However, the business was a whole different thing, and she was willing to play hardball if she had to. And she knew she was going to have to do it. “Your brother made me an offer.” Damn! She really didn’t want to play this particular card or play any games with Jared, but the stubborn man wasn’t giving her much of a choice.
“He what?” Jared questioned cautiously.
“He made me an offer to be my partner. Complete with a contract and controlling interest. If we can’t make a deal, I’m taking him up on it,” she said, trying not to look him in the eyes.
“You’re not doing business with Evan. He’s a damn shark. He’d eat you alive without a second thought,” Jared snarled. “It wouldn’t matter to him if the money was nothing to him. He’s a goddamn anal perfectionist. He’d be bossing you around every minute of the day, working you until you dropped.”
“But it would be a fair agreement. And I don’t mind working hard.”
“It would be in his favor. It always is.”
Mara shrugged. “A major investor gets controlling interest.”
“I don’t want him controlling you,” he bellowed, angry now.
“He wouldn’t be controlling me. He’d be in control of the business.”
“No.”
“Then draw up a fair contract,” Mara insisted, finally meeting his gaze unyieldingly. “This isn’t fair, Jared.” She had to be strong. This was a business deal.
“Life isn’t fair, Mara. Is it fair that monetarily I’ve always had everything and you had nothing? Is it fair that you lost your mother too damn young and spent most of your adult life taking care of her? Is it fair that you’re so damn talented but can’t fund your own business? None of this shit is fair. For once in my life, I just want to help. Let me do it.” His stare was intense, his eyes dark with frustration.
Mara nearly caved in. Underneath Jared’s carefully constructed veneer of sophistication and coolness lay the heart of a generous man. However, she couldn’t give in to this. Jared talked tough, but she was fairly certain that many people had taken advantage of him in the past. She wasn’t going to be just another woman who used him. “Make the contracts or I walk. I understand that the money is peanuts to you, but it means something to me. It’s not ethical, and I can’t live with that.”
He scowled at her, silent for a moment before replying, “Fine. I’ll do the damn contracts. As long as you’re not doing business with my brother,” he rasped. “Happy?”
She dropped all pretense of working on the dress, letting it drop to her lap. “Yes. I’m excited about starting this business. The only thing bothering me was how unfair it was to you. I want us to be equal partners once the business gets going.”
“What woman worries about being fair to a billionaire?” Jared rumbled.
“I’m not dealing with the billionaire businessman right now. I’m dealing with somebody I care about,” she told him huskily. Knowing it was important that they put one more ghost to rest, she asked quietly, “Are you ever going to tell me about how your friends died?”
His expression turned dark as he closed his laptop and set it aside. “I killed them. I already told you that.”
“How?” Jared desperately needed to let go of his guilt and past pain, and Mara felt close enough to him to push now. And she’d do everything she could to release him from the prison he’d built for himself. She had no idea what had happened, but she didn’t have any doubt that he didn’t deserve to carry the blame that he’d carried for years. Evan had said Jared had changed after the deaths of his friends, and she wanted to see him find himself again. No matter what crap he spewed about being an asshole, deep inside, he wasn’t.
“By being young, stupid, and thoughtless,” he spat out flatly. “Because I was a selfish prick.”
Mara didn’t believe that for a minute, but she stood up, the dress she’d been working on drifting soundlessly to the carpet, and walked across to him, unable to stop herself. Gingerly, she slid into his lap, and Jared’s arms slipped immediately around her waist, cuddling her close as she rested her head on his shoulder. “Tell me.”
For a moment, he didn’t speak. He just held her like she was the most precious thing in his life. Haltingly, he started to talk. “It happened right after Alan and I graduated from college. He wasn’t rich, and he took a lot of student loans to get through school. I had the money to put up the capital for the business, and he wanted to be part of it. We both loved old homes, restoring them back to their original condition. I wasn’t joking when I said I actually had a work truck like yours. I bought a few old homes while we were still in college, and we spent a lot of time restoring them ourselves. We didn’t decide to make it a real business until our last few months of school. The planning stage wasn’t quite over, but we were working on it. Selena and I dated all through college, and she still had one more year to go before graduation. I introduced them, and they’d known each other for several years by the time Alan and I graduated. I have no idea how long they’d been screwing each other.” Jared stopped for a moment and swallowed hard. “We were all attending a Fourth of July party that summer after Alan and I finished college. Pretty much everyone was drunk except me. I didn’t drink much then. My old man was a drunk, and the last thing I wanted was to be like him. So I volunteered to be the designated driver. The party was in full swing when I realized Selena and Alan were missing. I went to find them, and I found them making their own fireworks in a bedroom upstairs.” Jared broke off speaking, breathing hard as though he were living through the whole experience again.