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“I’m not-” I go to correct him but don’t have chance as Jackson interrupts me.

“That’s enough, Preston.” Jackson barks, his eyes swirling with anger.

“Whoa! Sorry, Cap, just wanted to see if this elusive sister of yours was actually real.” His face goes deathly pale at the look Jackson gives him, a clear warning that they all listen to, and I to try extra hard to cover my growing smirk.

“So you’re his teammates?” I ask, leaning on the bar and looking at all of them. This is going to be interesting, I’ve been dying to know more about Jackson and I have a feeling I’m about to learn more. A lot more.

“Yeah,” another guy answers, holding his hand out to me in the same way that Preston just had. “Wyatt.”

“Nice to meet you all.” I smile at him and pretend I didn’t see his hand.

“Well, hello there,” Jess coos, moving over to Wyatt. I didn’t even see her move off the dance floor.

“Jess, these are Jackson’s baseball teammates.”

“Oh.” She raises a brow at me and smirks. “What do you say we get a booth and you can tell me some interesting stories about Jackson?”

“Jess-”

“Come on, Ava! Let’s live a little, have some fun!”

My eyes move to Jackson and he winks, leaning forward on the bar and saying, “You’ll be fine, they’re harmless. Plus, they know I’ll be watching.”

“You sure?” I ask, looking over at where they’ve all sat down, Jess right in the middle of all of them.

Looks like it doesn’t take much to distract her from Scott. I’m glad though because I was starting to wonder if there was something more to it than just what h

e’d done to me.

“Yeah, I’ll bring some drinks over. You’ll be fine, I promise.” He plants a kiss on my head and walks away, getting the drinks ready.

I don’t move for several seconds, just taking it all in, watching them.

I worry my lip and take a deep breath.

One, two, three. I can do this. Four, five, six. Its fine, they’re Jackson’s friends. Seven, eight, nine.

I push off the stool and walk straight over to them, not giving myself any longer to talk myself out of it.

“Yay!” Jess squeals when I sit on a small stool at the edge of the booth, not wanting to be closed in.

I smile at her and watch as she laughs at something one of them says. I try to answer any questions that they ask me but my answers are stilted. Yes, it means that I can take another post-it note down off my wall but it doesn’t mean my interaction will be fantastic straight away.

All they want to know is how I became Jacksons ‘new sister’ and I don’t want to tell them; I don’t want to tell anyone.

So I just shrug and say it’s a mysterious secret and even though they laugh, I can still see the curiosity in their gazes.

I try to get comfortable around them but after an hour, I still don’t feel it so I grab my bag and tell Jess I’m going to sit at the bar, she acknowledges me with a wave of her hand just before she goes back onto the dance floor.

For the first few nights, I sit and watch how the place works; not letting anyone know who I am. I stay in the office most of the night and go over all the paperwork making sure I know everything that I need to.

Delivery dates, what we have delivered and the quantities, how many people we have coming through the doors on particular nights, when the slow nights are and then going over J’s ideas for those slow nights.

J has said that I should introduce myself to the staff but I wanted to leave it a few nights. I want to see how the place works without them trying to impress the mysterious owner. I haven’t been out there yet tonight, fully intending to go out once they were cleaning up for the night so that we can get the ball rolling and introduce myself.

“We’re just closing up,” J says, popping her head around the door. “Time to get this show on the road.” I chuckle at the excitement on her face and follow her down the back hallway that’s for staff only and out into the bar area.

I scan everyone, taking note of how many staff are here and what they’re doing.