Redeeming You(5)

CHAPTER TWO





Taylor paced the floor of her brother’s hotel room. Jax and Alec still hadn’t returned from meeting Cam for the so-called intervention. Five more minutes and the carpet beneath her feet would be threadbare.

She needed this job, even if it only lasted for thirty days. Her savings account was nearly exhausted and she refused to take a penny from Alec. She loved her brother, but she couldn’t escape the feeling that Alec’s money came with strings. He loved her, but he was also one of the most overprotective, overbearing brothers in the history of mankind. She wanted to support herself, otherwise she’d end up exactly like her mom some day: falling into the arms of any man who would throw a couple bucks in her direction.

Sure, if Chasing Ruin offered her the job, the money she earned would indirectly come from Alec, so in theory, she’d be getting a handout, but at least she’d be doing something for the money even if the job only entailed being Cam’s shadow and conscience. She’d rather dig ditches than live from Alec’s handouts. She needed to make it in life on her own two feet.

Working with Cam would seriously suck. He was a complete douchebag with his pretty boy smile, his blond hair and cutesy fucking tattoos. He wanted to portray some bad boy from the wrong side of town rocker image, but he didn’t even know the meaning of a hard life.

From what she’d heard, he had the perfect well-adjusted childhood in a picturesque mountain town with two devoted parents who showered their only child with endless amounts of affection. Even with all that love and support, he still couldn’t stop his downward spiral after he lost Bre, which was his own fault. Self induced misery wasn’t real. He should try being sucker punched by a heavy dose of parental neglect, abject poverty and shit luck. What a loser.

The door swung open and she spun around. Jax trailed behind her brother. She couldn’t tell from the look on their faces whether she was about to be officially employed by Chasing Ruin as Cam’s babysitter.

“He agreed,” Jax said, leaning against the doorjamb, his feet crossed at his ankles.

If Jax weren’t so head over heels in love with Bre, Taylor wouldn’t mind sampling a little of what he had to offer. Being in the same room with him, she could feel his presence as though it were a living, breathing thing. He had a calling and it was on display every time Chasing Ruin took the stage. Too bad he didn’t need a babysitter.

“So he’s fine with it?” she asked, suddenly a little nervous. She rubbed her hands against her black, shiny, skinny jeans to eliminate some of her anxiety.

“Fine wouldn’t be the word I’d use, but he agreed and that’s all that matters,” Jax said affirming her suspicions.

Alec walked toward her and threw his arm around her shoulder. “Tay…are you sure you want to do this? If this is just about money, I’ll give you money to live on until you find a job you love. You don’t have to settle.”

She shrugged Alec’s hand off of her shoulder. “It’ll be fine. You’ll see. It’s only thirty days and then I’ll have some awesomeness to add to my resume. I can spin it as a PR job.” She smiled faintly and even she didn’t think her smile was very convincing. “Trust me.”

Alec growled. “I trust you. I don’t trust him.”

Taylor laughed a real laugh, not some phony “I’ll be fine” laugh that she’d been dishing out since she dumped her ex-boyfriend. “Don’t worry about me. He’s just a little kindergartener pretending he’s a badass playboy. His charm won’t work on me.”

She lifted her brush from the dresser and brushed her long black hair. Last week, she had added a blue streak at the very front on the right side of her face. She liked the way it highlighted her blue eyes. They looked almost navy today. The hair color change was all part of reinventing her image after leaving her ex-boyfriend, Miles, six months ago. It made her feel as though she was recapturing some of the control she lost over her life when she dated him.

“So what’s the plan? When do I start?”

Jax pushed away from the wall. “Cam’s meeting you in the hotel lobby restaurant in about five minutes.”

Great. Now she was nervous again. She thought she’d have until tonight or even a couple hours to mentally prepare for this meeting. “All right. Well, I’ll touch base later tonight and let you know how it goes.”

“Tay,” her brother called after her. “I can go with you. You don’t have to go alone. I’ll act as a buffer.”

Shit, her brother could always read her like a book, and right now, he knew the idea of talking to Cam made her nervous. She and Cam hadn’t exchanged more than a few words over the last two years; mostly because she’d never felt comfortable around him, but she had to get over it if she was going to do this job.