15. Chapter 12
Mari
S ilence filled the office. Unbearable, uncomfortable silence. The kind of quiet that came after you say something you shouldn’t have. After you spill a secret that shouldn’t have been told.
“What?” JJ’s eyes were just about to fall out of his head.
“What do you mean we lose the gym ?” Chance asked, much, much softer this time.
I looked back to JJ, knowing he would understand the context of what I was about to say next.
“Camden McLarry is the founder of DiplomatGen.”
“Yeah? What does that have to do with anything?” JJ asked.
“DiplomatGen is also the founder of lots of smaller, minor companies. Presumably to … make business easier, you could say.”
“You sure could. That’s why Jayden, Camden, and the rest of their soul-sucking, pocket-filling family are a bunch of obnoxious fucktards who stick their nose up at everyone. What’s your point here?” JJ hurried me along.
“One of those smaller companies goes by the name of Pepper Tides.”
“Fuckkk,” he groaned, running his hand over his dark curls. “Pepper Tides as in—”
“Yep. That’s the one.”
“What’s Pepper Tides?” Chance asked.
After glancing at JJ, who shot me a look telling me I had some explaining to do, I dipped my head towards the door. “Shut it?” I requested.
He dramatically huffed before getting up, closing it, and flicking the flimsy lock into place.
“Pepper Tides is the company that saved us from going under three years back.” I ran my thumb and pointer fingers over my eyebrows, smoothing the tension from between them.
“We did fundraisers, so many goddamn fundraisers. We went into the city to meet with investors at sleazy clubs and restaurants. JJ and I took on some local fights in some of the towns nearby to make up some extra cash. But … it just wasn’t enough .
“One day I received an email from a company called Pepper Tides, offering a buy-in for stakes in the gym. The offer was ludicrous, looking back on it—far more than what the business was worth. But it would keep us afloat for a long while and allow us to put measures in place to move in an upwards direction. It gave us a budget for a social media team, some advertisements, and marketing to bring people into this butt-fuck nowhere town.”
“How long have you known Pepper Tides was a Camden Company?” JJ asked, that blankness on his dark face anything but calm.
He was pissed .
“I found out the day before we moved Dad into his … home.” I took a shaky breath in.
The truth had to come out. There was no hiding it now.
I needed them to understand how catastrophically fucked we were if they kicked Jayden out.
“I signed the papers the next day. Camden has been feeding me requests for changes ever since.”
I decided not to reveal that Jayden was the one who had convinced me to sign the papers. That was a ghost that could stay in the closet, come out another day.
“Lynnie.” JJ’s icy voice chilled the room.
Even Chance had tensed in his desk chair opposite me. He hadn’t said anything, just sat with curious, watching eyes.
“Why the fuck didn’t you say anything sooner?”
“Because, JJ, there was no other way—”
“Of course there was! There’s always another way—you were just too chickenshit to find it!”
“I’d just moved my dad into a respite home and was trying to keep the only thing he, and I, have ever loved afloat. What the fuck did you expect me to do?!” I snapped.
“Camden’s into some dodgy shit, Mari. It’s not just about knowing some people you don’t want to know. All of those little companies of his are money-laundering schemes . They all clean his money for him since it’s all tainted. Tainted !” JJ stood and began pacing in front of us.
I looked to Chance, who still said nothing, just followed JJ with his eyes.
“You don’t know them like I do, Lynnie. Why do you think Jayden always refused to hang around if I was there?”
I didn’t know what to say. JJ and I had both kept things from one another.
I opened my mouth to speak, taking a breath to start, but nothing came out. No words, no snappy comeback— nothing .
Which, apparently, didn’t matter since JJ continued to ramble.
My mind began to whirl, spinning around and around in a grey cloud of mess .
Mess .
That’s what I’d made of all of this. My need for independence, to not ask for help, had fucked us all over. And now? Now we were in debt to a man who JJ was angry at me for involving us with. JJ. Cool, calm, charismatic JJ—was rambling on and on about how colossal of a fuck up this was—
“I think she gets the message, mate.”
I shot Chance a grateful look, only to find him already looking at me. Understanding shone in his eyes as he sent a subtle nod my way. Warmth, comforting and easy, spread through my chest.
“Rio—”
“We get it—this Camden guy is bad news,” Chance interrupted, standing from his chair and opting to lean on his desk instead. He folded his arms over his chest and subtly rolled his shoulders back.
I guess Chance had decided JJ’s ramblings were over then.
“What can we do about it?” he pointedly asked JJ.
“Nothing,” I rasped, my voice coming out thick and wavering.
Chance raised his eyebrows at me in question.
“The amount it would cost to buy Camden out is completely out of reach.”
“Is that so?”
“Forget the money, Lynnie.” JJ ran both of his hands through his hair, his dark skin disappearing in the overgrown curls.
He stopped pacing and sat down on the couch next to me.
“Forget about all of the money and contracts and how dangerous that already is. Think about the fact that Camden’s fuckface of a son gets to come in here and put hands on you , and you’re telling me there’s nothing we can do about it? ”
JJ’s gaze burned me, full of disappointment, worry, and anger. Anger at me for keeping this from him. Anger at Jayden for throwing down with me today. Anger at himself for not being able to do anything.
I reached a hand across and squeezed his.
“I’m okay. We’re all gonna be okay. I can handle my own.” I urged him to listen, urged him to believe I wasn’t the same woman as last summer. The same woman who let Jayden walk all over her; push and cross boundaries with her; torment her.
JJ squeezed back. “We’ll find a way out of this, Lynnie. I’m sure of it.”