Jet (Marked Men #2)(67)

I was startled because even though Shaw was tiny, when she wanted to, she had enough attitude to seem much bigger. I wasn’t expecting her to push away from the table and I wasn’t expecting her to glare down at me like I had just kicked her puppy across the room.

“We agreed on the truth, Ayd. If you can’t do that, then I’m not sitting here listening to this anymore. I’m already pretty pissed that you think any of that stuff in your past would have mattered to me. You know for a fact Rule was a manwhore, probably more of a slut than anyone really knows, and I loved him anyway. I would like to think that after our friendship took root, you would have known that I would have looked past anything to see all the wonderful things that make you, you.”

She was going to leave. She was actually walking away from me in a huff when I reached out a hand and clamped onto her arm. My brain was having a hard time getting around the fact she was angry about Jet, about how I had treated him, and not the fact I was asking to borrow twenty grand and the fact my past was so ugly and that I had kept it from her for so long.

“Shaw.” I was trying to find the words but she was on a roll.

“No, Ayd, you listen to me. I saw you with him the other night. Hell, I’ve seen the way you’ve watched him for over a year. No, he isn’t a guy who’s going to work in a cubicle and push paper around for a set salary. He is the guy who will turn you inside out, and make you forget about all those stupid boundaries you’ve set for yourself because you’re scared. Jet isn’t going to care about your past; he has one of his own that isn’t pretty. But, like a coward, instead of talking to him about it, you ran away from him when he needed you. You dropped him when he’s getting ready to go on tour for three months, and practically dared him to stick his dick in every European groupie who looks his way, just to get you off his mind.”

I pulled her back into the seat across from me, and waited until the curious stares her outburst had garnered died down. My heart already felt like a heavy stone in the center of my chest. When Jet hadn’t come home last night, every worst-case scenario I could come up with played through my head on an endless loop for hours. For the first time in forever, I cried myself to sleep while I was still wearing his shirt and wishing he were there to make it better.

“Look, I had to break things off. You don’t know my brother, but robbing Jet’s studio, taking everything that’s important to him, is right up Asa’s alley. I refuse to let someone I care about be my brother’s victim, because of me. Jet deserves to go on this tour, to have something just for him, finally. I did what I did to protect him.”

She sighed heavily and squeezed my hand. Some of the heat had faded out of her jade gaze.

“I think Jet is a big boy. I think if you were honest with him, he would not only be able to protect himself, but you as well.”

I shook my head vehemently. No.

“Asa is trouble and he just needs to go away.”

“So what? You think if he burglarized the studio, you can offer him the money and get the stuff back? I don’t understand.”

“I want the money to see if I can get the book back and get Silas out of town, and off my back. Asa is all about protecting Asa. If I tell him the studio had cameras, there’s a good chance he’ll take the money and run.”

“What if it was Jet’s dad? Rule and Nash were talking about it last night. They seem to think Jet’s dad is the most likely culprit. Apparently, there is a really ugly story there that neither one of them was inclined to share with me.”

It was my turn to sigh.

“I can’t take that risk. If it wasn’t Asa this time, it will be Asa next time. All this has made it pretty clear that no one is safe from him and the kind of havoc he can wreak. The closer you are to me the worse the destruction tends to be. I’m not willing to put Jet in that line of fire.”

We stared at each other for a long moment. I could see the wheels turning in her head, and could see her trying to put all the puzzle pieces together. I knew no matter what, she would come through for me. Shaw loved me, and since I had been with her when her world went upside down and sideways, I knew there was no way she would hang me out to dry when mine was hanging so precariously. Gulping down the fear, I bit down on my bottom lip and told her the truth that I had been shoving back for so long.

“Look, I don’t know about love, or being meant for someone, but I’m infatuated with him. He makes me smile just by being in the same room. When he touches me, I forget to breathe and when he sings to me, oh my Lord, when he sings to me there are no words to describe what that does to me. He has his own struggles, and his own bright and hot place that’s hard to get around because of the heat it generates, but that never stops him from trying to get to me. I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about him. I hate that he ever thought I was so pure, so breakable, but now I feel like I’m shattered into a million pieces of remorse and regret, because he knows just how fallible I really am. I might be in love with him, but I can’t be, because I’m not willing to be the one who destroys him.”

I could feel pressure and moisture build in my eyes, so I dug my nails into my palms to hold it back.

“I haven’t cared about his plans for the future, or compared what a life with him would look like instead of with a guy like Adam, ever since he kissed me in the bathroom on Valentine’s Day at the Fillmore. He’s just . . .” I trailed off and had to close my eyes to keep the emotion from spilling out. “Everything. He is just everything I want.”