“I can’t do that many more times before I’m wiped out. And business loans will be out of the question if they take a hard look at our financials, which, of course, they’ll do, and—”
“Sav, slow down. Back to deep breaths. We’ll figure out all of that later. Right now, I need you to focus on our immediate problem. What made you go on the run?”
Thinking about the past twenty-four hours, as scary as they’d been, was easier than contemplating the demise of my entire life’s work. “Because this happened.” I reeled off my text exchange with Devlin, which was burned into my brain by now.
Ben let out a low whistle. “That fucking guy.” He wrinkled his brow, then shook his head. “Devlin. Unusual name. Why does it sound so familiar?”
I slid down in my seat. I’d hoped he wouldn’t remember. “Because you met him. The summer you and I... We ran into him.”
His face darkened. “Wait, is that the asshole who hit on you at that club while you were literally sitting in my lap?”
I sighed. “That’s where you met him, but I wouldn’t say he was hitting on me.”
“Dude wanted to fuck you, and he wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding it. I had to have words with him when you went to the ladies’ room.”
My cheeks burned with embarrassment. In seven years of working together, first at the consulting company and then in building our own business, Devlin had never once mentioned that conversation. Even when we’d crossed the line and become more than business partners, he hadn’t told me. All that time, he’d kept the secret that my boyfriend had marked his territory like some sort of alpha male protecting his female in heat.
“What, exactly, did you say to him?” I asked.
He glanced at me and shrugged. “Not sure I remember the details, but the gist of it was that he should piss right off because you were taken.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling. It shouldn’t have amused me that Ben had gone all caveman on Devlin, but after what that spoiled golden boy had put me through these past two weeks, I was glad someone had dressed him down at least once in his life. I also pressed my legs together and shifted in my seat. As a kick-ass-and-take-names woman, who usually took care of myself, thoughts of the confrontation should not have made my lady bits tingle.
“Are you telling me he never made a pass at you in all the years you worked together?” Ben asked.
And just like that, the tingle evaporated. “He didn’t start a company with me to get into my pants,” I snapped. Just because I’d slept with Devlin for a few months after years of working together didn’t mean I’d slept my way to success. I wouldn’t let Ben think that for even a minute. “The investment company hired me full time that fall while I finished my degree, and I earned two promotions long before Devlin approached me with the business plan and investors. And I’m the one who brought in clients and made it all work. I busted my ass for years.”
Ben gently touched my arm. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t insinuating anything about you or your success, I swear. I guess some part of me is still a stupid kid with a jealous streak.”
I snatched my arm out of his grasp and leaned against the door. A kid. Is that how he saw himself that summer? Because I’d sure as hell seen him as a man. “At least we can agree you were stupid.”
He grinned. “There it is.”
“There’s what?”
“Your fighting spirit. I saw a glimpse of it in the parking lot.”
“After you manhandled me.”
“After Ihelpedyou.”
“Let’s agree to disagree, especially since you’re going out of your way to possibly aid and abet a felon.” I said it lightly, but as soon as the words were out of my mouth, their weight settled over me. “Shit, Ben, what if I’m a felon?”
“Nope. We’re not going to expend precious energy on that right now. We need to focus on getting you safe.”
I turned toward him. “Why are you doing this? I mean, I know Mai asked you, but you didn’t even question me or ask about the trouble I was in or how it might affect you before you agreed.”
“You really don’t know?” He sighed and shook his head. “Shit, Savannah, because it’s you. It’s always been you. No matter where either of us goes or what we do in our lives, on some level, in some way, it’ll always be you.”
6
BEN
What the hell had I said? What the fuck was I thinking?
I’d opened my mouth to reassure Savannah, to explain this was what I did. I swooped in, took charge, got people out of harm’s way, and retreated before the dust could settle. Like my dad always said about me, I was Three-Be Ben: be brief, be bright, and be gone.
Instead, I’d spilled my guts all over the car, and Savannah had fallen into wide-eyed silence beside me. So much for being bright. Around her, I still devolved into the stupid twenty-two-year-old defending my woman’s honor. Or more like the horny sixteen-year-old who couldn’t stop fantasizing about her wearing her graduation cap and gown with nothing underneath it. Or maybe the dumbstruck thirteen-year-old with a first crush on his big sister’s totally off-limits best friend.
