“Other than the fact you’re an idiot?” Her eyebrows raised. “And an asshole.”
“Yeah, other than those reasons.” He looked like he was about to smirk, but he suppressed it. “The day after we—were intimate—I had a talk with Liam…”
Please tell me he’s not about to blame this on me. I didn’t even know he was dating Billy’s sister!
“Sounds like you should sit down too, Liam.” Rachel shot me a glance over her shoulder—one that said do it and don’t ask any questions.
“I hadn’t seen Billy in a couple of years, and while I knew he’d be pissed if he found out I was dating you, I figured I wasn’t likely to see him anytime soon. The friendship wasn’t gone, but it wasn’t like we were hanging out.” Gerard shrugged. “But that night—the one we spent together—Billy showed up at the club where Liam was partying. He had a pocket full of money, and then, out of nowhere, it was the three of us again. We were hanging out, drinking, and I knew if I called you, I would just end up lying to him about the girl I saw every time we were together.”
Well at least he didn’t blame it on me—except the part where I brought Billy back into our lives, but he was our closest friend, so…
“I think that’s the problem, and part of that is on me.” Rachel nodded. “I shouldn’t have been your dirty secret. If you liked me, you should have just told Billy the truth. I certainly would have. What was he going to do? Get pissed?”
“Uh, Billy was like super protective of you,” I interjected, even though I wasn’t involved in the conversation.
“Excuse me?” Rachel turned towards me. “My brother couldn’t have given two shits about me.”
“Your brother might not have given two shits about most things, but n
ot when it came to you. The second you got tits, he told everyone on the football team he would shank them if they even looked at you—he heard one of the guys commenting.” I nodded, and Gerard backed me up with a similar shake of his head.
“That’s ridiculous.” Rachel shook her head back and forth with a confused look on her face. “He barely even spoke to me once he started high school—unless he was telling me to get out of his way or pick up my stuff off the floor.”
“I don’t know.” Gerard shrugged. “Maybe he had his own way of caring. Either way, he obviously doesn’t give a shit now…”
“No.” Rachel sighed. “No, he doesn’t.”
“So I threw everything away because I respected my friend, retroactively I guess since I pissed all over the friendship the day I asked you out. It just keeps circling back to me being a fucking idiot and an asshole.” Gerard shrugged again and sighed. “The shoe fits, I might as well fucking wear it.”
Gerard got up from the table and walked over to put on his coat. It seemed that the conversation was over. I missed the beginning of their discussion, so I had no idea if there was anything said that truly clarified where they were—except for the fact Gerard was an idiot and an asshole. I probably deserved to wear those two badges of dishonor as well. I knew Gerard used to date her, yet I still made my move—I kissed her even after I saw how much he was tore up over what they had. To top it off, I was focused on my own lust and acting like some kind of horny teenager when we had a very real problem in front of us — one that was going to spiral out of control if we didn’t find a way to fix it. I said goodbye to Rachel and followed Gerard to the truck. We were mostly silent during our ride to the fire department, mainly because I had nothing of substance to say and I knew Gerard was dealing with a brutal hangover.
“There are some eye drops in the glove box if you want to try and not look so hungover when you see the chief.” I extended my hand and pointed as I parked the truck in front of the Fire Station.
“Thanks.” He nodded in appreciation and opened the glove box.
We spent our twenty-four-hour shift resting between calls. Thankfully, it was pretty quiet. We didn’t even have a candle fire, which was pretty remarkable since a lot of people had gotten them as gifts during the holiday season. Gerard slept a lot during his shift, which didn’t surprise me, so I spent time with some of the other guys. We played cards, bullshitted, told jokes, and basically killed the time that we had in front of us. When it got close to the end of our shift, I went and changed into my regular clothes. Gerard was still pretty sluggish, although his hangover seemed to have worn off. Our shift usually started and ended at seven in the morning, so I was surprised to see that the chief was in the office when I walked out of the locker room—he usually didn’t roll into the station until nine unless there was some sort of emergency. Seeing his light on gave me an idea, and since Gerard was still getting changed, I decided to go talk to him.
“Hey, Chief Dade? Do you have a second?” I lightly knocked on the edge of his door.
“Yeah, come on in Liam. What can I help you with?” His tone was friendly, and he motioned for me to take a seat.
“This is—kind of a confidential matter.” I turned and closed the door before taking a seat.
“Oh? Do you need a recommendation for a barber? When are you going to cut your hair, son?” He chuckled and leaned back in his chair.
“No, it isn’t about my hair.” My lip twisted into a half-smile. “This is serious.”
“Okay, sure.” He nodded and leaned forward.
“You know Robert Townsend, right? I mean, you know of him.” I lowered my voice, even though the door was closed.
“Well fuck yeah I know who he is. Who doesn’t?” He raised his eyebrows. “I remember when he was just small time—running loans to the gamblers over at the horse tracks. That’s where he got his start.”
“Let’s say I have a friend—and this really is a friend, I promise I’m not involved in this at all.” I sighed. “A friend who borrowed a lot of money from Robert Townsend.”
“Go on…” He narrowed his eyes.
“What if this friend can’t pay him back?” I exhaled sharply. “Like, there’s seriously no way he can—at all.”