Rand and I were firefighters during the week, but when we had a free weekend, we made some extra money buying abandoned storage lockers. Like most of the people we met at the auctions, we were inspired by television shows like Storage Wars. We had never won a locker that was full of buried treasure, but we usually made enough money to justify the time we spent pillaging the forgotten memories people left behind. We usually tried to track down the people who owned the lockers or members of their family if we found old photographs or something that was obviously a family heirloom. We had met some interesting people that way, and they were usually thankful that we reached out.
Once I brushed my teeth and got into bed, all I could think about was Brylee. It had been a while since I had dated anyone—even longer since I had truly been in love. I still had plenty of time to get there at twenty-eight, but I never imagined I would be closing in on thirty and still living with my twin brother. It started as a way to save money since apartments were fairly expensive in the good parts of Atlanta. We just got along so great that we never had any real motivation to change the living arrangement. Rand was in the same boat I was when it came to matters of the heart. He dated, sometimes more than I did, but he never seemed to find the spark that took things to the next level. Truthfully, we both knew why it was so hard for us to fall in love, even if neither of us was willing to admit that we still carried scars from our first love.
When we were teenagers, we both fell for the same girl. She was a gorgeous blonde named Hannah that lived next door. It started as a competition, but she had no idea how to choose which one of us she liked most. One night, when her parents were out of town, something incredible happened. She told us that she wanted us—not just one of us either—she wanted us both at the same time. We were nervous, clumsy, and in over our heads, but that didn’t stop us from turning fantasy into reality. We shared her. It was a glorious experience that made us closer than brothers if that was even possible. We didn’t really question where it was going, and that was our fault because we let her run away with our hearts without considering what the future would bring. When high school ended and it was time for her to leave for college, she ended things. That hurt more than either of us wanted to admit because she was our first real taste of love.
The next day
“Damn, did you even go to bed?” I was surprised to find Rand sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper when I walked into the kitchen.
“Yeah, I got a little sleep. I made coffee if you want some.” He pointed toward the counter.
“I definitely do.” I staggered towards the coffee pot and poured a cup.
“I think I might go see Mom later today. Do you want to go with me?” Rand looked up from the newspaper when I sat down across from him.
“Yeah, definitely.” I sipped my coffee and nodded. “We’ve got a few things we can drop off too.”
“She never complains about getting free stuff from the storage lockers.” I smiled and chuckled under my breath. “Even if she never uses half of it.”
Rand and I usually visited our Mom at least once a week. She lived in a suburb near Atlanta, so the drive wasn’t bad, especially after rush hour was over. We had always been close to her. She raised the two of us on her own after our father split. When we were kids, we always thought firefighters were heroes, but after chasing that dream and finally suiting up, we realized that our mother was the real hero. She was the one who supported us, took care of us, and gave us a moral compass that guided us down the right path. That didn’t mean we weren’t rough around the edges, but our hearts were always in the right place because of the foundation she provided when we were young. She was a saint as far as we were concerned.
Mom never asked for anything, but we tried to give her a few things to make life more comfortable. She worked her ass off to keep food on the table and we were eternally grateful for everything she did. We didn’t even realize we went without most of the time because she made the sacrifices while we were well taken care of. The work ethic she instilled in us was why we weren’t satisfied with our firefighter salary and ran our storage locker business on the side. It was also why we were fairly frugal, even when we didn’t have to be. She worried about us because we were risking our lives every time we got on the truck, but she was still proud of the men we had become. Seeing the pride on her face was enough to make every sacrifice worthwhile, even when the job was hard and we came home exhausted.
“Now that you’ve had a night to think about it, are you going to ask Brylee out?” Rand tilted his head to the side and smirked. “Because if you’re not, I am.”
“I really should.” I nodded slowly and sipped my coffee. “What do I have to lose?”
“Who knows, maybe she’s the kind of girl that likes twins.” Rand winked and chuckled under his breath.
“I’m scared to even think about that after what happened with Hannah.” I sighed and leaned back in my chair.
“I know.” He grimaced and stared at the table.
I guess I’m not the only one that still thinks about it.
Chapter Three
Brylee
I stepped out of my apartment with my purse balanced on one hand and my coffee cup balanced on the other. Somehow I managed to get my keys in the lock and back in my purse without dropping anything. I counted my blessings once I got everything balanced again. When I turned around to dash towards the elevator, I saw the door down the hall open and one of the gorgeous men I had met before stepped out into the hallway. I wasn’t sure if it was Jett or Rand, but I decided not to rush by him without saying hello. As I got closer, I saw the tattoo on his left arm and confirmed that it was Jett. He didn’t look my way at first, but when he finally did turn around, a huge smile spread across his face.
“Good morning.” I smiled and gave him a nod as I approached.
“Hey, good to see you again neighbor.” He chuckled and gave me a quick nod of his head. “It looks like we’re taking the elevator together.”
“Oh? Are you headed to work?” I sipped my coffee and tilted my head.
