Starla’s spine shot ramrod straight, and she stared at him in slack-jawed awe. “What? You want to put that kind of responsibility on me? Brian—”
“You’ve been by my side since the start, so you know how I like things done. I need someone like that over there because I’m going to be close to home most of the time. And Ghost damn sure isn’t going anywhere, and I wouldn’t wish him as a supervisor on anyone. But I know you seem to need a change of scenery, so you’re my only hope to get this shit off the ground. Candace and I will always be around if you need us for anything.”
“But…um, Brian.” All her protests could be summed up in only three words: “You know me.”
He grinned. “Yeah, I do. I’ll let you have a higher commission and give you say over who we hire, since you’ll be working with them more than I will be. You’ll be my eyes and ears.”
“Stop talking about this like it makes any sense.”
“It’ll be a few weeks before we’re ready to open, though, so until then, you’ll be stuck with us, but I hope you can hang in there in the meantime. If you can’t, though, and want to do something else until then, I would understand.”
“Brian.” By now, she had pushed her hair back, holding it away from her flaming face. Freaking the fuck out inside. She opened her mouth to go on speaking, but he held up a hand.
“Don’t say anything else. Take a few days and think about it. I won’t accept ‘no’ today. I just won’t.”
“And Candace is okay with this?”
“Candace was more upset that you feel like you have to quit than anything else.”
To her supreme embarrassment, Starla felt tears fill her eyes. Again. Hadn’t she depleted her supply by now? “I love her so much. I hope she knows that.”
“She knows. She loves you too. We both do.”
“I want you to know I am so sorry that…about what happened. It’s my fault and—”
“Stop. The only one at fault is the fucker who did this to me.”
“But if not for me—”
“If not for you, it would have been someone else eventually. He’s off the streets now, and he won’t hurt anybody. I’m just glad he didn’t hurt you too. If I had to take this so you didn’t, that’s fine with me.”
Now she was a blubbering mess again, hiding her face behind a swath of her hair so he wouldn’t have to see her trying to get a grip on the fat, ugly tears falling freely from her eyes. He was a husband, a father, and still willing to lay down his life for her. How did she get so lucky, to have such wonderful friends? No…family. These people were her family. Her own had never been there for her, never understood her, judged her, tried to change her. These people accepted her for who she was, fuckups and all, and loved her anyway, crazy-ass mess that she was. She didn’t deserve it, but she would damn sure start appreciating it more.
“Yes,” she said, lifting her teary gaze back to his. “I accept your offer. I will work my ass off for you. I will do everything I can to make sure that you don’t regret this. I’ll start proving it to you right now, today.”
“You don’t have to prove anything to me,” he said gently. “And I’m done lecturing you. I’m sorry for all that shit I said. It wasn’t right.”
“No, I pretty much needed to hear all of it, even if I didn’t want to listen.”
“So…I didn’t want to ask, but Candace told me you were here with Jared Stanton when everything first went down, and he helped Ghost track down Max. How is that going?”
Starla swiped both index fingers under her eyes, hoping to repair any wayward eyeliner. “Oh, horribly, as usual. I blew it. He helped me through this whole thing. He’s been there since the night Max kicked me out of the car—he’s the one who took me home. I didn’t want to tell anyone about it in case it turned into another disaster, and look at me now. The first really good, decent guy I actually had a chance to have a solid future with, and I got pissed and let my mouth get away from me and treated him like shit. So, this job? Change of scenery, like you said—new town and everything—yeah, it’s good for me.”
“Girl, I’ve seen you chase after some sorry motherfuckers since I’ve known you. They could treat you like shit, ignore you for weeks, cheat, whatever the hell else…and you still wouldn’t write them off. I know thirty seconds ago I said I was done lecturing you, but I have to ask. What in the fuck could be so wrong with this guy that you wouldn’t go after him if he’s as good as you say?”
Starla’s chin trembled as sick shame churned in her stomach. Everything he’d said was true. How could she? How could she give all those other idiots the time of day and not afford the same consideration to the man who’d done so much for her? How could she let him go without a fight? “I think I love him.”