Quiver & Burn (Surrender to Them 5)

“I thought so too, but I’m sure he has no idea how bad it is. I thought about sending him another email, but I’m so freaking tired right now.” Her eyelids fluttered and she reached for her coffee. “Perhaps I should sleep on it anyway—maybe I’ll think of something else to check before then.”

“You definitely look like you need some sleep.” I nodded and patted her hand. “Do you need anything?”

“Some courage?” She sipped her coffee and slowly put it down. “I’m really scared of what he’s going to say—and what will happen after I tell him.”

“Don’t be scared.” I patted her hand again. “You are doing the right thing.”

“I should probably update my resume anyway.” She sighed and stared at the computer screen. “This could end up being a disaster.”

“Yes.” I nodded in understanding. “I’ll be there with you in spirit, even if I can’t be there in person.”

“Thank you.” She forced a smile and nodded.

Dana was depressed until lunch and decided to go home early because she just wasn’t feeling well. As soon as I got off work, I went home with a sick feeling in my stomach that just wouldn’t go away. I was fairly happy that I didn’t see Jett or Rand on the way because I wasn’t sure that even the sight of the gorgeous twins could have cheered me up at that point. I sat down at my computer and started reviewing my resume while researching other accounting firms in the area. Thankfully, I hadn’t exhausted all opportunities in Atlanta. A few of them had told me no initially, but there were plenty of companies I hadn’t applied at yet. I hoped one of them would be willing to hire me. I definitely didn’t want to be a Dunkirk employee looking for a job after a scandal erupted. Even if I hadn’t been there long, I would have a dark cloud over my head.

I left early the next day and headed to the office. Fridays were normally a time for celebrating the upcoming weekend, and I should have been looking forward to it, but I was just too nervous. I hoped I would see Dana sitting at her desk since she was normally there pretty early, but she wasn’t there yet. I worked on my accounts and waited—hoping every person that walked through the door would be her. We were supposed to start at eight, and when she hadn’t shown up by nine, I decided to go check in with my boss. He told me that Dana had called in sick, and wouldn’t be in at all. I was surprised, especially considering that she was supposed to be meeting with Mr. Dunkirk about the Russo account. When the day ended, I was still feeling nervous about the situation, but I realized there would be no answers until Monday when Dana returned to work.

As much as this sucks, I can’t let it ruin my weekend. I finally get to spend time with Jett and Rand. I’ll have to put this to the side until Monday.

Saturday morning

I couldn’t keep from feeling a little excited when I got up on Saturday morning and started getting ready for the auction. I had no idea what I should wear, especially since they mentioned I might get—dirty. I had seen plenty of episodes of Storage Wars, and I knew that some of the lockers could be downright disgusting. I decided on a t-shirt, jeans, and enough makeup to look presentable without going overboard. The last thing I wanted was for it to start melting off my face the moment I broke a sweat. Once I was dressed, I walked over to their apartment and knocked on the door. I didn’t hear anything for several seconds and then the door opened. Rand greeted me with a quick hello and a smile, but that wasn’t what caught my eye. The front door had a direct line of sight to what appeared to be Jett’s bedroom, and he was shirtless, trying to choose between two t-shirts.

Oh wow, he’s beyond gorgeous.

“Come on in. Jett’s almost ready.” Rand motioned for me to enter and seemed oblivious to the slightly stunned expression on my face.

“Thanks.” I nodded and stepped into the apartment right as Jett slipped on his t-shirt and turned around.

They quickly explained the rules once I said hello to Jett and we were on the way to their truck. They didn’t want to appear too eager, and even if the locker looked interesting, I had to pretend it was just a bunch of crap nobody wanted. That seemed easy enough. I climbed into the truck with one of them on each side of me. I couldn’t help getting a little hot and bothered sitting there between two gorgeous firefighters. We made small talk, and I told them more about where I was from and what life was like in a small town. My mind started to wander a little bit when we took a sharp curve and Jett leaned against my shoulder. Luckily, we arrived at the storage auction location before my thoughts got out of control.

“Okay, are you ready?” Rand looked over at me once he parked the truck.

“Yep! I think so.” I turned my head towards him and smiled.

It was a pretty calm auction. I didn’t see any of the drama I saw on Storage Wars, which was a little disappointing. They passed over the first couple of lockers, but the third one was full of boxes and that seemed to pique their interest. They were able to pick it up for a couple of hundred dollars and then we headed to the next one. While it was interesting to see an actual storage auction in real life, it wasn’t as intriguing as I imagined once I had seen a few of them. They didn’t try to bid on another locker until the auctioneer opened one that had furniture. Most of it looked used, but there were a few nice pieces. They got that one for a few hundred, and the crowd moved on. By that point, we had been moving between lockers for a couple of hours and I was more interested in finding out what kind of treasures was in the

ones they had already bought than buying more.

“There are only a few lockers left.” Jett motioned towards the line of storage units. “Once we’re done buying, we’ll go dig for treasure—that’s usually the most interesting part.”

“And the most work.” Rand chuckled and nodded.

They didn’t bid on anymore lockers until the last one was opened. It was full of boxes and there was a very nice desk in it. The crowd had thinned and the few that remained weren’t bidding a lot of money. Just when I thought they were going to let it go, they met the auctioneer’s price and the other bidder dropped out. The remaining crowd disbursed and we headed back to the first locker they bought. I was kind of excited to see what kind of stuff would be in it. Jett opened it up and they started pulling boxes out into the parking lot. I did my best to help and grabbed a few smaller boxes. I was anxious to open them, but they seemed more interested in getting everything out before they started digging. They worked together to drag one of the larger boxes and I walked further into the storage locker to get one of the smaller boxes that were on top of a stack.

“This one is a little heavy.” I tugged on it, but it didn’t budge very much.

“I’ll come help in just a second,” Jett grunted as they continued lugging the large box out of the locker.

“I’ll get it.” I pulled over a stool that seemed to be able to support my weight and stepped up to get a better angle.

“Careful!” Rand walked towards me.

“I think I can—shit!” I pulled on the box, and the stool shifted—a second later, I was tumbling towards the concrete with the stool flipped over underneath me.

“Brylee!” Rand quickened his pace and before I slammed into the concrete, he caught me.

Whoa, he’s really strong. He caught me like I was nothing.