Page 90 of On His Ranch

She cringed. That was the essence of the whole thing, wasn’t it? “Well, see, without a job, or, um, collateral, or… well,anything… there was only one place I could get the money.”

Chase’s jaw tightened once more and there was a muscle on his forehead that was ticking like a time bomb, making her more grateful than ever for Patti’s presence. “Not from a traditional bank, I’d wager.”

“No,” she admitted. “But I thought I’d open the business and pay it all back, and buy another car, and… it just didn’t pan out that way.”

“It takes a lot to open a business,” he drawled.

“Well, I know that now.” She sniffled and the first tear rolled down her cheek. She brushed it away, ashamed.

“So, you still owe these people money.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“What people? Who are they?”

“Well… I mean, I don’t know exactly.”

Chase let out a frustrated sigh. “What do you mean, you don’t know? How is that even possible?”

“Well…” She drew a line across the floor with the toe of her shoe. “I mean, I never met them. I have a friend, from college? Well, Josh is really more of an acquaintance, actually, we just had the one class together—”

“Piper, the point, please.”

“Okay, okay. One day when the teacher was late we got to talking and I told Josh about my business. I didn’t tell him what it was, just that I had inventory and was out of money. He told me that he could get me the money. A loan.”

Chase shook his head. “That sounds legit.”

She winced. “Look, I know, okay? But there’s nothing I can do about it now.”

“Go on,” he ordered through clenched teeth.

“So, Josh said he knew people. He said I’d have to pay it back, with interest, and that the interest might be a bit on the high side.”

“You don’t say.”

“Hush now,” Patti scolded. “Let her finish.”

“But I took the money. And I finished the inventory I had, but I couldn’t find a space to rent with what I had left.” She took a deep breath, remembering the rest. “And then one day Josh shows up, all of a sudden. He says they want the money, plus the interest, that day. But of course I couldn’t pay. I mean, I gave him what I had, the leftover money? But he told me it wouldn’t be enough and if I didn’t come up with the rest, they’d find me. And… hurt me.” The story finally told, she buried her face in her hands and let the tears she’d been holding in fall.

“How do you know it wasn’t the ‘friend’ himself? Josh, I mean?” Chase asked.

“Because… because the day he came… he had a black eye and his face was all swollen…” She sobbed at the memory. “He told me they would come after me next, that these guys don’t play around.”

“So that’s why you left.”

She looked at him through parted fingers. “No. I got kicked out, like I told you. But… well… it made it impossible not to go to my aunt for help.”

“Except you didn’t,” he pointed out, his tone bland.

“Well… no… but I didn’t think they’d follow me here!”

Chase sighed. “Piper, you can’t borrow money from the mob and then think you can just disappear.”

She shrank back. “I didn’tknowit was from the mob at the time!”

“Well, when you figured it out, you shoulda done something.”

“I didn’t have anything I could do!” She dropped her hands and they balled into fists at her sides.

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