Blaze & Bind: A MFM Firefighter Romance (Surrender to Them Book 10)

by Kelli Callahan

  “Ah, Billy Lawson’s friend.” Robert Townsend smiled as I entered his office. “Why don’t you have a seat.”

  “Thanks.” I walked over and took a seat across from him. “My name is Gerard, by the way.”

  “I think I’ll just call you Billy Lawson’s friend for now.” He winked at me. “Maybe I’ll care what your name is when we’re done talking—if not, at least I’ll remember why we’re burying your body.”

  Fuck—he’s as ruthless as they say.

  “Mr. Townsend, I know that Billy owes you money.” I tried to humble myself, which was totally out of character for me, but absolutely appropriate in the current situation. “He’s—he’s left town. He ripped me off too.”

  “I see.” Mr. Townsend nodded. “Well, then what are we going to do about that?”

  “I was hoping that maybe we could come to an understanding. Our circumstances are similar. I know that you like to—make an example of people. I don’t want to be that example.” I exhaled sharply. “Billy skipped town. I don’t think he’s coming back.”

  “How much is a human being’s life worth?” He tilted his head to the side.

  “I mean—priceless?” I raised my eyebrows.

  “No.” Robert Townsend laughed. “There’s always a price. What about one of the girls out there you saw when you were walking in—how much do you think one of them is worth?”

  “I have no idea.” I blinked in confusion.

  “I’ve had to price a lot of things over the years, including putting a value on human life. As the years have passed, I’ve valued human life a lot less than I used to. These days—it’s worth about twenty-five thousand dollars.” He shrugged. “I’m a simple man. I just believe that I should be fairly compensated when someone steals from me.”

  “I’m confused. I thought Billy owed you money. I figured he borrowed it…” I leaned forward. “What the fuck did he do?”

  “He took one of my girls.” Robert Townsend nodded.

  “Wait…” I shook my head in surprise. “That girl he’s been seeing—worked for you?”

  “It’s a little more complicated than that.” He chuckled. “But that part isn’t important. The only thing that matters right now is that I receive proper compensation for what I’ve lost—and the price is twenty-five thousand dollars.”

  “Fuck…” I exhaled sharply.

  “Billy’s been coming around here for well over a year and borrowing money. He always pays his debts, so I wasn’t that worried when he started dating one of my girls. He understood that there was a price, and he promised to pay it.” Robert Townsend shrugged. “I mean, I believe in love. I gave him two months to come up with the money, or she had to go back to earning money with her pussy instead of giving it to him for free.”

  “I guess that explains why he eloped…” I sighed and shook my head.

  “Regardless of what he chose to do with her after he took her from me, the debt is still owed. I feel like it’s a generous price. I could get a lot more for one of my girls if I really wanted to sell them, but they’re more valuable right here.” Robert Townsend leaned back in his chair. “So tell me, Billy Lawson’s friend—are you here to pay that debt?”

  “I don’t have that kind of money…” I looked down at the floor and swallowed hard. “But I might be able to come up with it—if you’ll just give me some time.”

  “Billy used up all of my generosity; I’m afraid.” He shook his head back and forth. “If you had the money now, I might consider it, but I’m just going to collect my money another way.”

  “I’ve heard about your other ways.” I nodded in understanding.

  “Well, rest assured, you have nothing to worry about. You came in here, showed me respect, and you seem to be honorable—only an honorable man would try to figure out a way to pay a debt he didn’t owe. I don’t like to kill honorable men—it’s bad for business.” Robert Townsend smiled. “I’ve already figured out how I’m going to collect the debt anyway. Billy’s got a sister—she’s a lot prettier than the girl he took, and I’m sure she’s worth a lot more than twenty-five thousand dollars. I’ll probably benefit from the trade when it’s all said and done. So now, I’ll call you Gerard—and I’ll shake your hand before you go.”

  Oh, shit—Rachel. Don’t lose it. Stay calm. He just said he wasn’t going to kill you because you didn’t blow a gasket—don’t give him a reason to change his mind.

