Watch Me Fall (Ross Siblings, #5)(6)

“On the contrary. Expose him. I will teach him the ways.”

“The ways? The ways of what?”

“Of all things, dude. All things.”

“That’s not weird at all.”

“How’s Candace?” Janelle asked from across the room.

Brian brightened even further. “Amazing. She’s in mommy-beast mode right now. I can’t even get close sometimes. I try to tell her, ‘Baby, let me do something for you,’ and she snarls at me. I’m like, ‘I want to hold my son!’ and she bites my arm if I try to take him. I have marks.”

All of them had a laugh at the thought of good-natured Candace behaving that way. “I don’t blame her,” Janelle said. “The pictures you sent were so adorable. All that black hair! He’s so tiny. And just too perfect. I wouldn’t want him to leave my arms either.”

Brian beamed with fatherly pride. Starla died a little more inside.

Happiness, remember? He’s your dear friend, even if he’ll never in this lifetime be anything else, and he’s happy. Your life should be complete knowing that. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop— She had to turn away before they saw her blink back a tear.

You are a stupid bitch, aren’t you?

What would Candace think of her?

Somehow, that hurt worst of all. Candace was a sweetheart, and every longing thought about Brian that filtered through Starla’s weak mind was a stark betrayal of her. She didn’t deserve it. She didn’t have one damn thing to worry about—Starla might have her faults, but she would never, ever attempt to break up a happy home, but still. It would hurt Candace to know her good friend nurtured a raging infatuation with her husband. She would never trust Starla again. And who could blame her?

It had never been this bad. Starla had suffered years of platonic friendship with Brian Ross, some years harder on her heart than others, but never like this. She’d even managed Candace’s arrival in his life with grace—figuring it would be a temporary thing for him, a fling, nothing more than the thrill of seducing the good girl while her affluent family wanted his head on a platter. But it hadn’t stopped there. He’d fallen hard. Candace had moved into his life, his apartment, even his business, taking up residence most days in the back office of Dermamania. Then the news of his proposal. Then the shock of Candace’s unexpected pregnancy and their subsequent quickie wedding in Las Vegas. They’d bought a house. Brought their son into the world.

Every event had driven the knife of this aching, unwanted attraction deeper into Starla’s heart, and now there was love like Starla had never seen before shining in his weary indigo eyes. It was more than she could take. She didn’t have any more blood to bleed for him. What the hell was she going to do?

A sharp whistle brought her head around. Everyone was staring at her, so she jerked back around pretending she had something caught in her eye. “I’m talking to you,” Brian said.

“Sorry! Lost in my thoughts. Freaking allergies and contacts. Let me just…” Leaning close to her mirror, she feigned making an adjustment, praying they were all fooled.

Well, Janelle—who knew the whole sorry story—wouldn’t be. At all.

“Heard you had some trouble last night,” Brian said. Ghost scoffed.

Starla gave Janelle a surreptitious evil eye in the mirror. “It was nothing.” Thanks for calling him. I still plan to cut you later. Janelle’s reflection gave her an innocent shrug.

“What happened?” Brian asked.

“What usually happens? He got weird. I got out.”

“How’d you get home?” Ghost asked.

“Um…” Shit, how much to reveal here? Oh, your girlfriend’s ex who hates you took me home. “I got a ride.”

“From who?” Brian asked. “Tell me it was someone you knew.”

“Indirectly.”

“Damn, girl.” He sighed and boosted himself up on his counter while Starla’s blood began a slow boil. Not at him, not really—mostly at herself. That her disastrous love life had only caused her another humiliation for him to hear about. At least it was enough to piss her off, to clear up her eyes and give her the courage to meet his gaze, which was now troubled. Because of her.

“Is that what you came here for?” she asked. “To see what sort of mess I’ve gotten myself into this time?”

Brian’s dark brows drew together. “What the hell’s your problem?”

“Nothing. Never mind.” She turned back to her station.

“Don’t f*cking turn away from me. What’s the deal?”

Starla had to chuckle. She and Brian could yell and fight and she could want to scratch his eyes out, but both of them knew that tomorrow they would still be cool. Why couldn’t she find a relationship with as much security and stability as that?

She looked back at him. “I don’t need an audience for every mistake I make.”

“You’re usually the one playing out your mistakes on a stage for all of us to see.”

Ghost’s and Janelle’s gazes swung back and forth between them as if they were watching a fierce tennis match. “I didn’t ask Janelle to call you and drag you away from your wife and baby,” Starla snapped. “She took that upon herself.”

Brian indicated himself and Ghost with a wave of his hand. “Because she thought one of us might be needed to get you away from that f*cking * you keep going out with despite everything we’ve told you.”