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“I have to. It’s Friday, right?”
“It is, but friend to friend, you look like shit.”
“Oh, God.” Knowing she’s right, I shake my head in disgust. “I have to go in, regardless. There’s the stock take and the new orders to do.”
Ihave to do it. If I don’t, it will mean I have to get Gilman, the restaurant’s manager, to work extra hours, and I can’t afford to pay anyone any extra anything.
I can’t afford anything now, tomorrow, or in the future.
“Dru, I have to find another way to get that money.”
She huffs. “It’s tearing me up that you can’t tell Sheriff Donovan what’s going on.”
Under normal circumstances, going to the police would be the best thing to do. Just not in this case. Not with a man like Conrad Duncan. You would need to have serious ammunition to go up against him and put him behind bars. Even then, it might not be enough.
“I know, but I can’t take that risk and put myself and Grams in that sort of danger. For all we know, he killed Gage.”
“I thought about that.” Her skin pales. “Do you think he did?”
“I don’t know, but why wouldn’t he if Gage wasn’t paying the loan?” My voice quivers and I think of the possibility. “That asshole probably did kill Gage, then came after me to get the rest of the money.”
It’s clear I’m terrified, but I’m not sure if she knows just how much.
Maybe it’s because I’ve had to be strong all my life and she thinks I can just switch over to being that person she’s used to. I might be able to if I still had Grams to be my backbone. Grams was the person who picked me up when I fell down. Now she can’t.
These days, Grams can just about remember who I am. The doctors warned that as her dementia gets worse, those memories will fade with her.
That, by itself, is shattering my heart.
“Okay let’s not think about that too much.” She composes herself with a quick breath and smiles. “I have some ideas and good news.”
“Goodnews?” My eyes snap wide at the prospect of such a thing.
“Good-ish. Yesterday, after you called, I got down to business and looked over the plans we have for the new line.” Her face brightens with mischief because the new line was her idea.
It’s called ‘Welcome to the Dungeon’, and the line is inspired by the raunchy type of lingerie you’d expect to wear in a sex dungeon.
After college, when we both returned to Wilmington, we went into business together and set up Brash, our online lingerie company. I design and create with a small team of ten people who follow my lead, but Dru gets the word out about the business.
With her marketing and advertising degree from Brown University, she’s the ideas girl of our duo, but she was always my MacGyver.
“What did you do?” I bring my hands together hoping like hell she came up with something that can help me, but something that’s not too crazy.
“Your best friend just made twenty-one thousand dollars and secured another twenty grand.”
I suck in a sharp breath. “What?” How the hell did she do that? “Just last night?”
“Yeah, just last night.” She nods with enthusiasm. “It was a long shot, but I took it. And there’s more so please don’t get mad. I figured desperate times called for desperate measures.”
“Why would I be mad? That’s over forty grand.” And more than what I did. It’s a drop in the well compared to the money I need, but I’m deciding to see it as my glass is half full.
“Well, I think when you find out what I did, you might be a tad pissed off.” She bites the inside of her lip, and I just know she’s probably going to be right.
After twenty-three years of knowing this girl, I’m used to her shenanigans.
“What did you do, Dru?”
She releases a little sigh and flutters long, thick lashes at me. “As our customers are already freaky, frisky, and psyched up about the new line, I thought we could pair our lingerie with other stuff. A.K.A sex toys.”
