He looks at me curiously. “What if he’s never ready?”
I’ve wondered the same thing, but I refuse to believe it. “Eventually, he’ll have to. I won’t leave Whiskey Run without telling him everything.”
He looks at me with pity. Ever since I told him my story, he’s changed the way he’s treated me. It’s like he’s been protective of me, and I know that fact is going to kill Logan. He wants to hate me, and he’snot going to like the fact that his best friend is protective of me. He gestures to Logan’s door. “If it gets too bad, tell me, and I’ll take care of it.”
I hold my hand up to stop him. “Zach, I can take care of myself. I’m fine.”
He opens his mouth to say something but then snaps it closed. He hesitates. “I’m going to take a little time off. You can reach me, but with Logan back in town, I want to spend some time with Sky.”
I nod with a smile even though I’m already dreading it. If this morning is any kind of indication of how the next nine months are going to be, it would be nice to have some kind of buffer, but I get it. Zach has been nose to the grindstone, taking care of everything these last three months, and he deserves a little time off. “Sure, I’ll do my part, boss. No worries.”
He nods uncertainly. “You can still call me. I’ll be in and out.”
I nod. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine.”
He sighs loudly and then points to Logan’s door. “Okay, well, I’m going in.”
I roll my eyes. He acts like he’s going in for tortureor something. “You’ll be fine. It’s not you he hates…”
But as soon as I start, I stop because Logan has been mad at Zach since he hired me behind his back. He was even angrier when he found out about the one-year contract I signed without an out clause. “Yeah, on second thought, good luck.”
He grimaces and then walks off. He doesn’t knock; he just opens the office door and walks in, closing it behind him. Instantly, voices are raised, and I decide to put my earbuds in. Regardless of everything, I have work to do, and I wasn’t lying. I’m determined to help Logan get his business off the ground. Even if he doesn’t want me to. He talked about his dreams, and I listened. If we can’t be together, I can at least know I helped him live the life he wanted.
CHAPTER 3
LOGAN
“What do you want? I have things to do.”
My best friend, the traitor, acts as if I didn’t say anything and falls into the seat across from my desk, steepling his hands together at his chest. “You still hate me?”
I open my mouth to say yes, but I can’t bring myself to do it. Zach and I have been through some shit together through the years, and he was always someone I could depend on. Yeah, I’m pissed at him, but I don’t hate him. “I want to see this contract.”
”What contract?” he asks, perplexed.
I grit my teeth, not wanting to even say her name. “The contract you signed with Bree. I’m sure there’s some kind of loophole.”
He ignores me and looks around my office. “What do you think of your office? Hell, I should have had Bree decorate mine. This is nice.”
I just grunt. Yeah, the office is nice, but there’s no way I’m going to give her any credit for anything. “What do you want, Zach?”
He leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. “I thought after last night, we were okay. I mean, you seemed okay last night.”
I glare at him. “You were asking my baby sister to marry you. What was I supposed to do? Challenge you to a fight in the front yard? Or hell, maybe I could have punched you in that pretty boy face for the camera.”
Zach nods. “I know. You’re mad, and I get it. Thank you for not ruining last night. It’s killing Sky that you’re pissed at me. She wants us all to get along.”
I move to the edge of my seat. “First, she’s my baby sister, and I’d rather cut off a limb than have her upset. You can tell her that we’re good, but you need to know that what you did is fucked. I mean,so fucked. If you knew… if you knew what she did, you wouldn’t have hired her.”
He doesn’t seem surprised. Calmly, he nods his head. “I know what she did. She told me.“
My mouth falls open. “And you still hired her? You hired her knowing that she…” I let my voice trail off because I can’t even say the words.
Zach clears his throat. “I hired her without knowing anything. I knew you loved her, and then I knew you broke up. That’s all you told me. I didn’t know… until after I hired her.”
I glare at him. “And what? She just give you a sob story and you forgave her?” I hold my hand up. “You know what? Forget it. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t even want to talk about her.” I point between Zach and me. “We are not going to talk about Bree Banks any more. Not now, not ever. I’m going to look at this contract, and if there isn’t a loophole, at the end of the nine months, she’s gone. No ifs, ands, or buts.”
He opens his mouth to say something but stops suddenly. “Fine. I did what I thought was best, and just so you know, after talking to her and hearing her side, I knew it was the right thing?—”