  “There has to be another way…” I swallowed hard, realizing I was pushing something he was done discussing.

  “Why don’t you walk away, Gerard? You don’t belong here. You said Billy stole money from you too.” He leaned forward against his desk. “I’m trying to show you kindness here. Very few people get that from me.”

  “I—I could pay you the money. Let me take his debt. Make it my debt.” I felt my heart racing. “I’ll be responsible for it—every penny.”

  If it’s my debt, then he has no reason to go after Rachel—I owe her that much after what I did.

  “Interesting.” Robert Townsend raises an eyebrow. “Maybe you’re not honorable—maybe you’re just a fool.”

  “A little of both most of the time.” I sighed. “But right now, I’m trying to do the honorable thing.”

  “The honorable thing…” He looked like he was pondering my words. “Ah, I see. You care about Billy’s sister. I thought I saw a spark in your eye when I mentioned her.”

  “Yes.” I nodded quickly. “I do care about her. I certainly don’t want to see her up on a stage because of something her fucking brother did.”

  Nor do I want to think about what he would have to do to actually make her go through with it.

  “Fine.” He exhaled sharply. “I’ll let you take over his debt, and I’ll give you a few days to come up with the money. I’m going to write down a date and time. Either I have my money before then, or I’m coming to collect—and if you try to stop me from taking Billy’s sister when I do, then I’ll just have to kill an honorable man.”

  “I will die before that happens.” My jaw tightened immediately, and the words came out before I could stop them.

  “The downfall of many honorable men.” He nodded and scribbled something on a piece of paper before pushing it across the table. “So willing to give your life—for the honor.”

  Fuck, this is the middle of the night. If he comes for Rachel when Liam’s home—shit, I may have just put us all in danger.

  “I’d prefer not to.” I folded the piece of paper up and put it in my pocket. “But, I put my life on the line every day.”

  “Cop?” He tensed up.

  “Firefighter.” I put my hands on the arms of the chair and prepared to stand.

  “You don’t happen to work for Chief Dade by any chance, do you?” I saw a pique of interest in his eyes.

  “I do.” I paused and sank back down into the chair.

  “If you can’t come up with the money, I might have an offer for you—one that could clear the debt, keep you alive, and make sure Billy’s pretty sister never has to squeeze her tits into a studded bra.” He folded his arms across his chest. “But it’ll cost you something—every bit of your honor.”

  Of course, it would. I lost a chunk of it when I walked through the door of this cesspool.

  “I’ll try to raise the money first.” I started to stand again.

  “You don’t want to hear the deal?” He looked up at me as I came to my feet.

  “Not unless I have to.” I walked towards the door.

  And I pray that I never do because I’d rather make a deal with Satan himself than Robert Townsend.

  14

  Rachel

  “Where’s Gerard?” I sat up and looked at Liam. “And why are you staring at me?”

  “I can’t watch a beautiful woman sleep?” Liam’s lips spread into a smile.

  “Only if you’re a creep.” I narrowed my eyes playfully but then crawled into his arms. “Seriously though, did Gerard leave?”

  �
��Yeah, he said he had something to take care of.” Liam shrugged. “I guess it was important.”

  “I hope he’s okay…” My words trailed off. “What are we going to do about this situation with Robert Townsend? I checked my father’s finances, and there’s no way he would be able to pay that kind of money.”

  “I think we need to have a serious conversation about leaving town.” Liam sighed and ran his fingers through my hair. “I tried talking to Chief Dade down at the Fire Station—he just confirmed everything I already knew. We’re not going to get any help from the cops.”

  “If we do leave town, we’re driving to Las Vegas.” My jaw tightened in anger. “Billy got us into this mess, and he should be the one that has to deal with the consequences.”

  “You realize that Robert Townsend would kill your brother, right?” Liam looked down at me with concern on his face.

  “Fuck…” I shook my head back and forth. “Yeah, I know—I obviously don’t want anything to happen to him, but we shouldn’t have to pay for his mistakes.”

