Page 23 of Surrender
“The club has contacts in the kidney market,” Rafe said casually with a shrug. “Could probably get you a good price if push comes to shove.”
Match and I both fought smiles, but Lucy wasn’t having the kid’s shit today.
He made a move to slip by her, but she reached out and jabbed him in the ribs with a sharp nail, making him shriek like a little girl before bolting across the gym.
She turned back to me with a huff. “Hopefully your guy can come soon because I’m holding my breath that plan A works out, and I don’t have to think about plan B.”
I raised my brows. “And since I’m offering my contacts, do I get to know what plan A is exactly?”
I’d known Lucy for a long time—more than ten years if I counted right—and spent a fair amount of time together when we were younger. I wouldn’t say that meant we were friends, but there was something special about our relationship that made it easy to say yes to helping her out.
We had something in common.
Or I guess,someone, you could say.
She chewed her lip for a moment, and I knew that was a bad sign.
“Lucy…” I started, pushing the papers on my desk to the side.
“Look, it’s nothing bad. I just think it’s better if…” She paused, her eyes focused on my hand, and her nose screwed up like she’d smelled something bad. “Is that Parker?”
Match stepped in closer, the two of us sharing a worried glance. “Yeah, Parker Carrington,” he confirmed, as the papers he’d given me were now spread across the desk, revealing a newspaper cutout with him shaking some guy’s hand. “Youknow him?”
She lifted her eyes, meeting mine for a brief second before diverting her attention to Match. “We’ve met, unfortunately.”
Pressing my hands to the desk, I got to my feet. “Jesus Christ. Do not tell me you’re dating that piece of scum.”
It would complicate things a little, but—
“I’m not.”
Thank God.
“Darcy is.”
Chapter Ten
DARCY
“There’s a leak in the roof that isn’t great. Possibly would have been an easy job for the last owners, but unfortunately, they’ve left it, and it’s gone down one of the walls and into the floorboards in the main bedroom, so that’ll all need replacing too,” Callan explained, screwing up his nose. It was obvious he wasn’t thrilled with having to deliver bad news. “That’s just the major stuff. If you want new flooring, updated bathrooms, a few new electrics to replace worn ones, you’re looking at around twenty grand.”
I choked out a humorless laugh.
“Ouch,” I whispered, leaning into the kitchen counter so my legs didn’t give way. “How urgent is the roof? Would I have time to try and save some money to get that done?”
He nodded, circling some numbers on his paper and pushing it over to me. “Yeah, for sure. This is the price for only fixing the roof, which I’d say would be the most important. We’d want to make sure no more rain could get in and no more damage can be done.” I bobbed my head, seeing the number on the paper was only a couple of thousand dollars, and possibly more doable. “We’re at the tail end of summer, so I’d say if it could be done within the next two months, you’d be safe. Then once we’re watertight, we can work out the rest later.”
I released a heavy sigh. “Okay. It’s a lot to think about.”
Lucy bobbed her head enthusiastically. “Things are picking up at the studio. Exams are coming up, and the girls will want to book one-on-ones.”
That would help, for sure.
But if I were really considering buying my childhood home,dance classes weren’t going to completely cover the mortgage and living expenses—at least, not for now. If Lucy and I joined forces, there was so much room for expansion, and the more I’d considered her offer over the past two days I’d been staying with her and actually dancing again, the more excited I’d become.
But the truth was, for now, I was still going to need to find some extra income to make sure I could survive. “I’d need some other part-time work for a while to be able to afford this place and the maintenance needed on it.”
“I have some guys who I’m sure will offer their time for free to help ou—”
