Sweet Love - Mia Kayla Page 0,6

eyes, tightly feeling the ground sway beneath my feet. “You know what? I’m going to go.” I about-faced, my eyes still closed.

“Honey …” Alyssa gripped my shoulder. Her voice was meant to soothe me, but it did the opposite to my raging, beating heart. “You look a little green. Maybe you should sit down. Casey, baby, put that away, please.”

I gripped Alyssa’s forearm, and she led me back to the table, where I sat down.

“It’s put away,” Casey said.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, my breathing and pulse still ragged.

Casey placed one soft hand on top of mine on the table. “You have an aversion to needles or something like that? Because I get it. My roommate was like that. And my mother, she can’t be around when I have to check my blood sugar. When I was younger, my father did it—”

“Casey …” Alyssa’s stern voice stopped the chatty box from chattering.

I dropped my head in my hands and rubbed at the temples. After a beat, I found my voice again. Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, I said, “I have an aversion to needles—to blood mostly. Any blood. Even if it’s a paper cut, I faint at the sight.” I inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, practicing my calming techniques.

Alyssa patted my back. “Well, it’s really good we know that now. I wouldn’t want you to inadvertently faint or something like that, especially not on your first day of the job.”

It took a few seconds to get my bearings and for my breathing to even out.

Casey smiled. “Are you okay? Do you need some water?”

Alyssa had ahold of one of my hands, and Casey had ahold of the other.

I shook my head. “I’m fine.”

And for a tiny bit, the first time since I’d moved into this new town, as these two new girls held my hands, I knew that everything was gonna be okay. At least here, at work, it would be.

“You know what is better than water?”

I peered up at Alyssa.

“Alcohol.” She smiled. “Happy hour tonight, and we’re not taking no for an answer.”

Connor

It was funny how time went by so quickly when you were on a deadline.

I breathed through my next few seconds, peering at the sea of little people walking to their destinations below me. At this height, looking down, it seemed like I was on top of the world, but looks could be deceiving.

I’d been racking my brain on new concepts for the rebranding initiatives, working through lunch at my desk, trying to think of new ideas I could have my marketing team work on, but other than what Charlie had said this morning, my mind was coming up blank.

Maybe I could outsource, hire another marketing firm. But the reputational risk was too huge. It couldn’t get out that Colby’s was struggling.

Leaning closer, I rested my head against the floor-to-ceiling window. It didn’t matter, right?

I never considered this my company. It was my parents’ company, not mine.

If I’d had it my way, I’d rather they have worked at regular jobs, be home at regular hours, and then they would have had more time for us.

I don’t care about this company.

I don’t care.

But the more I said it, the more I knew it wasn’t true. Then, all of it—all those long hours, all my bitterness to my family, their time away from me and Kyle while we were growing up—would have been in vain.

This company needed to thrive. More than the livelihood of my family depended on it. Other families depended on it.

The door opened behind me, and Kyle strolled in. I almost groaned out loud.

“You’re still here?” I deadpanned. “You need a job.”

He plopped down on the seat in front of me. “I have a job. I sell socks.”

Socks. A socks company that was failing. My parents had given him enough money to start his own online company. After graduating with a business management degree, he’d decided that he wanted nothing to do with Colby’s and he wanted to start something of his own.

From a young age, my brother had gotten everything he wanted. That was how I saw it anyway.

By the time he had been born, money had been less tight, and business had been booming.

Although my parents had never been around for me, they had been more present for him. Still busy but at least there. You’d think I’d hold a grudge against him, but I loved the bastard.

“You need to look for more retail stores to sell your socks.”

He needed