We arrived early this morning to get some more painting done. Between the two of us, we were plowing through our to-do list, ticking off items left, right, and center. It is all going well, until late in the afternoon, when Jordan has to go meet with the bottle people, there is an issue with the bottle caps.

  As he’s walking out the front doors, he shouts, “Back soon, Kenz, I’ll stop and get dinner on my way back!”

  “Give me a buzz, and I’ll let you know what I feel like. You know how hungry I get when I paint, and this place is a gazillion times larger that ours. Thankfully there are no V-Jay walls or belt rail’s to paint. I hate V-Jay, it looks amazing, but it’s a total bitch to paint. If I can get a good run this arvo, I should get the toilets, bathrooms, and our office done, and maybe even start on the kitchen while your gone.”

  He laughs, “You are a painting machine, but don’t push it. I’ll call and see what Picasso wants for dinner when I’m done. Love you, wifey.”

  I laugh at his Picasso comment, “Love you too hubster.”

  I’ve got the iPod plugged in and cranked; I totally love the emotional rollercoaster that is iPod random. I love when it switches from Take Me To Church by Hozier to Shut Your Mouth by Garbage, before switching to Never Tear Us Apart by INXS.

  When Sinatra’s, Come Fly With Me comes on, I put the paintbrush down and start dancing around the office, until I hear a noise in the main room. Heading out, I think it might be Sarah, as she said she might pop out. Walking into the main room, I see a box by the front door.

  Smiling, I skip over as I think that Jordan has left something for me; he’s always hiding things here and there or I’m getting special deliveries. Crouching down to open the box, I start to get a strange feeling.

  Opening the box, I discover a bunch of sunflowers have been shredded and there’s a note sitting on top of them.

  Tik tok

  Hurry up

  My heart drops.

  I’d recognise that message anywhere.

  Clint is back.

  I race inside, lock myself in the office, and call Jordan. I’m sobbing by this stage, I can’t get the words out. He tells me to wait there and he will be here soon.

  Ten minutes later, I hear him call out, “Kenz, baby, where are you?”

  I immediately jump up and I race out to him. I wrap my arms tightly around him and start to cry again. He holds me while I sob in his arms.

  There is a knock at the door, we turn around to see two uniformed officers standing there. “Good afternoon, I’m Officer Hamilton and this is my partner, Officer Kincaid.”

  Jordan, walks over to meet them. “Thanks for coming so quickly. Kenz was pretty shaken when she called me so I immediately called you guys after I called the hospital and they wouldn’t tell me anything.”

  “You did the right thing calling us. After I spoke with you Mr. McRoberts, I called the mental hospital. Clint was taken to hospital with suspected appendicitis. That’s why they couldn’t tell you anything.”

  I stammer, “He…He’s out?”

  “No, he is safely back at the facility now. It was just a case of food poisoning, but it does look like he managed to get access to a phone and arrange your package. All his privileges have been revoked.”

  I go into shock, their words not registering. I feel like all the progress I have made is crumbling around me. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and say Jordan’s mantra for me, “I’m Mackenzie “Kenzie” McRoberts nee Merlot. I’m strong and hot, and I’m not afraid.”

  Jordan finishes up with the officers, locks up and drives me home. He runs me a bath and leaves me alone to process it all.

  After my bath, I find him in the lounge room, on the couch watching Top Gear. He mutes is program, grabs my hands, and pulls me down onto his lap. “How you doing, baby?”

  “I’m not sure to tell you the truth. When I saw that package, my heart dropped. When the officers said he was out, I nearly lost it. I’m glad he’s locked back up but all my fears are coming flooding back. What if next time he escapes?”

  “I can’t answer that, Kenz, but after chatting with the officers today, I have faith that he will be locked away and that you will be safe. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

  “I love you, Jordan. Thank you for being my rock.”

  “No need to thank me, Kenz. I love you too. Do you want to watch this or go to bed?”

  “I’m going to go to bed. You stay and watch, I’ll be fine.”

  Standing up, I kiss him on the cheek and head to bed.

  The next week is tough emotionally. I make an appointment to see Jeannie. Talking with her helps, as does my daily call to the facility to make sure Clint is still locked away.

