Page 2 of Heartstrings & Hijinks

“I saw it too,” another lady came over, holding up her cell phone like she was going live for millions of followers. Fuck, I hoped not. “I was gonna stop her from drinking it also, but then he drank it.”

The bartender raised a brow. “You drank the drugged drink?”

“Yes.” Now that I was realizing my actions, that was incredibly stupid. Nothing I could do about it now.

The bartender looked at the man. “Don’t go anywhere. I’m calling the police.”

“I’m already on the phone with them,” the lady said. Plenty of others were watching the scene unfold. If the man tried to escape, someone would stop him.

I sat down and put my head in my hands. How fast did this stuff work? The lady I saved from being drugged sat next to me and put her hand on my forearm.

The criminal let out a string of curses and started shouting. I drowned out his words.

“We’re gonna need to call someone so you can go to the hospital or go home and sleep it off. I heard him say that it was just a mild thing, so you might not need a hospital, but you can’t drive.”

I groaned and leaned my head into my arms over top of the sticky bar. “Oh, that was so, so dumb.”

She laughed. “It was, but it’s kinda funny. And, well, you saved me from—” She shuddered. “An awful situation.”

“Well, I am glad for that,” I said. I tried to look at her, but the room spun like one of those carnival rides I enjoyed as a kid but didn’t have the stomach for now that I was older. The lights flickered and dots filled my vision.

“Oh, goodness. Stay still. I’ll get your phone from your table.”

I nodded. When she came back, I tried to use it, but everything was getting a little fuzzy. My fingers wouldn’t work, and I ended up getting myself locked out for a while.

“Call Hot Gregory. He can pick me up.” Or did I need her to call Not Hot Greg? How was my brother saved in my phone? Was he saved as brother? That would be weird. He had to be under his name, but I needed to have him saved differently than Hot Gregory “Don’t call me Greg” Alton.

“Got it,” she said.

She talked for a little while to me or to someone on the phone. I couldn’t tell who it was. The room was spinning so much that I was having trouble making sense of it all. At some point, a man in a police uniform talked to me or something, and he gave me a card. I put it in my wallet or my pocket. Or maybe I ate it. No. I probably didn’t eat it…

Then Hot Gregory was there, saving the day.

Hadn’t I said not to call Hot Gregory?

Chapter 2

Gregory

I opened the report that I had to review and focused. Despite the late hour, I figured I’d get this task started and probably finished before calling it a day. I ought to be heading home, being that it was Friday night, and I was the only one in the office—save for a few of the late-night crew that were working on deadlines, like my coworker Mark and his assistant Sawyer. Alas, I wanted to get this done, because if I didn’t finish it here, I’d probably work on it tomorrow, and I promised myself I’d at least have one weekend of not working.

Mark and Sawyer were in the office across from mine, both diligently working away on whatever project they had. Most everybody had trickled out by now, though. They gave me awkward smiles and waves as they left, like perhaps they shouldn’t be leaving before the boss for the weekend. In reality, everyoneshouldleave the office before me. I should be the last to go home.

I really shouldn’t be working this late into the night. But what else did I have? My home was empty and cold. The white walls and black furniture had seemed so modern and fun when I picked them out after buying my apartment years ago. Now, they were just boring—like the rest of my life.

All I had was this business, and it showed. If someone had told me twenty years ago, when I was fresh out of college, that I would be the grumpy CIO of a multimillion-dollar corporation with no life outside of it, I would have scoffed. I was never gonna be the grumpy one in the office. The CIO thing made sense, but I wasn’t going to be the stereotypical jackass boss. My business was going to have a great culture. Lots of fun. Everybody left by five. Perfect work-life balance.

My reality was very different than my young, newly graduated fantasies. HR assured me that our satisfaction rates were up with all employees. People loved to work here. So apparently, they had a work-life balance—or at least they didn’t hate their jobs. I didn’t hate mine either, I just didn’t have anything outside of it.

I was about halfway through the report. My office was growing darker, now that the sun had gone down, and I hadn’t yet turned on the overhead light. That was when my phone rang.

Not many people called me, least of all on a Friday night. Text message was my preferred method of communication. I was old enough that I even preferred email. I glanced at the phone, surprised to see Evan’s name on the caller ID. I hadn’t even realized his name and number were saved in my phone, though it did make sense. He was my best friend’s younger brother, and one of our best financial analysts.

My adrenaline spiked. The only reason Evan would be calling me was if something was wrong with Greg. Greg was on a ski trip to some such place. He was due back in two days. Had something happened? Greg was my closest friend as well as my business partner. It would make sense for Evan to call me if something happened.

I stared at the phone a little too long, then scrambled to pick it up and answer it before it could go to voicemail.

“Hello?” I said, my voice coming out rough.

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