Waterfall Kisses (The Kisses 9)

“I'm sorry about earlier.” Leo's voice came in crisp and clear over the headset.

“It's okay,” I said, leaning against the hull of the boat. “Where are you?”

“I needed to think,” he replied over the headset, not really answering my question. “Charlotte, there's something I need to tell you.”

“You can tell me anything.” I closed my eyes to focus on his voice, visualizing him turning the boat around and driving back. Slowly.

“I'm being blackmailed.”

“I kind of figured that out,” I told him, rolling my eyes. “Can you tell me about what?”

“It's not something I'm proud of,” he said slowly. “But I shouldn't keep it from you. It's keeping it from you that got me blackmailed in the first place.”

“Okay.” I was a little nervous now. Leo was perfect in my eyes. He was everything I could ever want in a man. The idea that he could have done something so terrible that he could be blackmailed about it is a little intimidating. I hoped he wasn't an ax murderer. I could handle just about anything, just not ax-murderer.

“Do you remember why I don't gamble any more?” he asked. His voice was eerily calm on the radio.

“You said you nearly lost everything,” I answered slowly, opening my eyes and looking out at the water as if I might see him coming back. “That it scared you.”

“That's right.” He paused and then let out a long sigh. “I didn't get a loan for the business, Charlotte.”

“What? What loan are you talking about?” I frowned, not following his logic. What did a loan have to do with blackmail?

“The loan that got us started, that had such an amazing interest rate-” He took a deep breath, waiting for me to hate him. “There was no loan.”

It took me a moment to put his words together. Leo had gotten us a loan to get the business started. That loan was the reason we had been able to have a successful launch and get the business where it was today. We had just talked about it a couple nights ago at the gala. I remembered the loan, so I was confused as to how there wasn't one.

“But, I wrote checks to pay the interest...” I shook my head, not understanding. It had felt like a real loan at the time.

“You paid me the interest.” He quickly added, “I put every dime back into the company from those checks, but there was no loan.”

I swallowed hard, not really wanting the answer to my next question. I could already guess, but I needed to hear it. “Where did the money come from then, Leo? If it wasn't a loan, how did we get forty-thousand dollars to start the business?”

“I won it in a football game.” The boat engine revved again in the background. “Remember the big state game, when we all had nachos together in my dorm room? The other team was the favorite. In fact, it was supposed to be a blow out, but I got an insider tip that their quarterback was out with an injury.”

I remembered the game. I remembered not being able to talk at the end of it for screaming at the players not to blow it. The only reason we won was a field goal in overtime that broke the record for the longest field goal kicked by our team. It was considered the game of the decade- one of the closest, most bet on games in the history of the school.

He stopped, and I could hear him inhale sharply

on the other end of the line. “The 4:1 odds were too good to pass up, and we needed the money. I bet nearly all of our business capital on it.”

It took everything I had not to gasp and take off the headset.

“The only problem was that their quarterback wasn't the only one out,” Leo continued, his voice low and full of regret. “Our star running back was out that day, too. For four hours, I was positive that I had just lost the entire ten-thousand dollars I borrowed to make the bet,” he said, finishing the story. He stopped talking and waited for me to say something. “I'm so sorry, Charlotte.”

Ten thousand dollars. Now, that was hardly any money to us, but back then, it was every dime Bastian, Leo, and Gabe had. They had saved for months working odd jobs and eating nothing but ramen. It had been everything back then.

And Leo had bet it all.

“You never said anything...” I was still processing the implications. Leo had bet all of the money without asking anyone. If the kicker had missed... Our business never would have existed.

“How could I?” Leo's voice cracked. “You looked at me like I was hero when I said we had forty-grand. I didn't want you to look at me like a gambler. I didn't want you to see the real me.”

I remembered how happy I had been. How happy everyone had been when Leo said we had a forty-thousand dollar loan to start the company. Leo had been the hero for weeks. I could only imagine the guilt he carried knowing that he was lying to us about where he got the money.

“It's what made me quit gambling. A gust of wind, an untied shoelace, and I could have lost everything.” His voice pleaded for understanding and forgiveness. “I had hoped no one would ever know. That it would just disappear and I'd be forever known as the man who got a loan. Not the man who risked his friend's dreams without even asking.”

“And the blackmailer found this out?” I asked, trying to keep my head on straight. This definitely did change the way I viewed Leo. For all these years, I'd thought that he'd begged the banks or found a rich uncle to borrow the funds. But just risking everything without even asking? I could see why he didn't want anyone to find out.