“No, I’m just heading out to get some breakfast. Rand and I are firefighters. We are off for the next couple of days.” He motioned towards the elevator and we started walking almost side-by-side.
Be still my heart. Not only are they hot-as-sin, but they’re also literally modern day heroes.
Jett and I took the elevator to the lobby and talked a little more on the way down. He was on his way to pick up breakfast and then the twins were going to visit their mother once rush hour traffic had died down some. I could tell that he cared about his mother a lot, just by the way he talked about her. He was a gorgeous hero that loved his mother—I wasn’t sure there was any way for him to get more perfect. Once we left our apartment building, we went our separate ways, but I thought about him all the way to the office. Truthfully, I was thinking about both of them. I was still distracted by my own thoughts when I arrived at Dunkirk Accounting and started booting up my computer. Once it came online, I saw my co-worker, a slightly older woman named Dana, sitting at her desk with a worried expression on her face.
“Dana, is everything okay?” I looked over at her and tilted my head.
“Yeah, it’s fine—I think. I’m not sure.” She sighed and shook her head. “I know you’re new here, but would you look at something with me? Maybe I just need a fresh set of eyes on this.”
“Sure.” I nodded and rolled my chair across the aisle to her desk. “What are you working on?”
“Mr. Dunkirk asked me to take over the Russo account.” She turned her screen in my direction.
“The Russo account?” I stared at her with a blank look on my face. “I’m not familiar with that one.”
“Right, of course.” She nodded quickly. “Jon Russo is one of Mr. Dunkirk’s biggest clients.”
“He’s trusting you with one of the company’s biggest clients? That’s gotta be a sign that you’re going to have an office upstairs one day.” I
smiled and looked at her screen.
“I thought so too, but I found something that concerns me.” She clicked on the spreadsheet and highlighted a few numbers. “What does that tell you?”
“It—it looks right?” I tilted my head and studied the numbers.
“Yeah, it does.” She nodded quickly. “But, look at that number again.”
“I don’t know what I’m looking for.” I narrowed my eyes.
“It’s an equation.” My lip twisted into a confused stare. “But there shouldn’t be an equation there. That should just be a number that was keyed.”
“Exactly.” She sighed and reached for a folder. “I checked this number against the figures that were submitted, and it looks like someone made an adjustment—one that makes the account look like it’s losing money instead of making it.”
“Why would someone want to make the account look like it’s losing money?” I leaned forward to look at the sheet and confirmed what she said. “The original number is in the equation and then they cut it down significantly.”
“Taxes is the only thing I can guess. I’ve been here long enough to see how the auditing team works. They use an algorithm that runs through the spreadsheet and verifies the numbers. If the number shows up, which the equation allows it to do, they wouldn’t look any deeper.” She leaned back in her chair. “This isn’t an accident. If it’s what it looks like, then it has to be intentional.”
“You have to tell Mr. Dunkirk!” I realized that my voice raised a lot more than I planned, and several people looked over.
“Careful, I don’t want anyone else knowing about this.” She raised her finger to her lips and hushed me. “I’m afraid to say something. This is one of our biggest accounts. If there’s a mistake here, then the whole company needs to be audited.”
“And if it’s intentional—holy crap. That won’t end well.” My eyes opened wide. “Damn.”
“I’m going to do some more checking and make sure there’s nothing that I could be missing here.” She sighed again. “I’ll talk to Mr. Dunkirk if I can’t figure anything else out. You confirmed my suspicions though—I’m not the only one that thinks it’s strange.”
“No, definitely not. It’s very strange.” I nodded and started rolling back towards my desk. “Let me know what you find out.”
“Will do.” She turned her attention back to the computer monitor.
A company like Dunkirk Accounting would have been mostly responsible for their own auditing, as long as they used an independent firm to do it. The SEC would leave them alone as long as there were no obvious violations and their audits were turned in timely. I really hoped what I saw was a mistake and there was an explanation somewhere else in the spreadsheet, but I didn’t have a great feeling about it. It definitely looked intentional. I saw stress on Dana’s face for most of the day, and I was pretty sure she didn’t find anything to suggest otherwise. I had worked so hard to finally land a job that I loved, and I didn’t want to think about what could happen if the issue was widespread. The company would be fined and possibly even shut down. If the changes were done to avoid paying taxes, the repercussions would be even worse. When I finally left for the day, I had a sick feeling in my stomach that wouldn’t go away.
“Hey there, neighbor.” I heard a familiar voice as I stood at my mailbox and turned to see the twins—both of them—approaching.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen them together. Wow, you really can’t tell them apart at all without looking at the tattoos.
“Hi!” I smiled immediately and the feeling from work practically evaporated. “Did you have a good visit with your Mom?”
“Yeah, she’s doing great.” Rand smiled and nodded.
“Awesome. I miss my family. I still haven’t gotten used to not seeing them every day.” I shrugged and sighed. “That’s the price of growing up though.”
“Ah, so you’re not from Atlanta originally?” Jett tilted his head inquisitively.
