“So you’re just going to completely humiliate me today.” She fists her hands and shakes her head. “Fine. I live up here because I invested every dime I had into this building and my restaurant. Because I needed something just for me. It’s mine, and I own it outright.Mine,Brooks, and I refuse to be embarrassed by it. No one can take it away from me. So if I have to live up here and deal with crazy temperature swings, and join the gym to take showers, and do my laundry at the laundromat two miles away that I have to walk to when my car is out of commission, and sleep in the restaurant when it’s so fucking hot outside that it’s two hundred degrees up here, I don’t care. I’ll gladly do all of that and more without a complaint because it’s a million times better than anything I’ve had before this.”
She swallows hard, like she didn’t mean to say that much, and my heart is lodged in my throat.
What the fuck does she mean?
“Jules—”
She shakes her head, and I work to gentle my tone.
“Jules,” I try again. “There are other places for you to live. Hell, I have?—”
“No,” she says, interrupting me. “I don’t need you to fix this for me.”
“Don’t be so fucking stubborn. You shouldn’t be living up here. Baby, it’s?—”
“I’m not your baby. Not anymore. And I know exactly what this is, and I won’t be ashamed. I’ll fix it up. I can learn to finish walls and put in a decent sink. This isn’t for you to deal with, Brooks.”
My hands are in fists, and my breath is coming fast. I don’t want her here. But she’s right, she’s notmine.I can’t make her go with me.
“I have to get back to work. Dinner’s about to start, and we get busy at this time. My crew needs me. Thanks for the ride home.”
She won’t look me in the face again, and I want to crush her to me, demand she tell meeverythingthat happened, and take her home with me where she’ll have everything she needs.
She’s not my problem.
It’s getting harder to believe that. Harder to walk away. To stay away.
Blinking quickly, as if she’s about to cry, she whispers, “Please, Brooks. Just go, okay?”
“I need your number so I can call you about the car.”
I tug my phone out of my jeans and pass it to her, and she texts herself, then passes it back to me.
“I’ll be in touch.”
She bites her lip and nods, and I leave her alone in that attic that isn’t good enough for her.
As soon as I arrive at my house, I call the tow truck to retrieve the car and deliver it to my garage, then I text Beck and Bridger. I’d call Blake, too, but he’s at the hospital today.
Me: I need some help with something. Are you free?
I pace my kitchen and tip my head to the side to crack my neck. Agitation builds in me as my phone pings with a response.
Bridger: I’m off today, just doing some yard work. What do you need?
Then a message from Beck comes in.
Beckett: Just finished at the barn. What’s up, B?
I grin and text them back.
Me: It seems Barry’s been ripping off Jules. Took her for thousands. We’re going to teach him a lesson.
Bridger: Uh, Brooks, I don’t want you to go to jail.
Me: No jail.
Beckett: I’ll pick you both up in twenty.
