Bang (Blast Brothers #2) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,74

hurting me now, even if that wasn't his intention. I wasn't even sure why I was hurting. I mean, it's not like we made any promises.

Stiffly, I said, "I see."

Except I didn't. Not really.

"And I would hurt you," he said. "I wouldn't mean to. But I would."

"But why?"

"Because it's not my thing. I don't believe in it. And you do."

I shook my head. "It?"

He said it again. "Love."

That word – it sounded so good from his lips. But the sentiment, it was all wrong. "But you love your family," I said. "And they love you."

With a rueful laugh, he said, "Not today."

I winced. "Yeah, I heard about the whole whistling thing. How's your eye, by the way?"

"Eh, it looks like shit. But I'm fine." His voice softened. "It's you, I want to talk about."

"What about me?"

"Listen," he said, "I think you should find a new job."

Chapter 44

Cami

My mouth opened, but no sound came out.

On the phone, Mason said, "Are you still there?"

I bolted upright in the bed. "Oh, I’m here, alright. Are you seriously firing me?"

When he spoke again, his voice was very quiet. "No."

"Are you sure?" I said. "Because it sure sounds like it."

"Don't worry, I'm gonna pay you."

"For what?"

"The rest of your term – I'll pay you through the end. And if you want to find another job, you can get paid for that, too."

I gave a snort of derision. "So what is this? Some family tradition?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're not the first Blastoviak to try to such a stunt. Trust me. I know."

"It's no stunt," he said. "It's a real offer."

"An offer?" I said. "Or a command?"

"No one's commanding you to do anything."

"Oh yeah?" I said. "So you're not commanding me to leave?"

"It's not like that."

"Isn't it?"

His voice was quiet in the night. "No."

"Why not? Because you're paying me for the privilege?"

"I'm paying you because it's fair."

"To who?"

"You," he said. "Look, it was my mistake, not yours. So I'm paying for it, not you."

"And what about Willow?"

"What about her?"

"You were the one who was so determined that I should stay through the end. And now you're paying me to leave? Do you realize how insane you sound?"

"Fuck yeah, I realize. And you wanna know why?"

"Why?"

"Because I am insane." He made a scoffing sound. "Shit. I don't mean clinically. I just mean, I haven't been thinking straight. But I do know one thing."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"It's nobody's fault but my own. So I'm gonna make it right."

"No you're not," I said. "What you're trying to do is write a check to make a problem go away. And I’m here to tell you, I'm not having it."

"Meaning?"

"I'm not leaving. If you're paying me, I'm staying."

"Is that a joke?"

"No." My jaw clenched. "Because unlike you, I can be an adult about it."

"And I can't?"

"Obviously not," I said. "Have you listened to yourself? Here, you go on and on about how much you care about Willow, and then, when things get a little dicey, you think you can just whip out a wad of cash–"

"I thought it was a check."

"Yeah. And I thought you cared about your sister."

His voice grew ragged. "You think I don't?"

"No. What I think is you're not thinking straight, just like you said. I mean, come on. Earlier today, you jumped your own brother. That's not exactly normal, you know."

"Trust me," he said. "It was a long time coming."

"I don't care. I'm just telling you, you're full of it." Now that I was going, I couldn't seem to make myself stop. "And as long as we're having it out, here's a question. Why on Earth do you keep hiring nannies in your own age group?"

"As opposed to what?"

"Like some nice grandmotherly type." I made a sound of irritation. "Or are you worried they'll get all 'naughty' with you, too?"

"That's not it."

"Are you sure?" I said. "What, you think no one can resist you?"

"No. What I thought was Willow would like someone around the same age as me, so we'd be more like…"

I waited, but he never did finish the sentence. "Like what?" I said. "A regular family?"

"Shit. I dunno."

"Yes, you do," I said. "So you go out and hire hot single chicks – me excluded of course and—"

"Why not you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Why are you excluded?"

I sighed. "Because I'm not the hot single type. I'm just a regular girl."

"Trust me, Cami. Whatever you are, it's not regular."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, sure. But the point remains, you keep having the same problem over