*** Ash's POV ***
I close her hospital room door, step to the side, and slide down the wall. I wrap my arms around my knees.
"Buddy..." Mick squats down and holds me. "One thing at a time, man. Let's start by getting you cleaned up and rested."
"I don't even have clothes to change into. What the hell am I going to do?" I say into my hands.
"You're going to let your friends take care of you. Can we sit somewhere for a minute?" Nathan asks.
"You know, I could really go for a beer." I say with an ironic laugh.
"I've got you covered." Stef nods. I ride with Mick and Stef to the Bearded Barrel. The car smells faintly of smoke, then I realize it's me.
"Stef, do you have a shower at the brewery?" I ask.
"I've got a hose." She offers.
"I'll detour home." Mick replies.
"Nah, man. I don't want to keep Nathan and Lila waiting. They've had a long day too. We all have." I decline.
At the brewery, Stef leads us into her back room. The place is jumping. A few people who were regulars at my place see us come in and give me conciliatory comments as we pass through.
"Keep your head up."
"We will rebuild."
"No one can keep No Regrets down for long."
It's all really nice, but I feel myself getting angry. It's like they don't understand that everything that I owned other than my car and the clothes on my back was in that building. Every bit of spare money was put into improving something there.
We sit and Stef pulls out a pony keg. I recognize it immediately. I shake my head. "You shouldn't open that. It may very well be the last vestige of No Regrets."
She taps it. "Oh well looks like you're just going to have to make more."
Mick gives her a look. "Baby, be gentle."
"So let's start with the basics...food, shelter, clothing. Lila and I planned on staying for a few months and I was just going to rent. How about I buy and it can either be your new home or a place you can rent off me once you're back up on your feet?" Nathan comes out of the gate with a hefty offer.
"Nathan that's very generous, but I'm never going to be able to pay you back." I tell him.
"Then it's a gift. Or a reconciliation for the hell the DeMarco family put you through." He rationalizes.
"That Antonio put them through. My brother is trying to do the right thing now." Lila defends Luis.
"I don't think we've formally met. My name is Mick. I'm a single dad and..." Mick jokingly starts to interview with Nathan.
Stef gives him a look. "Really? When did you become a gold digger?"
"I'm just kidding." He mouths to Lila. "I'm really not kidding."
Lila giggles and everyone relaxes a bit more with their beer.
"When Reese is ready, we can go shopping for clothes. We could shop for you too." Lila says eagerly.
"Or we could go get the essentials and let the girls pick up some additional things." Nathan adjusts Lila's offer.
"That sounds better." I agree.
"Now Reese's next project..."
I suck in a breath. "I'm not sure when she's going to return to work. This whole Carlos as a co-worker turned arsonist-murderer may be fucking with her head a little more now."
YOU ARE READING
Beauty and the Brewer
Romance*** COMPLETED STORY *** Book 3 of the Design Series. Could be read as a stand alone, but if you're curious about what happened to get some of our characters to this point or if you don't like spoilers and plan to read the Design Series, it would be...
