“You work here?” the nearest cop asked him.

“Yeah.” He blew out a breath and forced himself to relax. “Anything missing?”

“Doesn’t appear to be, according to the owner.”

The angry rampage of a spoiled little shit. “Brian did tell you he has an enemy, right?”

“He mentioned it. Anything you can tell us?”

“Only that I was here until around one o’clock last night and the place was fine when I left. I didn’t see anything suspicious.” As the officer quickly made a note, Ghost chewed over dropping Macy’s name and decided against it. Probably a bad idea, but really, she hadn’t seen anything he hadn’t. Why drag her into all this?

He scoffed at the idea of her spending a couple of hours with him and then getting a visit from the cops about it. How freaking classic.

The officer asked a few more questions, took all of his information down and gave him a card with a number to call if he remembered anything else. Whatever. Ghost doubted they’d be putting in overtime down at the station to investigate; this town was so f**king conservative the citizens and surrounding businesses would probably be more than happy to see the parlor shut down permanently.

So much for his livelihood the next few weeks.

The curse he muttered got Janelle’s attention, and his coworker wandered over from where she’d been looking in the busted windows. Her short, usually spiked blue hair was flat and demure this morning. “Sucks, doesn’t it,” she said glumly.

He agreed, and then remembered the scene with Brian and his girlfriend. “Why the hell was Candace giving Brian shit?”

“I tried not to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t really help it. I gather it was about the possibility of her brother doing this.”

“Well, if he did it, the sonofabitch oughta pay. If she doesn’t think so then—”

“I don’t think she’s mad because Brian thinks he did it. She’s upset that her family would strike out at him and thinks he’d be better off without her.”

She might be onto something, if this was the result of their hooking up. But he didn’t say that. He might say it to Brian later, though. It was affecting them all now, and maybe he was a jaded bastard, but Ghost couldn’t imagine any relationship being worth all this.

Macy’s amused hazel gaze floated through his mind and he felt a little bit guilty and resentful about being such a jaded bastard.

“Did I hear you say you were here late last night?” Janelle asked.

“Yeah.”

“Doing what? That’s not like you.”

“I wasn’t trashing the f**king place, if that’s what you’re—”

“Oh God, don’t be a dick. I’m just saying it’s weird for you not to cut out soon as closing time comes around.”

Again, he doubted Macy would appreciate him getting the rumor mill working overtime. He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I was here late. I didn’t see anything. End of story.”

“Fine.” She ambled away, leaving him alone for the moment. In a few minutes, though, Connor and Tay showed up to curse and vow revenge along with him. Not long after that, Evan dropped Brian off. The guy looked like a caged animal that had been zapped with a cattle prod one too many times, and they pretty much let him brood on his own as he paced around and muttered under his breath.

Ghost wasn’t a big enough idiot to ask him if he was all right. He knew the answer to that. But he did walk over and stand beside him once his pacing slowed and he finally stood staring into the busted-out maw of his business and the detritus within with his arms crossed.

“I can’t believe this, man,” Brian finally said. He was positively trembling with pent-up rage.

“I know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Well, it’s not just me now; that f**ker has dragged you guys into this too.”

“We’re with you. We’ll get it all back.”

“Just so he can do it again?”

“I’m sure there will be ways to persuade him not to do that, know what I’m sayin’?”

Brian shook his head. “Where will it end? We kick his ass, the pu**y sends us to jail. We get out, kick his ass again, he sends us back. That’s how little piece-of-shit piss-ant cowards operate.”

“Right. That’s definitely what we’re dealing with.”

“And Candace, she thinks the answer is to give that motherfucker and her entire family exactly what they want.” Ghost remained silent for so long that Brian finally looked over at him. “I guess you have something to say.”

“Something you might hit me for.”

“Then don’t say it. Not now.”

“All right.” He sighed then, defeat settling in when he realized Brian was quite possibly more upset over Candace’s reaction than the building. “No really, man. I’m with you. I’m on your side. You know what you have with her and if she’s worth it, then hang in.”

“I kind of need her on board with that too, and right now she’s not.”

“If she loves you like that, she won’t stay away for long.”

Brian scoffed. “When did you turn into a f**kin’ romantic?”

Last night? “Oh, piss off.”

The problem with first love was that it usually led to first heartbreak. Macy sighed after listening to Candace blubber for ten minutes and finally pulled her in for a hug when her words dissolved into hiccupping sobs. They sat on Macy’s couch, having settled in for an ice cream binge while trying to find something to lift Candace’s spirits on TV. It didn’t look promising.

Seriously. How many people really ended up with their first love? Well…her parents, if they were to be believed. But still. It was rare. And while Macy wished she could spare her best friend the pain, she supposed in the end it was a necessary evil. Now Candace could work on getting over Brian and moving on with her life, maybe to another guy her parents wouldn’t want to lynch on sight.

Macy wasn’t trying to be the bad guy. She simply believed there was someone out there that Candace could love without bringing down the entirety of the Andrews family’s wrath on her head. But Candace didn’t need to hear that now. So Macy kept her mouth shut and murmured soothing nonsense while Candace cried all over her.

A knock at the door sounded a minute later—probably Sam. “Come in!” Macy called. Candace didn’t even bother raising her head.

The door opened and Sam breezed in, her expression dangerously full of purpose as she tossed her purse aside and took Macy’s burden away from her, grabbing Candace in a hug.

“I’m so sorry,” Samantha crooned, stroking Candace’s blond hair like a mom soothing a toddler with a boo-boo. “It’s going to be okay.”

“No it isn’t!” Candace wailed.

“Honey, talk to him. You can work this out.”

Macy wanted to throttle Sam, but she chewed her bottom lip to keep from screaming.

Candace sat up and swiped her palms hard over her cheeks, really only succeeding in smearing her mascara almost to her ears. “It’s no use. They won’t leave us alone. At least not now. Maybe after some time passes…but oh my God, I already miss him so much. And the thought of him finding someone else… It’s killing me.”