“I’ll make sure Ruby’s situation is fixed,” he promised. “No one will contact her again. I’ll have them scrub her name off all their lists.”
“What makes you think you could do that?” It was one of those too good to be true things. It was far too simple.
“Because I’ve been Ruby, though my skill wasn’t hacking. It was something a bit more visceral.” He looked at her, and in the low light his eyes seemed almost black. Like he was a gorgeous demon standing in front of her, offering her a deal. “I was technically military, but I worked for some people who would love for me to do the occasional odd job. My openness to future employment will make them amenable to my suggestions that Ruby Lockwood be deemed off limits. Couple that with MaeBe befriending her, and your friend should be on the right path.”
She owed Ruby so much, and there was a recklessness to the kid that worried Vanessa. She needed a mentor, a strong presence in her life who could help her along. “What makes you think MaeBe would even like her? You haven’t met her.”
“MaeBe likes everyone. MaeBe sees the good in everyone. Even when she shouldn’t.” He glanced back into the living room. It was a warm, inviting place, a place where family gathered, and perhaps that was why she hadn’t felt comfortable there. “You should know that I pretty much threatened to kick Michael’s ass for putting her out in the field. I knew this would happen. I knew she would get hurt.”
“I didn’t hurt her.” She was getting a little angry. “Everyone here expects me to forget what you all put me through. Could I have a day or two?”
“Not in my experience. Things move fast. So do we have a deal?”
He was a bastard. “Fine. I’ll be nice to MaeBe. I’m a good actress.”
“And she’s not good at telling when someone’s lying to her. I should know all about that. I’ve been lying to her for a long time.” He finished off his beer. “I’ll handle the situation. Now would you like some advice?”
“No. I’d like a new bodyguard.” She was pretty sure this wasn’t going to work out. Any guilt she’d felt for mistaking his relationship with her sister was gone.
“Good luck with that,” he returned. “Now, I think we’re very similar people, Vanessa.”
“I don’t see how.” She was as far from Kyle as she could be.
“We’ve both suffered betrayals that cut so deep we’ll never recover from them. Or at least we think we can’t.”
“Is that why you don’t make a move on MaeBe? Because some other woman betrayed you?” She could ask questions, too.
“Oh, there are a myriad of reasons I can’t touch MaeBe, but that’s in there. I’m damaged in a way that would likely kill her if she ever found out. If she knew the things I’ve done…well, the crazy thing is she would forgive me for all of it and try to help me be a better person. She wouldn’t see that there’s something rotten in my soul.”
“I don’t think I’m rotten, Kyle.” And she resented him for saying she was. He’d said they were alike. She hadn’t become what she could have. She hadn’t become bitter and angry.
“No, you think you’re unlucky,” Kyle countered. “There’s a voice in your head that tells you that even when you got everything you wanted, it fell apart. Your dream turned into a fucking nightmare. Man, if what happened at the station is what you go through every day, I have no idea why anyone would want fame.”
She didn’t either. Not now that she’d tasted it and it had turned so bitter on her tongue. “I wanted to feel seen. I spent my whole life as this poor girl no one looked at twice until I got boobs, and then I was something to be used and thrown out with the trash. My sister was the smart one. I was told I was the pretty one, and then I found acting classes. I had to do it behind my mom’s back because she thought most movies and plays were low forms of entertainment. She thought movies gave people unrealistic expectations. She was a big believer in realistic expectations.”
“And what should one expect, according to your mother?” Kyle asked.
“That we all suffer and die, and that’s how to get to heaven.”
“And my mother believes there is nothing we can’t get through as long as we love each other.” He set the bottle down. “I guess we’re going to find out which mom was right.”
She knew the answer. “Yours. That’s why you’re here, right? You left whatever you were doing and came home because she engrained that belief in you. That she loved you so much, you could get through anything. You’re not as damaged as you think you are.”