“I got a call from a friend at the police department this morning. Jameson Andrews has filed an assault charge against you. You need to go in and give your statement.”

The nightmarish haze in his thoughts turned into a vicious black hole, consuming everything. “Lousy lowlife son of a motherf—”

Evan cut in, his voice firm, as Brian walked furious circles trying to contain the urge to slam his fist into the brick wall and pretend it was Jameson’s face. “If you don’t go in, Brian, there’ll be a warrant issued for your arrest.”

“I can’t leave, man, I gotta—”

“Look, I realize you’re worried about your place and getting it cleaned up, but there’s nothing else you can do here right now and I don’t want to see you hauled off in handcuffs. Candace doesn’t need to see it, either. You need to go and get this taken care of. All right? Brian? Look at me.”

“That bastard most likely did this, and now…” Brian stopped pacing, took a breath and tried to calm down. Finally he lifted his head and looked Evan in the eyes. “All right. What am I looking at?”

“It depends. It’s a class A misdemeanor, and we don’t prosecute those, the county attorney does. It could all get dropped, or you could be looking at a stint on probation. Probably not any jail time, although it’s possible.”

“That’s f**king marvelous.”

“Like I said, that’s unlikely, especially if you’re cooperative. That’s why I’m telling you to get your ass to the station now.”

“Do I need my lawyer?”

“Are you fighting it?”

“I don’t guess. I only did it in front of three other people.”

“You can call him if you want, but it’ll probably be the same outcome either way. Do you want me to go with you? I can’t do much except wait outside for you.”

For some reason, he needed that. Even if Evan wasn’t in any position to help, he’d feel better knowing he was around.

Pride didn’t go down very easily, and it tasted like shit when it did. “Yeah, if you don’t mind. I guess I can tell Candace I have to go in because of this.” He gestured to his parlor. “But I don’t want to lie to her.”

“Probably best you don’t. Does she have somewhere to go?”

“She came with me, and I don’t want her going home by herself.”

Evan reached forward and put his arm around his shoulders. “Come on, then, and let’s figure something out.”

Candace bit her lip as the men came back from the side of the building. She’d heard raised voices, but she hadn’t been able to make out the words. Both of them were wearing identical expressions, but then she’d just realized that if you took Brian, cleaned him up and stuck him in a suit and Ferragamos, you’d have Evan. The resemblance was striking.

And now, they both resembled carved granite statues. Brian motioned for her, and she left the group of his friends and employees she’d been huddled with. Her heart hadn’t quit its frantic pounding since he’d first told her what happened, and it tripled at the look on his face.

“Your brother has filed charges on me,” he said sharply.

“Oh, my God, Brian.”

“I have to go to the police department before they cart my ass off to jail, and you have a final, so—”

She tried to understand that he was extremely upset, but his tone wounded her. “If someone can take me home, I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t want you to go home.”

“I’m not going to have a nervous breakdown if I have two hours by myself,” she snapped. “My family isn’t going to kidnap me and ship me off to a convent. I’ll catch a ride home with Starla or someone, and I’ll be okay.”

“All right, fine,” he said, starting to turn away toward Evan’s truck. “I’ll call you after I’m done.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t bother.”

He froze, looking back at her. “What?”

“I’ll wait for you,” Evan muttered to him before walking away so they could talk.

Candace waited until he was out of earshot before she dared open her mouth. “It’s obvious what’s going on here. You’ll hardly look at me, you’re barking at me like I wronged you somehow, and I get it. It’s fine. If you’d never gotten mixed up with me, you’d still have your parlor, and you wouldn’t be going to the police station right now. I’m just—”

“Goddamn it, Candace, don’t do this right now. Not now. I can’t hear this from you on top of everything else.” The expression on his face would be in her nightmares tonight. “Excuse me for having my livelihood trashed all to hell and a shiny new criminal record out of the deal. I’ve got enough shit to deal with, don’t you think?”

“No one said you had to hit Jameson. I never asked you to do that. But at the same time, I didn’t have to run off on Deanne’s wedding and piss everyone off. It’s no more your fault than mine, Brian, but maybe this isn’t the best thing for us right now.”

He was still stuck on her statement about Jameson. “I wasn’t about to stand there and listen to him talk about you that way.”

“Fair enough, but that was your decision. I told you to let me handle things. And now, I’m asking you to let me handle this.” She wanted to weaken at the look on his face, but she had to stand her ground this time. “You take your time getting everything back on track. It looks like you have a lot of work ahead of you. Let me try to smooth things over with my family. Maybe once everything is settled, we can try again, if we’re inclined.”

“No,” he said, and she felt her heart shatter at the sudden pleading in his voice. His hand came up as if he meant to touch her face, but he caught himself. She really wished he hadn’t. One touch and maybe she would forget all this, forget what she had to do. “I’m sorry my head is f**ked up right now, all right? I’m sorry if I made you feel like I blame you. I don’t, I swear. Can we talk about this when we’re more rational?”

She gave him a sad smile. “I’m perfectly rational right now. If you were, too, you’d realize that I’m right. It isn’t just about what they’re going to put me through. It’s what they’re going to put you through too.”

“I’m a big boy. It might not look like it right this minute, but I can take it. I think you forget where I came from. I think they do, too.”

“I don’t know if I can take it.”

“So you’re giving up. You’re going to live under their rule for the rest of your life. Marry whatever buttoned-down yuppie they throw your way and pop out a half-dozen kids.”

“And what do you have envisioned for the future?” she snapped. “I want to finish school and have a career. I would like to have a family someday. You probably think that sounds like a life of hell—”

“You’re pigeonholing me, and I don’t f**king like it. I’m doing what I love right now. Every day, I get to create works of art and help people express themselves. I watch their faces light up when they see how their new ink came out, and I see their eyes well up when it’s something that means the world to them. I never need to do anything else. I don’t want to.” He stabbed a finger toward the building. “That’s my f**king future, Candace, right there. Anyone who’s going to be a part of my life has to realize that.”