Ben shrugged. “After this afternoon, we weren’t quite sure which side your loyalties were on.”
“Loyalties—” I glanced at the woman now standing beside me before looking at Ben. Ripping his damn head off while his hands were wrapped in gauze seemed ill-advised. Not with this girl trembling beside me. “Now is not the time for this. Can you just take us to Jake?”
“I can take Kayla. I’ll see if he wants to see you.”
; I fisted my hands.
“No, she can come.” Kayla’s voice was shaky, but her face was sure. “I know he’d want her there.”
I swallowed down the angry tears. “Thank you.”
“Suit yourself.” Ben held out his arm. “We have to head upstairs.”
Kayla tucked her hair behind her ear. “I didn’t recognize you or I’d have come over to sit with you.”
I gave her a tight smile. “Same. You were a lot smaller last time I saw you.”
“Braces and crooked pigtails.”
I laughed. “Yes. That I remember.”
She gripped my forearm as we followed Ben down the hall to the bank of elevators. “I know Jake wants you in the room. The guys are just… Well, the guys. Protective to a fault. Why I don’t live in town.”
“You don’t?”
She shook her head. “I work in Syracuse—well, worked. I just got fired.”
“Fired?”
She shrugged. “When I got the call that Jake was in the hospital, my boss didn’t take too kindly to me wanting to leave.”
“Jerk. It’s family. I’m sure we can talk to him or her.”
Kayla shrugged. “It was a shit job. I took it because I thought I was going to be training to be a sous chef. In reality, I was just learning how not to get my ass groped.”
“Jesus.”
Ben shot a dark glance over his shoulder.
“All part of working in the restaurant field. Waitressing gets it far worse.”
“Not in my bar.”
“Yeah?” She finger-combed her hair. “Jake told me you took over Sharkey’s. Or at least inherited.”
“It’s mine.” It was the first time I’d really said it out loud. “It needs work, but it’s going to be amazing when I’m done with it.” I gave Ben a little side-eye. “When we’re done with it.”
Ben held the door to the elevator open, but he didn’t say anything as we crossed the threshold.
“So, are you a chef?”
She shrugged. “Trying to be. School didn’t take, but I’m self-taught. I’ve been cooking and working in restaurants since I was sixteen.”
The elevator opened and Ben strode off. Kayla’s gaze followed him then returned to mine, her cheeks flushed.
Ben was attractive, if a little…intense. “Maybe we can talk about that when we get Jake situated?”