  The following weekend, I’m back at Malt Me painting again, and Jordan is still dealing with the bottle cap drama from the previous week. I’m just finishing up the office window architrave when my phone starts to play Jordan’s tone Nothing Else Matters by Metallica. “Hey, husband.”

  “Kenz, I’m so glad to hear your voice. These bottle tops have been a nightmare. I’m going to look for another supplier. I don’t want to work with this asshole anymore. Enough of my issues, how’d you get on, Picasso?”

  “Hardy har har. I’ve done the toilets, bathrooms, and our office is just about finished. I’ve just got to do the kitchen and then that’s the painting done.”

  “You’re a rock star, babe. What did you want for dinner?”

  “I’d kill for a burrito and Modelo from Guzman. Since I’m nearly done here, why don’t I call it a day? We can meet at home and head there together, have a night out, just you and I?”

  “You read my mind, Kenz. I’ll see you at home soon.”

  “It’s a date, I just need to finish the frame and clean these brushes, and then I’ll head home. See you soon for date night…you might even get lucky, if you play your beers right.”

  “I see your beer jokes are still just as lame, and by the way there’s no might about it. Love you.”

  “Whatevs, I’m hilarious. Love you too, Jor, see you soon.”

  Once the frame is finished, I quickly get the brushes washed and packed away. Before leaving, I make sure all the windows and doors are locked, I jump into my car to head home. I text Jordan to let him know I’m leaving now.

  Me – just leaving Malt Me now

  Before I am out of the car park, my phone beeps.

  Jordan – I j
ust got out of the shower, looking forward to date nite. Drive safely, I love you

  Me – I always drive safely I’m not you. Love you more

  Walking in the front door, I yell in my best Lucy voice, “Honey, I’m home!” From the back of the house I hear Jordan laughing. After taking off my shoes, I head down the hall to our bedroom. Pushing the door open, I see there are thousands, well maybe not thousands, but a crap load of candles lit and a huge bunch of sunflowers on the dresser. I gasp, Jordan thinks it’s because of the surprise, but I see the sunflowers, and kind of freeze.

  Jordan walks over to me, wraps his arm around my waist, and places a sensual kiss on my lips. Before long, the kiss turns heated and I have all but forgotten the sunflowers. Pulling back, I look into his eyes, which look amazing with the flicker of the candles reflecting in them. “Hi,” I manage to say.

  “Hey, yourself, have I told you how sexy you look? Especially when you have paint sloshes all over you.”

  “Not recently, but I’m not opposed to hearing it.”

  “You, my dear, are the sexiest.” He kisses my neck. “Most amazing.” He nibbles my ear. “Hottest woman on this earth, and I am going to worship every inch of your body. Now strip and get on the bed.”

  Grabbing the hem of my shirt, I slowly raise it over my head, and then I shimmy out of my shorts. I’m left standing in my plain white bra and undies. Jordan is sitting on the end of our bed, in just his dress pants, and if the look in his eyes is anything to go by, I’m going to be panting his name very soon.

  “Fuck me, Kenz, you are beautiful.”

  “You’re just saying that in hopes of getting lucky.” Walking over to him, I push him back onto the bed and straddle his hips. Leaning down, I place feather light kisses over his pecs, up his neck, and I take his earlobe into my mouth and gently bite down. While rubbing myself on his leg, I can feel his cock growing beneath me. I pepper kisses along his jaw and make my way to his mouth, I gently coax his lips apart and slip my tongue inside. Before I know it, he is kissing me back; I don’t know where his mouth begins and my mouth ends. Getting up on my knees, I pull back, spin around, and I slowly make my way down his abs; while I arch my back and straddle his face. He reaches up and gently caresses my ass before pulling my pussy to his face. He pushes my undies to the side and his tongue attacks my slit, licking and sucking like it’s a melting ice cream on a hot summer day. Moaning, I lower his zipper and grab his shaft with my hand, freeing it from the tight confines of his boxer briefs. Gently stroking him up and down, a bead of precum quickly builds on the tip. I lick and suck the head before taking his cock deep into my mouth. I feel him enter a finger into my soaking wet pussy as I suck him deeper into me mouth. Growling around his cock, I lick down to his balls before sucking one into my warm welcoming mouth. As I pull back, I reach my hand down to gently massage his scrotum.