Page 33 of Brandishing Betrayals

“He and I might have gotten into an argument about them. I told him I could take care of you just fine, and would pay it.”

“Jesus fucking CHRIST,” she swore. She shook her head in disbelief. “That has to be close to eighty thousand dollars! What the fuck, Marcos!”

I took a long pull from my whisky, letting her rant. Sometimes it was better if she just got everything out in the open. “I’m just asking you to take over the monthly payment,Manita.I’m sorry you didn’t know; I didn’t want you to. But now with Luke and shit with the club, money is tight, and I’m trying to buy a house.”

Kara sighed and tossed back her wine, emptying it in one gulp. “Did you bring the papers?”

I pulled out a stack of opened envelopes from my inner pocket on my cut. The clear film on the envelope window crinkled as I handed them over.

Kara took the stack from me. She set the stack on the counter in front of her and pulled open the first envelope. Her face was a range of emotions as she read over the billing. Her mouth dropped open when she took in the monthly payment due. “Marcos this is a damn mortgage payment!”

“Look, if you can’t do the whole thing, just pay half, and I’ll take care of the other—”

“No.” She snapped, cutting him off with a glare. “l’ll take care of this. What the fuck, Marcos! You should have told me about this sooner! I would have paid this years ago!”

“I didn’t want you to be upset. I still don’t want you to be upset. OK, sister?” I sighed.

Kara shook her head. “It’s not OK, brother. I’m sorry you had to deal with this. I’ll take care of it.”

I smiled faintly and opened my arms. She flew into me, hugging me hard, making me rock back a step. “I love you, lil Manita.”

“Love you too, Marquitos.”

Marcos

“I talked to Kara last night about the student loans,” I told Stone and Dagger as we sat down to lunch the following day. The restaurant around us was bustling, so I wasn’t worried about anyone overhearing our conversation.

“That’s good,” Dagger grinned. “I bet she was pissed!”

I chucked sardonically. “Sure was. But she’s going to take care of the payments now. It frees up fifteen hundred a month.”

“That’s a damn mortgage payment,” Stone grunted.

“That’s what Kara said,” I sighed.

Stone pulled out a piece of paper from the inner pocket of his cut and set it on the table, in front of the three of them. “This is what I can chip in for a down payment.”

Dagger pulled out his own folded piece of paper. “This is what I’ve got.”

I frowned and reached for both pieces of folded paper. “Shit,” I muttered when I took in the large sums written down. “Seriously?”

Stone just shrugged.

Dagger grinned broadly. “Yeah dude! Let’s do it!”

I shook my head. “After all these years… are we really talking about living together again?”

“We always lived together before—until Maya left,” Dagger said, smiling sadly. “Besides… maybe things with her will come full circle.”

Stone snorted and shook his head.

I glared slightly at my buddy across the table from me, before I turned to Dagger and frowned. “I don’t know about all that, but it would be nice to not live alone anymore.”

“Bear has a friend that’s a realtor, I’ll reach out tomorrow,” Jason said.

Maya

“Girl,Idon’tknowwhat the fuck to do,” I sighed into the phone. I had just gotten done telling my older sister the latest news of Hillcrest stalking me and how I was trying to keep everything afloat with my son and our ailing parents. I was feeling hysterical and getting myself worked up. “It’s too much. I can’t take it anymore.”

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