Blaze & Bind (Surrender to Them 10)

“Nah, she ordered a wrap that had meat on it for dinner last night.” I shrugged again.

“I guess we’re going to have to make some adjustments to our grocery list.” Gerard chuckled and sat down.

“I think we’ve got some more pressing matters.” I looked up at him. “I went through my finances this morning. Even if I was able to max out every credit card I have, I can’t even come up with five grand, much less twenty-five.”

“Yeah, I’ve got some money in the bank, but nowhere near that much. I don’t fucking know man. After sleeping on it, I feel like we’re not going to be able to fix this.” He sighed and sipped his coffee. “Maybe we should just tell Rachel when she gets back and suggests that she leave town with her father for a little bit—at least until this blows over.”

“That’s not going to solve the problem though, that’s just going to be a temporary fix.” I shook my head back and forth. “Even if the heat dies down a little bit, they’ll still be in danger if they come back.”

“You know what we should do?” Gerard’s jaw tightened. “We should drive to Vegas, find Billy, and drag his ass back here. He’s the one that started this mess.

He should have known that skipping town was just going to be put his family in danger—and us.”

“That’s tempting.” I nodded. “But, even if he’s an asshole, he’s still our friend. I couldn’t do that to him.”

“Some friend…” Gerard’s words trailed off as we heard the front door opening.

“Good morning!” Rachel walked into the apartment and wiped some sweat off her brow.

My jaw might as well have relocated itself on to the floor by my feet when Rachel walked into the apartment. Somewhere along the way, she had decided to remove the jacket that she was wearing when she left, so all I saw were curves—beautiful curves. She had on a sports bra that was designed to be worn as a top, and it left her midsection bare. The sweat she worked up on her run made her spandex pants cling to her like they were glued on, and without the jacket hanging over them, there was very little left to the imagination. She barely looked at us as she walked towards the hallway, giving us both a perfect view of her heart-shaped ass. I looked at Gerard—he looked at me—and then we both turned back to stare until she closed her bedroom door. The sight of her was enough to make my pulse race, and I could tell by the look on Gerard’s face that his was doing the exact same thing.

“Well then…” Gerard exhaled sharply. “I’m not going to get tired of seeing that every morning—she can be as health-conscious as she wants to be.”

“No kidding…” I blinked a couple of times. “I’m glad it’s a pretty mild winter.”

Seeing Rachel walk into the apartment made me feel just like a perverted teenager again, and the thoughts running through my mind were a lot filthier than the ones I had back then. Once my pulse stopped racing, my thoughts returned to the problem at hand—dealing with Billy’s debt. We talked quietly for a few minutes and decided that we were going to need some help. We had some friends, people that knew Billy, but I didn’t know if they could come up with the kind of cash required to pay the debt—especially since it would be tough to pay them back. My credit was busted, so a loan was out of the question unless I got one from someone just as shady as Robert Townsend. Gerard might have been able to get one if he was trying to buy a house or a car, but just walking into a bank and asking for it without some collateral wasn’t going to happen. Our best bet was to hit the streets and see if we could piece together something that resembled a stack of cash. Even if we couldn’t raise it all in one day, a decent start would let us show Robert Townsend we intended to pay.

Hopefully, that will be enough to get him off our backs for now.

“Alright, I’m going to go see my parents.” Gerard pushed his chair back and stood. “I doubt they can help much, but it’s a start.”

“That’s a dead end for me, but I’m going to check with a few guys I know.” I nodded. “Want to meet back here around noon?”

“That’s sounds good.” Gerard nodded and headed towards the door.

I hated begging, but I didn’t feel like I had a choice in the matter. If I knew how to spin money out of the air, I wouldn’t have been up to my ears in debt already. There were always other ways, but I really didn’t want to do something illegal. That would have made me no better than Billy, who created the problem, to begin with. I needed to find a way to get money without resorting to crime. Even if my moral compass wasn’t firmly planted on the right side of things, there was always a chance I could get caught. I wouldn’t be able to be a firefighter with a criminal record, and I really liked my job. It was dangerous, but it gave me a sense of purpose—something I never had when I was younger. It was a godsend after my relationship ended because the adrenaline kept the thoughts of my ex out of my head.

“Did Gerard leave?” Rachel walked down the hallway, wearing regular clothes that hid the curves I already missed.

“Yeah, he had something to take care of. I need to hit the road soon too.” I nodded and started to stand.

“Are we not going to talk about last night?” She stopped at the entrance of the kitchen, blocking my only exit.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I stopped a few feet from her.

“Only if you do…” She took a step closer.

“The beer just went to my head.” I shrugged. “I probably shouldn’t have kissed you.”

“Okay—then we talked about it.” She brushed past me and walked over to the coffee pot.

“I didn’t mean it like that…” I turned towards her and sighed.

How did I mean it? I didn’t mean for it to offend her…

“No, we’re good. It was just the alcohol. Luckily we got interrupted.” She poured a cup of coffee and turned towards me with pursed lips.

“Right.” I nodded and left the kitchen, but I felt my stomach twisting into a knot.