Page 18 of Twisted Hearts

“Thank you.” I squeezed her firmly before stepping back. “And I do want that—to get to know you more.”

“Then it’s done.” She held out the hand holding the keys to the apartment. “I have one more thing to show you. We came up through the alley out back and there’s parking there obviously, but it’s not the only way up here. I just want you to know that.”

There was a door to one side, the only one she hadn’t shown me yet. I’d assumed it was a closet, but now I noted the larger bolt above the doorknob.

“Okay.”

She unlocked the door and pulled it open. As she did, I caught sight of the keypad.

“This door heads down to the back hall of my store. It’s locked at the end of the stairway, too, with the same code as this one. Nine-eight-nine-eight. It’s easy to crack, I know, but easy to enter, and Oliver and I are the only ones who know it. Not even my part-time employees know. Directions to change it are in the kitchen, but I want you to see where it goes.”

Absolutely I did. “Lead the way.”

It was a narrow staircase and dark due to the poor lighting, but once we reached the bottom, she flipped the sole deadbolt lock and pushed it open. We entered another hallway with a heavy metal door on the left that I assumed took us to the alley. There were three other doors to the right, one open and revealing a bathroom sink and mirror, another closed, and at the far end, one more that was also closed.

“This takes you to the store. Come with me—you might as well as least see what you’ll be living over.”

I followed her easily, waiting while she unlocked that door with another keypad, and we walked into a darkened store that looked like any other jewelry store I’d been into due to the glass-enclosed counters. That was where the similarities ended, though.

Instead of chandeliers and crystal and diamonds, this place was rustic with worn floors and heavy wooden light fixtures holding lights that hung from wood beams and black wires not encased in fixtures or domes.

The stools where customers could sit and try on jewelry on one side of the counters looked like they came straight from a farmhouse, all aged leather and dark stained wood.

“The is incredible,” I said, my voice breathy. “It’s got a barnyard feeling, but high class and not stuffy. You make all this?”

“Almost all of it. I started with an online storeyearsago—feels like another lifetime—but when I moved here, my brother gave me the ability to chase my dreams.” She flung her arms out wide, gesturing to the store.

It took me a moment for what she was implying to register, and my eyes went wide with surprise. “Your brother did this for you?”

“He bought the building with cash, so honestly, when I tell you rent is not necessary, I mean it.”

“He could do that? Wow. That’s great.”

She laughed lightly, shaking her head. “Someday we’ll sit down and I’ll give you the information on everyone I’m connected to, but Beaux, my brother, he’s the quarterback for the Rough Riders. Still plays. After he was traded here and I told him I was leaving my fiancé in Des Moines and moving here, he went out and bought me this place. He’s a pretty awesome guy.”

I was used to wealth, enormous amounts. Still, I knew whatever I grew up with was a hell of a lot less than what professional athletes made, what Shannon now had. I’d never, not once, seen or known anyone who used their wealth in such a lovely way.

“He sounds like it.”

“He is. So is his wife, Paige. If you live here for a while, you’ll meet her. She comes in all the time to hang out while I’m working. Beaux comes in too sometimes, and I’m betting with Malcolm’s bar opening soon, all the guys on the team will be around a lot more.”

Since I’d never met professional athletes outside of Klaus and followed sports about as frequently as I followed the ocean tides, I had nothing to say, so I didn’t.

“So, if you want, I can walk you down to Malcolm’s place and you can talk with him.”

“Right now?” I glanced down at my clothes. I was in leggings—Lululemon, so they weren’t cheap, but still—and a simple athletic t-shirt. It was a decent outfit for working out or running errands, but interviewing for a job? I cringed.

“We can wait, but I called him on the way here, gave him a heads-up we might be stopping in. He’s busting his ass to get everything ready for opening, and I know training starts tomorrow night. He won’t care what you’re wearing.”

“Are you sure?” I shifted the weight on my feet.

With so much coming at me so quickly, I wasn’t entirely capable of placing all the thoughts I was having. Thankfulness, for sure. Uncertainty was fighting for top spot. The last thing I wanted now was to screw everything up.

Shannon simply smiled at me like she was unable of doing anything but. Then her voice softened. “I told him I had a friend who needed help. He won’t care, I promise.”

Pity—that was the look on her face.

It was possibly the first time in my life anyone had ever pitied me. A thickness grew in my throat, closing it up and making breathing difficult as my stomach rolled.

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