Jared watched her climb carefully down from his truck, fighting the odd sense of regret at seeing her leave. Unfortunately, it won, forcing his mouth into motion again. “Do you need help getting your purse back?”
“No, thanks!” She slammed the door and scurried up to her front porch, hair twinkling incredibly in the security lights, without a single glance back. He watched while she banged on the door, while someone inside opened it, while she disappeared inside. Closing him out.
Damn.
That had been weird.
Chapter Three
Jared Stanton had the bluest fucking eyes she’d ever seen.
Even in his truck where it had been dark, she could tell. The overhead lights had caught them, making the color explode. Blue, painfully blue, blue as the damn springtime sky outside. She’d seen that color in her dreams all night, blue eyes, first Jared’s and then the cruel icy glint of Max’s and then— “Holy fuck! You look like shit, dude!”
Ghost’s jubilant observation snatched Starla out of her reverie, and she snapped to attention as Brian Ross strolled yawning through the front door of Dermamania. What the hell was he doing here? After staring dumbfounded at him for a few seconds, she voiced that question.
“Someone’s got to keep you slackers in line.” He bumped fists with Ghost and turned his megawatt grin on Starla. She hadn’t seen him in so long, it was like a drop of cool water on a parched tongue, but immediately, she saw what Ghost meant. Poor guy looked like he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in…well, three weeks. Which was the exact amount of time that had passed since Brian’s wife, Candace, gave birth to their son, Lyric.
Of course, the lack of rest hadn’t diminished his appeal at all.
Or dulled the blue of his eyes.
His olive skin was without blemish except for the slight shadowing under his eyes, his black hair as lustrous as usual if a tad longer and messier. He did look tired, he did look sleepy, but he looked happy. He looked at peace with the world, like he had all of it in the palm of his hand at last. Which was all she’d ever wanted for him.
She wanted to give him a hug. That was what a friend would do. That was what she’d done dozens, hell, hundreds of times before. But each one seemed to hurt more than the last, and she didn’t know how much more she could take, how much longer she could keep up the charade.
And she had to keep it up. It was either keep it up or leave.
“Why didn’t you bring the kid?” Ghost was asking.
Brian scoffed. “Please. Let’s shelter him from you as long as possible.”
“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?