But Ghost didn’t know what Jared knew, and that was only Starla’s secret to tell. He didn’t want to betray her trust in any way, but the thought of this prick striking out at others within her circle… “Enough to try to kill him? Would Candace’s family deprive a new mother—someone they supposedly love—of the father of her child? Seems excessive.”
Ghost shrugged. “I don’t know, man, I’m just saying. They hate him enough to try to ruin him. Enough to completely trash his business a couple of years back. We had her brother to thank for that. Now Brian nearly gets whacked in the parking lot? Smells rotten to me.”
“Yeah, maybe.” A little too rotten. Though it would be nice to know Starla didn’t need this guilt she was carrying around. Still, he was reluctant to believe it. “It seems too angry. Too malicious to be something like that.”
“It might seem that way, but whoever it was, the dickhole was too chickenshit to stick around and finish the job. If Max wanted someone dead, fucker’d probably be dead. That dude’s crazy.”
“Maybe something happened and he got scared.”
“Brian’s right hook happened. His knuckles are cut and bruised. He got a good hit in before he went down.”
Good for Brian. “Do you know where Max lives? It’d be interesting to see if he has a busted lip or a black eye.”
“I don’t know where he lives.” He gave Jared a long stare with dark, suspicious eyes. “What, you looking to do some detective work? Why the fuck would you bother?”
“If it’s Max and he’s targeting people close to Starla…be careful, all right? Make sure Macy’s careful too.”
Just like that, those suspicious eyes went cold. “Ah, so it all comes clear,” Ghost said. “Macy’s covered, don’t you worry.”
“I’m not trying to start trouble with you.”
“See that you don’t.”
“But you shouldn’t have trouble with me being concerned for a friend. I’ve known Macy since we were kids.”
“You think I don’t realize that?”
“All of you should be on your guard. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Duly noted.”
Jared supposed it was a start. At least he’d planted the seed. But seconds ticked by and Ghost wasn’t going anywhere. He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets, staring at the door through which Candace and Starla had left. “That’s my best friend lying in there,” he said at last. “My brother. Someone tried to kill him, and I want to know why.”
“I don’t blame you.”
“And you’re right. If Starla feels that strongly about this, it’s worth looking into. Any leads are better than none. Shouldn’t be too hard to find Max.”
“Unless he’s on the run.”
“That would tell the story too, wouldn’t it? He’s always around somewhere. He’s like fungus, he flourishes where it’s dark and dirty. If he can’t be found at any of the usual locations, then something’s up with him.”
“Think we could check out any of those locations?”
Ghost’s dark eyebrows, always with a bit of a sardonic arch, arched higher. “You and me?”
Jared didn’t know what he was thinking; he was sort of flying on autopilot here. The cops should be left to do their job. He damn sure didn’t want to do it for them with this guy, of all people. But police officers were overworked, and this wasn’t their only case. Who knew how long it would take them to locate a person of interest if that person of interest was lying low? The sooner they could find this creep and get him off the streets, the sooner everyone’s lives could go back to normal. The sooner Starla wouldn’t have to be afraid anymore. But then she’ll probably be gone.
He knocked that thought aside. “Yeah. If you’re thinking of going to look for him, then I want in.”
“I don’t need backup.”
“Did I say you do? I want to see for myself. No way am I gonna sit back and let him terrorize someone I care about.”
“Hey, I told you—”
“I’m not talking about Macy. You tell me she’s covered. All right, I believe you. I’m talking about Starla.”
Ghost fidgeted. He rubbed a hand over his bald head. Looked helplessly at the doors again, blew out a breath, looked back at Jared. In those mannerisms, Jared saw a guy itching to get shit done, maybe even to work out some pent-up aggression. “I can’t do anything tonight. We have baby duty. If you’re right—and I’m not saying you are—but if there’s even a chance, then fuck if I’m leaving Lyric and the girls alone.”
“Good.” That was what he’d wanted to hear. He dug his cell phone out of his back pocket. “Give me your number, and I’ll text you mine. When you’re ready to move on this, let me know.”
“This is some shit I can’t believe,” Ghost muttered, then recited the digits as Jared typed them in.
Jared’s chuckle deserved the award for least amused sound ever to be formed with human vocal chords. As soon as this was all over, the guy didn’t have to worry about Jared contacting him ever again. He’d wipe that number from his contacts like a filthy secret. But right now, allies weren’t a bad thing to have—the more, the better.
The enemy of your enemy was your friend. “You and me both, man.”
***
Starla sat in silence on the way home. Jared stared straight ahead at the road between glances at her, letting her brood in the peace he knew she so desperately needed. Whatever turmoil was going on behind her soulful brown eyes, it was hers, and she would think he could never understand it.
She might be surprised. He’d also witnessed someone he loved lying broken in a hospital bed. Macy, with her spine fractured. Those horrible moments when they didn’t know if… When they just didn’t know. Would she make it, would she be okay, would she come back from it, would she ride? Would she walk? The only time he could remember being truly terrified in his entire life was the moment he saw her horse throw her off during her championship barrel race, when he saw how hard and how brutally the ground twisted her back. Everything was muddled after that. He’d been there watching her race, cheering her on, and in an instant, life had constricted to a tiny black hole and exploded into a universe full of chaos. He’d been the first to reach her, but he couldn’t touch her. She lay limp as a rag doll, and all he’d wanted was to yank her into his arms, to fix her. And he couldn’t. Even later, after they knew everything would be okay, she wouldn’t let him near her. She’d told him to get out, and he had. She’d shed everything about her life like an old skin, him included.
Loving someone you couldn’t have; damn, he had a degree in it.
One thing he had absolutely no fucking clue about was how it might feel knowing there was a monster out there hunting you. Waiting to pounce on you or someone else close to you. He couldn’t take away Starla’s pain over the guy she loved—he’d never had much luck treating that particular pain himself. But he could do something about the monster.
He’d texted Ghost his number earlier and gotten a thumbs-up emoji back in response. An unlikely partner, that one, but whether he liked it or not, Jared didn’t have much doubt that Ghost would do anything to keep Macy safe, and probably any of his other friends too. He really couldn’t ask for more than that.
“Are you hungry?” he finally asked Starla, sensing her shift in her seat and look over at him in the darkness.
“I haven’t really thought about food since this morning,” she admitted quietly. Then, sighing, she pulled the elastic band from her high ponytail and let her hair fall in voluptuous waves around her shoulders. “I have such a headache.”
“Probably because you haven’t eaten all day,” he said lightly. “Do you feel like going anywhere, or throwing something together at home?”
“Are your cabinets stocked?”
“Pretty well.”
“I’d rather throw something together, if it’s all the same to you.”
“I didn’t mean you had to. Obviously I’m not much in the kitchen, but I can, like, boil water and throw some macaroni in it or something.”
She laughed. “Cooking calms me. It’s okay.”
“You won’t hear me complaining.”
“I’m so…fucking furious.”
He clamped his jaw shut, feeling her gaze fully on him now. Let it out, he thought. Now the brooding was over, she needed the outlet. Giving her all the space she might want so that she could gather her emotions into words, he only looked over at her and nodded.
“I don’t know how I can even express it. Usually I lash out at people who piss me off, but this is such a deep, deep hatred that it might destroy me to talk about it. I’ve never hated anyone this much. I fucking want to fucking explode and take that sonofabitch out with me by his fucking throat.”
Jared wanted to say he got it. But he didn’t. He couldn’t. Only if another person had physically put Macy in the hospital all those years ago would he even begin to understand Starla’s anguish. Only the idea of Max somehow getting his hands on Starla came close.