Page 31 of Neat
So I could not watch it for the third time as I tried to decipher what that winky face emoji meant, instead.
Mallory
“And just like that, the title of Best Scooter Whiskey Tour Guide has officially been stolen,” I said, peeling my jacket off and laying it over the back of the chair in Logan’s office before I plopped down into it. “Boom.”
I was still making the bomb explosion gesture of awesomeness with my hands when Logan closed his office door and rounded his desk, shrugging his own coat off. “I have to admit, that was a pretty great tour.”
“Great?” I asked, incredulous. “That wasfan-fucking-tastic.I wouldn’t be surprised if Mac doesn’t burst through that door soon and tell us we got twenty-five new Yelp reviews — all five stars.”
“I’m sure that group of young bucks from the University of Michigan would give you ten stars.”
I snorted. “Still wouldn’t give them a chance in hell — although the tall one did sneak me his number when he gave me his tip at the end.”
“I’m sure that’s not theonlytip he’d like to give you.”
Logan waggled his brows as my jaw flopped open, and I reached across the desk, smacking his arm.
“Pig!” I laughed, leaning back in my chair and folding my hands behind my head like a boss. “But see, they loved me because I have tits. The rest of the group loved me because I was charming, and witty, and I had stories galore.” I quirked a brow. “Admit it — that wasn’t bad for a rookie.”
Logan watched me with the left side of his lips quirked, that dimple making a brief appearance before it was gone again. “You killed it. Although, I was impressed as soon as you introduced yourself. I knew it was going to be a good tour.”
“Really? How?”
“Because you actually wore a shirt, and you didn’t have any gum.”
I stuck my tongue out at him, which earned me a chuckle.
“Whatisit with you and that gum, anyway?” Logan asked, cringing. “I swear, I was two seconds away from holding my hand out like a mom and demanding you spit it into my palm the first day you came into this office.”
I laughed. “Well, let’s just say I traded in one bad habit for another.” I held up both hands like a scale. “Quit smoking, start chewing gum like a sixteen-year-old asshole.”
“At least youadmitthe asshole part.”
“Say what you want, Becker. Nothing can bring me down.” I fished inside the pocket of my jacket hanging on the chair, pulling out a wad of cash. “Especiallynot after getting this much in tips.”
“Just wait until you get assigned to a tour of rich businessmen from some tech company in California or some brokerage in New York. The other female tour guides get five-hundred buckseasyon those ones.”
I blanched. “Maybe I should forget my shirt for that one.”
We broke out in a fit of laughter, but the noise died quickly when Logan’s office door flew open, the handle hitting the wall so hard it rattled the room and surely left a dent. I jumped — out of my chair, nearly out of myskin— as Mac steamrolled his way into the office, face red and blotchy, breathing like a dragon again.
Uh-oh…
“Please, tell me what is so goddamn funny, because I could use a laugh after the shit storm you two just dropped on my desk.”
Logan and I were both shocked silent, and we exchanged a glance before Logan cleared his throat. “Sir?”
“Sir?”Mac mocked him, slamming his phone down on the desk in front of Logan. “Thirty years. Thirty years we’ve been giving tours, and not once has a video been leaked. Notoncehas our most precious process been exploited to the public. Until today.”
Logan’s face was sheet white as he watched whatever was on that phone screen, and he swallowed a lump, not even looking at me before he slid the phone across the desk so I could see.
It was a video — one taken in the warehouse where the boys were raising barrels. What was worse, you could hear me in the background, explaining the entire process as whoever it was that snapped the video got a close up of the machinery we used, of the way Noah was arranging the staves, ofeverything.
“Mac, I—”
“It’s my fault,” Logan said before I could get another word out. He stood, meeting Mac’s eyes. “I wasn’t paying attention, I didn’t realize the phone was out.”
“Nor did you explain toanyonein that tour that there was no photography allowed in that part of the tour — as this little shit has repeatedly told me since he tagged us in the video and I’ve been private messaging him trying to get it taken down.” Mac turned his glare on me next. “I knew it was a bad idea when your father told me you were going to work here. If you don’t want any part of this company, fine — but don’t try to take it down in a fire while you’re here.”