  My phone lit up, and when I sat up to check who was calling, my eyes nearly bulged out of my head when I saw that it was Billy. I slid my fingers across the screen and unleashed hell on him before I even said hello—for screwing over his roommates—for nearly ruining our father’s vacation—for borrowing money from Robert Townsend—and for not answering his phone any of the times I called. Billy let me rant without interrupting other than to give me a few meek apologies. When my wrath was spent, and I was breathing hard, he calmly told me that he was coming back to town—and he had the money he owed Robert Townsend. I thought I was hearing things—that my imagination had cooked up the words I wanted to hear and fed them to me as a hallucination. That wasn’t the case. Billy was really on the other end of the phone, and he had the money—not only that, he was less than an hour away.

  “Shit.” I looked at Liam and swallowed hard as soon as I hung up the phone. “He’s going to be here in less than an hour!”

  “You probably should have told him that he won’t have anywhere to sleep.” Liam blinked in surprise. “He really has the money?”

  “He said he does!” I looked around the room. “We need to change the sheets—this whole room smells like sex.”

  “No.” Liam put his hand on mine. “We’re not hiding this from your brother. He’s just going have to accept it. You’re not some dirty secret that we’re ashamed of—I’m not at least.”

  “You’re right.” I nodded slowly. “There’s no reason for us to hide this. Billy is just going to have to come to terms with the fact that I’m not a kid anymore.”

  “Just so you know—I may still punch him in the face when he walks through the door,” Liam growled under his breath.

  “Not if I punch him first.” I laughed and leaned back into Liam’s arms.

  Gerard returned a few minutes after I got the call from Billy, and we filled him in on my brother’s return. He had the same reaction as Liam initially—he wanted to erase all evidence that we had been together. That was what pulled us apart the last time though—and I wasn’t willing to risk that again. Once he calmed down, he agreed that we were just going to have to face the problem together. He didn’t look happy though—he looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. I got the feeling that he was worried about something else a lot more than he was concerned about Billy finding out we were together.

  I didn’t have much time to press him for details though, so we waited in the living room for Billy to arrive. He knew I was living with Liam and Gerard—he also knew why. That was just one of many angry messages my brother received before he finally called me back. The whole ordeal was about to be over—and that was enough to make me force a smile—to make me want to forgive. He was still my brother, even if he was an asshole.

  One hour later

  “Rachel, I’d like you to meet my wife. This is Sugar.” Billy introduced me to his wife, a tall blonde woman who was very pretty—and apparently, her name was Sugar.

  “Welcome to the family.” I smiled and leaned in for a hug, which was returned.

  “Thank you so much.” She quickly grabbed Billy’s hand. “I’m so happy to meet you finally!”

  Well, customarily you meet the sister of the groom before you have a ring on your finger—but my brother is far from customary.

  “Okay, you have the money?” Gerard skipped right over the pleasantries, and I heard him growl under his breath as he spoke to Billy.

  “Yes.” Billy reached into his back pocket and pulled out a thick white envelope. “I’ve got everything I owe Robert Townsend. I’m going to go see him right now.”

  “What about the rent money?” Liam narrowed his eyes. “Do you have that too?”

  “I don’t…” Billy winced. “I’m really sorry guys, I know I shouldn’t have done that, but I needed a little money—I didn’t even have enough to gamble with.”

  “So you won the money gambling?” I tilted my head to the side.

  “I did.” Billy smiled, obviously pleased with himself, but I didn’t give him one in return.

  “Which means you could have just had easily lost the money—and then where would we be?” I was feeling anger starting to rise, anger that I had suppressed because I was just happy to see my brother was okay.

  “But I didn’t.” Billy’s face clearly reflected confusion—as if the alternative was impossible. “I’m back, and the problem is going to be fixed.”

  “And it was okay in your mind to just put us all in danger while you went to try and win the money you needed to pay back your debt.” Liam’s jaw tightened.

