My smile faded. There was the guilt again. “Fuck. I’m sorry.”
His eyes widened. He reached over and squeezed my leg before pulling his hand away. “No. You have nothing to apologize for. In fact, I should be the one apologizing to you.”
He wasn’t wrong. “Nah. It’s fine. I get that people like Brad exist, and it sucks, but I’m not worried about him. I know who I am, and no insults will change that. I’m stronger than that. Stronger than him. In the end, I get to be exactly who I’m supposed to be, and he’ll still be a dick who gives us his money. And hell, he’ll probably qualify it in his head that he’s doing it by his own choice. It’ll make him feel good about himself.”
“You still want to leave that review, don’t you?”
I groaned as I rubbed a hand over my face. “So bad. You have no idea. But I won’t. So long as he holds up his end of the bargain.” I looked back out the window. “It would have been good to know about the Andrew Taylor thing, though.”
Jeremy sighed. “I didn’t…. Vince and Darren? Really?”
“Crazy, right?”
“They’re so… not him.”
I snorted. “That’s because they escaped his crap. Darren was raised by his mother, a badass nurse who lives in Phoenix. And Vince… well. Vince didn’t let his parents break who he is. They hurt him, especially Taylor, but Vince found a place where he belongs. He got a family that accepts him. He’s not a prop to be trotted out for a photo op. He’s not a sound bite.”
“They don’t talk to their father?”
I shook my head. “Darren doesn’t give two shits about Taylor. Vince… after his mom died, I think he saw Taylor at the funeral, but that was it. Why would you keep people in your life that cause you nothing but heartache?”
“He’s still their father,” Jeremy pointed out, and before I could retort, he continued. “Not that I’m advocating for Andrew Taylor in any way.”
“Blood isn’t everything,” I reminded him. “You of all people should know that.”
“I do,” he said as he loosened his tie. “It just threw me for a loop, hearing that. They never mentioned him. At least not when I was around.”
“They don’t talk about him a lot. That’s what happens when your parents do more harm than good. It all comes down to choice. And why the hell would you choose to continue to subject yourself to someone like him? They don’t need Andrew Taylor. They have their people. We can be ridiculous, and we fuck up a lot, but we’re always going to have each other’s backs.”
“You’d do anything for them,” Jeremy said. It wasn’t a question.
“Fuck yeah I would. They’re my family. And no one fucks with my family.”
He laughed quietly. “I’m starting to see that.” I looked over at him as he began to smile. “We did it.”
“Damn right we did!” I crowed into the warm night air. I threw up my hands. “We’re fucking amazing. I gotta let Marina know. She’s gonna flip.” I pulled out my phone from my pocket and began typing furiously.
It only took her a couple of minutes to respond, a text filled with smiley faces and rainbow emojis. We went back and forth for a bit, with me promising to fill her in on the details later, and I only looked up again when the Jeep came to a stop and Jeremy turned off the car.
I blinked when I saw where we were. “What are we doing here?”
Jeremy got out of the Jeep, stepping onto the sidewalk in front of Phoenix House. I jumped out of the slut machine as Jeremy headed toward the front door, keys jingling in his hands.
“Forgot my laptop here earlier. Might as well get it so I can send Stephen the proposal right away. Give him as much time as possible over the weekend to review it.”
That made sense. I walked up behind him as he opened the door and flipped on the lights just inside. It was strange how quiet the building was. Normally music was blasting and people were laughing.
Jeremy glanced back at me. He was smiling, looking softer than I’d ever seen him before. The tenseness that had been in his shoulders all day was gone. He looked loose and happy. It was contagious. I couldn’t help but smile back at him.
We walked down the hallway toward his office. Before we reached the door, his phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket, frowning as he swiped the screen. He typed out a quick response before shoving it back in his pocket.
“Everything all right?” I asked as he held the door to his office open for me.
He shook his head. “It’s… nothing. Remember that guy from the leather bar? Griffin?”
I almost tripped over my own feet but managed to keep myself upright. “Uh, yeah. Seemed like a nice guy.” I hated everything about him.
“He is,” Jeremy said as he rounded his desk. “Just… persistent.”