Watch Me Fall (Ross Siblings, #5)(54)
Starla was featherlight and trembling in his arms. What the hell should he do with her? Leaving her alone didn’t seem the best option, but neither did leaving her like this. He took her into his bathroom and set her on her feet, making sure she could support her own weight before he let go.
In this lighting, she was even more of a fright. Hair a mess and streaked with brownish red where she’d been pushing it back with bloody fingers. She’d apparently changed clothes, wearing a clean but very unStarla-like white T-shirt, but her skin was still streaked a vicious, disturbing dark crimson. He cranked the shower on. “You need to clean up. I’ll get you something else to wear.”
Sniveling, she nodded. “I didn’t know where else to go. I couldn’t go home, I just couldn’t. And…and…”
“Starla.” He drew a deep breath. “Is he alive?”
Fresh tears streaming down her cheeks, she nodded. “He’s alive. He just came out of surgery. They won’t say he’s out of the woods yet, but he’s hanging on.”
Relief swooped through him that there was a chance. “Good, that’s good. Tell me everything.”
“It’s my fault.”
“Starla—”
“Don’t try to say it isn’t! Someone attacked him in the parking lot as he was leaving tonight and stabbed him in the back. The doctors said if the wound had been an inch to the right, he probably would have died before I found him. I know it was Max. I know it was. They tried to tell me, and I didn’t listen. It’s my fault, it’s my—”
What a frigging mess. Sighing, not knowing what else to do, Jared pulled her into his arms again as steam from the shower filled the bathroom. Her warm tears leaked onto his skin, but she was done with sobbing for now—only a thin tremor worked through her as he held her.
So she’d found him. The guy she loved more than anything, she’d found him bleeding. Jared was no stranger to witnessing something horrific happen to a loved one, but there was damn sure no immunity to be gained from it. He’d just found her bloody and desperate at his front door and thought the worst. He hadn’t exactly stopped shaking yet himself.
He pushed his fingers through her tousled hair and held her closer, taking most of her weight as she relaxed into him. Ignoring how right it felt. “That’s crazy talk, darlin’. It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known this would happen.”
“He tried to tell me, you know, at first when he told me not to get involved with Max. I didn’t listen. I got mad at him. I told him it was none of his f*cking business. And he almost died tonight. I guess it was his f*cking business, wasn’t it?”
“But he didn’t die. You found him, and you acted fast, and you saved him. You did. He’s strong, and he’ll pull through, all right? He’s made it this far.”
“That’s what Candace tried to tell me. She thanked me for saving him. She doesn’t know, though. She has no idea. You should have seen her. I had to leave. I couldn’t take it. She’s broken.”
“Did they catch Max?”
“No. I told them everything I knew, though. Everything. They want him for questioning.”
“When did you leave the hospital?”
“As soon as Brian was out of surgery. I don’t know. A few hours ago.”
“Jesus, where have you been since then?”
“I went back to Dermamania for a while. I thought about staying there, but I couldn’t. The cops held us there questioning us for the longest f*cking time. They made me wait in Brian’s office where a f*cking picture of him and Candace is on the desk, looking so happy. I couldn’t take it staring at me, so I had to turn it facedown.” She looked ready to keep stammering on about that, but he interrupted her.
“After you left there, did you come straight here?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He didn’t like the thought of her driving aimlessly around. He didn’t like the thought of her at Dermamania either, or even at the home she didn’t want to go to.
He only liked the thought of her here.
She gave a sad little chuckle and pulled away from him, staring at herself in the broad mirror over his double sink with deep lines of exhaustion set around her mouth. “Really? I’m sure you love for blood-soaked girls to show up at your doorstep before six a.m. I’m sorry to drag you into this.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m gonna let you get cleaned up, okay? Towels are in that cabinet over there. I’ll find you something to put on.”
“Thanks,” she said glumly, holding his gaze in the mirror as he backed toward the door.
“Holler if you need anything.”
“I will.”
He closed the door, hating to leave her alone. But even though he’d seen her naked, staying with her now felt like an intrusion he wasn’t willing to make.
First things first…the situation demanded an entire pot of coffee. He set one to brewing before doing anything else, then threw on a T-shirt. For Starla, he came up with a pair of Shelly’s sweatpants that were shoved in the back of the closet and the smallest of his shirts he could find—which would still be too big for her. He doubted Starla was much concerned with how she looked right now. He also figured food was the absolute last thing on her mind, but he started on bacon and eggs anyway. No doubt whatever he whipped up wouldn’t be nearly as good as something she made, but he wanted to put forth the effort for her.