  “It’s all fixed now. Come on, guys. We’ve been friends forever. I was always going to come back and handle this myself.” Billy looked around with the confused stare still etched on his face.

  “Well, you could have said something, asshole.” Gerard grabbed the envelope out of his hand. “You sit your ass down right here and don’t fucking go anywhere. Let me see if I can undo all the damage you’ve done while you were—handling things.”

  “Wait, you went to see Robert Townsend?” Billy turned his attention to Gerard, and I saw Sugar dig her nails into Billy’s arm.

  “Yeah.” Gerard nodded and started walking towards the door. “And I have a feeling that you’re the last person that should walk through the door of his club right now.”

  Gerard stormed off with the money, and Billy sat down with his new wife at his side. I tried to make small talk with Sugar, but she wasn’t exactly one for conversation. She kept exchanging worried glances with Billy, and Billy started biting his fingernails, something he only did when he was really freaking out. I was concerned, but I didn’t know what to say—or even what questions to ask. Somewhere in the midst of the silence and worry, Billy picked up on the fact that something was a little more than friendly between Liam and me. I thought he would lose his mind when I told him that we were involved, but he just shrugged—he fucking shrugged. Is that how he would have reacted if Gerard told him we were together all those years ago? So much for him being protective of me—he seemed more concerned about his own skin than anything else. I wondered if he would be as relaxed when he found out I was involved with Gerard as well.

  “I don’t get it, Billy.” I looked over at him. “Why would you borrow money from someone like that? What did you do with the money, to begin with?”

  “Borrow money?” He blinked in surprise. “I would never borrow twenty-five thousand dollars from someone like Robert Townsend. The most I’ve ever borrowed from his guys is a few hundred when I’m short, and I don’t want to ask Dad for money—I mostly just borrow money from them because they know where the best poker games are.”

  “Hold on.” Liam leaned forward. “You didn’t borrow money? How the fuck did you end up owing him twenty-five large?”

  And I’m pretty sure Gerard said it was a loan…

  “It’s my fault.” Sugar let go of Billy’s hand, and tears welled up in her eyes as
she tried to talk. “I’m—not originally from America. My parents brought me here when I was a little girl. When I was sixteen, they were deported—but I ran—and I got away. Sugar is the name Robert Townsend gave me because that’s all I was to the men he forced me to service—a little taste of sugar.”

  “Oh my god.” I lifted my hand to my lips.

  “He told me I could leave whenever I wanted.” Sugar wiped away a tear. “As long as I paid the price.”

  “The price was twenty-five thousand dollars…” Liam exhaled sharply as he made the connection in his head. “Fuck!”

  “I’ve seen other girls leave. They met someone who promised to treat them well—someone who pays Robert Townsend’s price.” She sighed. “I wanted to believe that could be my future too, but the men—they weren’t nice to me—until I met your brother.”

  “He’s a monster…” I felt my anger rising again, but I wasn’t angry at Billy anymore.

  But if Billy is telling the truth, and Sugar appears to be pretty emotional—that means Gerard lied about his first visit with Robert Townsend. Why didn’t he just tell us the truth?

  The conversation shifted to their wedding, which was more of a distraction from the turmoil I felt like we were still in the middle of than actual curiosity. We were making small talk until the door opened—and all of us were praying that Gerard was going to walk through it with a smile on his face. The subject of my relationship with Liam came up, I decided that it was better to pull the bandage off the wound as fast as possible, so I told him that I was involved with Gerard as well. I even told him about my previous—and very brief—relationship with Gerard.

  Billy didn’t lose his mind, but there was a concern on his face. He finally admitted that was a grown woman and allowed to make my own choices—even if that meant I was dating two of his best friends at the same time. It was strange to have an adult conversation with my brother, but I got the impression that his relationship with Sugar had matured him. The Billy I knew would have never put someone else ahead of his own needs—and his decision to do absolutely anything to get Sugar out of the situation she was in was admirable. I just hoped that it wasn’t too late, and I prayed that Gerard hadn’t done something stupid—stupid enough that he had to lie to us about it.