Page 100 of Bulletproof

“See what Fal says. You gotta go see him.”

“Where is he? I’ll leave now.”

I took a deep breath. “We’ll have to get another loan.”

“No,” she told me. “This time, we take the help that everyone offered the last time, but that our pride wouldn’t allow us to accept.”

“Christ.”

“We were idiots.”

Dane had been really hurt that I had not asked him to invest in me when I opened my own business.

“Yes, we were,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll talk to my brother.”

“I’ll talk to mine,” she told me.

“God, we’re really gonna do this, that fast.”

“Please, your whole life happens this fast. That’s the fun of living the Jory way.”

“The Jory way?”

“Yep, on the edge of your seat, holding your breath, leaping with your eyes wide open—that’s what it’s all about. But you gotta have the balls to see it through this time, Harcourt.”

I nodded.

“I can’t see you!”

Shit. “Yes!”

“Okay,” she exhaled, “I’m ready to jump.”

And bet her life on me and maybe Fallon Strauss’s too.

“Oh God.”

“Don’t throw up yet. Tell me where Fal is.”

And I did, and even if he said no, we were doing it—The Jory and Dylan Show, redux.

Before Fallon could say hello, I told him that Dylan was on her way.

“I’m excited to see her,” he said with a sigh and that was good to hear.

I called Dane when I got off the phone with him and just vented after he said, “Hello?”

“Breathe,” he commanded me.

Apparently, I needed to do a lot more of that.

“What if Fal doesn’t wanna be on board?”

“Then he’s an idiot.”

“But I committed to a new job, Dane.”

“Did you sign a contract?”