Icy dread lined my spine. “Did you tell them about us?”

He snorted. “Hell no. All your credibility would’ve been gone. You’d have to be a goddamn nun, do charity events twenty-four seven, openly donate all of your earnings to God, and maybe then they might give you the benefit of the doubt. I’m sorry, but that sucks. That really fucking sucks.”

I sank as far down on my chair as I could get. I was almost in a ball.

He didn’t know. He couldn’t understand what his words were doing, how I never would’ve been believed, but now I was?

I pressed my forehead to my knees, feeling tears on my face once again.

I was so sick of it.

I was so sick of life, and that hadn’t hit me until Reese laid it all out.

All of that I’d lived. All of that I still carried. All of that, alone, just on me.

I’d never told anyone, not Damian, not my family. Everyone had heard when it happened, but no one said a thing. Why would I have bothered to tell anyone else? Why would anyone believe me?

Until now.

Reese kept pacing. I could see him swinging his arms around from the corner of my eye. He was rolling his shoulders like he was warming up for a game.

“Coach spoke, and he backed up your claim about not having a place to sleep. He said he brought it up to your boss, and he’d said just what you told us he would. He’d have you stay in that janitor’s closet. No one should sleep in a janitor’s closet. And all the extra work you did? You worked from when you woke up, till I made you leave the gyms at night. You never got paid for all of that.”

He snorted. “And you know what their first response was? That manning the gym courts wasn’t extensive physical labor. That was their justification. That place sucks. Why in the world did you work there in the first place?”

He stopped now, waiting, focusing on me.

I lifted my head and rolled one shoulder back. “Because my friends were there. Because at one point, they were a second family to me.”

His eyes swept over my face, and he cursed under his breath.

Crossing the room in two strides, he bent and picked me up.

I went willingly, my arms and legs wrapping around him, just like on that wooded path two nights ago. He carried me to the living room, sat us on the couch, and hugged me. His head burying in my neck.

“I don’t have the words to take away what happened to you, but I can tell you what happened because of your friends rallying around you.”

I sat back, wanting to see him when he told me.

He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Your boss was canned. I spoke up, saying I’d only consider coming back to your camp if your friend Owen took that dickhead’s spot. Coach backed me up on that, just saying we’d consider it. I’m not saying they hired him based on our recommendations, but I think it helped a little.”

“So you’re saying…”

“Your friend Owen is the new director at that place. And they hired your friend Grant to take Owen’s spot. I don’t know what it was, because he was in the kitchen the whole time I was there, but they all seemed happy about it. They made another move to hire you as their head of publicity. Apparently you’re good at that stuff?”

I frowned. I was? “If I am, that’s news to me. What’d they say?”

“They approved it, and I told them what my publicist makes and not to take that position for granted. You could do a lot with publicity, so I guess if you want it, you have a job with them?”

“What’d they say the salary would be?”

Really? Was I going to be picky?

“I don’t know. I just know your friend suggested you, and they approved offering you a job. I had to promise all your friends tickets to the next local game for them to let me come see you first.”

“What?” I shoved back from him, already turning for the door.

“Relax.” He chuckled, his hands moving down my back, pulling me close. “I got the night. They’ll show up in the morning, when I go to the airport. I worked it out with them.”

This was all happening so fast.

Still on his lap, I leaned back, dazed. “I went to bed last night worried about a job and a place to live, and now all of this? If they offer me a job, I’ll have to move there, but even staying in Fairview, the rent will be cheaper than anything here in the city.”

I couldn’t believe it.

And Reese was here. And he wasn’t mad at me, just irritated, then mad for me.

I started crying.

Big surprise there.

“What? This is all good, right?” He brought his thumbs to my face, wiping tears away.

“I think it’s just a conditioned response. Anything happens, and it was the questions. Now it’s this. I’m evolving.”

I think…

But I was laughing and smiling, and I couldn’t believe it. “Am I going to wake up and all of this will be gone?”

Reese smirked, bringing his palm up to my face, wiping the last tear away. “Nah, but can we skip some of the other formalities, because I only have the rest of the day and night with you…if you know what I mean.”

I nodded, and he picked me up.

He took me to bed.

Later that evening, after the bed, the shower, the couch, and back to the bed, we ordered pizza. The delivery guy left after a full-out gushing moment over Reese, who had answered the door before I could offer to get it first. He’d paid for the pizza, signed an autograph, and declined a selfie before I came out of the bedroom fully dressed. Only going around in shorts had its benefits—one was getting the door first.