“No, I’m from Cedar Grove, North Carolina.” I nodded and my smile returned. “It’s a pretty small town. You’ve probably never heard of it.”
“What brings you to Atlanta?” Rand raised his eyebrows with a hint of surprise.
“I needed a job. I just graduated from college and while small-town life is great, there aren’t a lot of jobs in Cedar Grove.” I lifted my shoulders slightly in a half-shrug.
“I can understand that. So, I guess you don’t have many friends in Atlanta?” Jett lips twisted into a smirk.
“Or a boyfriend, huh?” Rand’s lips reflected the exact same smirk—it would have been eerie if they weren’t so freaking hot.
“Well, no to both.” My eyes darted back and forth between them.
Is one of them about to ask me out? Oh my god—which one?
“If you’re not busy this weekend, you could hang out with us.” Jett stepped forward. “Provided you don’t mind getting a little dirty.”
“Wow, that’s a little forward.” I blinked in surprise.
“Someone’s mind is in the gutter.” Rand chuckled and winked at me. “No, not like you’re thinking.”
I’m going to just melt into the floor now…
“We buy storage lockers that have been abandoned, dig around for buried treasure, and try to turn a profit with what we find.” Jett nodded and chuckled under his breath. “It’s a lot of fun, but sometimes it can get a little dirty.”
“Oh! So, like Storage Wars?” I nodded in understanding.
“Yeah, but there’s considerably less drama than you see on television.” Rand nodded quickly. “What do you think—would you like to go with us?”
“Sure, that actually sounds like a lot of fun. I was addicted to that show when I was in college.” My smile returned as I remembered some of the funnier moments from the show. “What time does it start?”
“We usually leave pretty early. Can you be ready by six? We’ll grab breakfast and then head over to the auction.” Jett’s face seemed to light up when I accepted the invitation.
“Sounds great! I’ll be ready.” I felt a bit of excitement surging through me.
“Awesome, see you then.” Jett quickly grabbed his mail and waved as he walked towards the stairs, but Rand didn’t immediately follow him.
“Wear something that you don’t mind getting—dirty.” Randy chuckled and then hurried to catch up with Jett.
Okay, but are they asking me to go with them because I’m just some lonely girl with no friends in Atlanta, or is this a date?
I retrieved my mail and waited for the elevator with my thoughts spinning in my head. It was a strange choice for a first date, especially if they were both going to be there. Did they just ask me to go with them because they realized I didn’t have any friends? Was I being friend-zoned immediately without even getting a chance with either of them? I really hoped that wasn’t the case, even if I didn’t know which one I liked more. I couldn’t exactly base my preference on tattoos and that was the only thing I had seen that was different about them. If nothing else, hanging out with the two of them would allow me to get to know them a little better. There was no way their personalities were exactly the same, even if they were identical twins.
Once I got back to my apartment, I started thinking about the issue Dana pointed out at the office. I was really enjoying my time in Atlanta. The city was amazing. It was busier than Cedar Grove, and I hadn’t completely figured out public transportation, but there was just so much to do. I hardly even noticed that I didn’t have any friends in the city yet because I was surrounded by so many people on a daily basis. I really hoped that Dana would find out that her concerns were misplaced and it was all a mistake. If not, I needed to start looking for a new job immediately. Considering how long it took me to find a job, to begin with, I would be back at home living with my parents if I didn’t find something quick. Things were finally headed in a good direction, and I had met two guys that made me drool—I really didn’t want all of that to come crashing dow
n around me.
Not now. Especially not after meeting them.
Chapter Four
Rand
“What do you think? Is there anything in there worth money?” I tapped the counter next to the box that our favorite pawnbroker, Julian, was inspecting.
“Yeah, I see a few pieces that are gold. None of it looks custom. I know how you guys like to hunt down the owners when you find heirlooms.” He chuckled and picked up a ring. “Even when those are usually the most valuable ones in the bunch.”
“We’ll never get rich off this and while the extra money is nice, we wouldn’t feel right keeping stuff that means something to someone.” I shrugged and leaned against the counter.
“If you’re in here, you must be planning to hit up another auction.” He dropped the ring he was holding and picked up another one.
“Yep, we’re going this weekend.” I nodded and smiled as I thought about Brylee going with us.
Julian usually bought any jewelry that we found and he always gave us a fair price. A lot of pawnbrokers would just rip off people who walked through the door with stuff to sell, but we had been doing business with Julian long enough to consider him a friend. He could usually find the diamonds in the rough—it was a bonus when they were actually diamonds. I was still surprised that so many people put valuable stuff in storage lockers and stopped paying the bill. It wasn’t uncommon to find enough stuff behind the door to pay all that was owed and then some. We could have been greedy and just kept everything, but our conscious wouldn’t allow us to pocket someone’s prized possession.
“I can do five hundred on the box. There’s a lot of junk in here, but I’ll make a decent profit off the rest of it.” He dropped the last ring in the box and looked up at me.
Quiver & Burn: A MFM Firefighter Romance (Surrender to Them Book 5) Page 2
