Watch Me Fall (Ross Siblings, #5)(80)

So the GTO it was. Jared settled in the passenger seat, shut the door, and glanced around appreciatively. He’d admired Ghost’s car from afar, but he’d damn sure never thought he would ever be sitting in it. Every inch of it gleamed. If there was one thing Jared couldn’t hold against the guy, it was his taste in cars.

But what right did he have to hold anything against him? Except for winning Macy, Ghost had never done a damn thing to him. Their conversation at the hospital had been the longest one they’d ever had. “Nice car,” he ventured as Ghost got in, hoping to break the ice somewhat.

“Thanks.” The engine fired up, purring like a kitten. “We’ll go by Max’s place first. I know he won’t be there if he thinks the cops are looking for him, but damn if I’m gonna try everywhere else first only to find out the idiot was home all along.”

“You found out where he lives?” Starla had probably known all along, or maybe she hadn’t, but if Jared had asked her about it, she might have gotten suspicious about his intentions.

“Yep. I have my sources. If he’s not there, he’s probably somewhere on the meth mile.”

“The…huh?”

Ghost turned a particularly disturbing grin on him. “Come on, man. Are you that sheltered? Clancy Road. The meth mile. It’s not an actual mile, but a lot of people down there are either cooking it or on it, or they act like they are.”

“And which is Max?”

“He slings that shit. Among other things.”

Fucking hell. Had Starla been knowingly dating a drug dealer? What in the hell had she expected getting involved with someone like that? Jared sat dumbly for several moments while Ghost peeled out of the parking lot and headed west. “Does she know?”

Ghost didn’t have to ask who he meant. “I can’t even speculate on what she knows, but I will say this. She’d have to be living under a rock not to. And I can promise you, she ain’t been living under no rock.”

Fantastic. “I can’t believe she would be with someone like that.”

“You don’t know her all that well, do you?”

“I don’t mean to put you off, Jared, but you really don’t know shit about me…”

There was a lot he could handle. A lot he could forgive. A colorful sexual history, fine; it was closer to the norm than not. But being involved in any way with the drug scene? In the back of his mind, echoing along with Starla’s words, was his frigging dad chanting right along beside her. “I don’t want you with someone who’s going to bring chaos like this into your life, into our family. I don’t want it to touch my granddaughters.”

The old man didn’t even have to tell him that. He knew it. Chaos like that was unforgivable. But he resisted the urge to ask Ghost anything about it. Having that conversation when she wasn’t here to defend herself wouldn’t be right.

“But you like her a lot, yeah?”

Jared looked over at the other guy’s profile and found it curious that the usual thoughts weren’t taking hold: What does Macy see in him? How did this guy snatch her out from under me? What do they have in common? Is he good to her? He just didn’t care anymore. “Yeah. I do.”

“That’s good, man.”

“Is it? I thought you’d been giving her a hard time about me.”

“Maybe I was wrong. I’ve always thought if she had someone to level her out, you know, she’d be all right. Maybe you can do that.”

“Level her out?”

“I don’t know, stabilize her. She’s a f*cking emotional tornado. Kind of like I was when…” He paused and sighed. “Never mind.”

“I hear congratulations are in order.”

Ghost glanced over at him. “Did Starla tell you?”

“No, she hasn’t said a word about it. Macy’s parents told me when I was over there looking at some electrical work for her dad.”

“Ah. That workshop he built’s a motherf*cker, isn’t it? I helped him with a lot of it.”

Jared couldn’t help but laugh and wish he could’ve been a fly on the wall to hear a conversation between this guy and Daryl Rodgers. “Yeah. Hang around with him too long, he will put you to work.”

“I’ve learned. We fight like an old married couple when we work on shit, though.”

“So did we, so don’t feel bad. He’s picky as hell.”

“Don’t call him a codger. I learned that much.”

“I never dared.”

“You’re smarter than me. I love to give him shit. I’ve been giving him shit since the first time I met him.”

No wonder Daryl liked him. For the first time, Jared felt something give inside him, like a pressure valve opening and releasing years’ worth of built-up angst. He didn’t know why it was at that particular moment, nor did he care. All was as it should be, and he was actually enjoying the conversation with Macy’s soon-to-be husband.

But Macy’s soon-to-be husband was driving them into the seedier parts of town, he noticed, and any minute now would probably reach their destination. What then? He might be losing years’ worth of angst, but the thought of coming face-to-face with the man who’d put Starla into such a predicament only built more in its place. His fists were clenched so hard they ached, and he hadn’t even realized it until now. The urge to drive one of them into that clown’s face when he met him would be irresistible.