Page 25 of Treasured

"It was pretty scary, but I'm okay. The charges were dropped. Eventually. Bu-but, I lost everything. My job. My apartment." My voice quivers and Creed puts his arm around my shoulders. “My reputation.”

"That sounds awful, sweetheart. What happened?" Creed's voice is full of concern and I look at him with surprise. I expected him to be more judgmental about me being arrested. I mean, that's hardly the sort of thing that a man finds attractive in a woman, right?

"When I left Eagle Canyon, you know, back when I snuck out of town..." I start the story and once again the cowardice of my actions hits me hard. "I went to Silverado Junction. Of course, I didn't have any skills and only a little bit of money I'd saved up. Somehow I managed to get a job as a waitress in a diner. One of my regular customers was a big time lawyer and I became his paralegal.”

“Wow,” Jake says. “That’s impressive, but I’m not surprised. You’re so smart and talented.”

“Yeah, I was sort of impressed with myself too. Until it all fell apart and I realized he’d used me. He stole a bunch of money from clients but he set it up so it looked like I was some sort of criminal mastermind. It was nuts.”

Creed’s face turns thunderous and something that sounds like a growl erupts from Jake.

“Where is this guy?” Creed asks, his voice low and kind of scary.

“I-I don’t know. That was what the FBI kept asking me too. I have no idea where he is. He’s gone and he’s got three million in client money with him.”

Jake lets out a whistle. “Three million? I bet not just the FBI is looking for him.”

“Are you sure you’re safe?” Creed asks, taking my hand and glancing toward the front door.

“Oh, yeah. No one is concerned about me. It’s obvious I don’t know anything about the money. Unfortunately it took longer than I would have expected for the FBI to figure that out. One of the agents, a guy named Muldoon, just wouldn’t let it go. I bet he still thinks I know where the money is.”

I look at the two of them. "I have a record with the FBI," I whisper. "I'm a failure. You deserve better."

"Absolutely not!" Creed says, raising his voice. "Where is that asshole? I want to go and smash his head in."

"Me too!" Jake says.

"No, it's my own fault. I should have known better. I was an idiot."

They both turn to me with thunder in their expressions. "Let's get one thing straight here, Tracy," Jake says. "This is not your fault. You're sweet and trusting and someone took advantage of you. You were brave to go out and make your own way and you did a great job. You just trusted the wrong people."

"How can you not be mad at me?"

"I think you've been mad enough at yourself to last a lifetime," Creed says. “No point in anyone else piling on.”

"It's time for all of us to start fresh. For the rest of our lives," Jake says.

CHAPTER15

Jake

The last twoweeks have been fantastic. We've spent all our free time with Tracy and it's been almost magical. Yeah, I know that's hokey for a guy to say but it's true. When the three of us are together, it's like there's some magical bubble of happiness around us.

We're regulars at the Library and our dancing skills are getting better and better. It’s unbelievable to be part of the happy young threesomes having a good time together.

Tracy is so happy, she practically glows.

There's only one thing left to do.

I touch the ring on the chain around my neck. We need to make this official. We've got plans to pick up Tracy this morning and go for a hike and picnic in the mountains. That will be the perfect setting for a romantic proposal.

Once I finish getting ready, I meet Creed downstairs. He's got a serious expression on his face, which used to be the way he looked all the time but it's been two weeks of Creed being cheerful so seeing him with his brows furrowed is a bit jarring.

"What's wrong?" I ask, assuming it's probably something work related. We've been diligent about keeping up with things, but work hasn't been our top priority. It might never be our number one priority again, if all goes as I hope it does.

Creed turns to me and seems surprised to find his twin brother standing in the living room of the house we share. That's how deep in thought he was.

"I think we need to propose to Tracy. Today," he says.

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