As soon as Jake hung up, I released my teeth’s’ bite-hold on my cheek.

This was bad. Very majorly bad.

I snuck a glance at my phone and Rodney’s last message, sent at 2:38 am last night.

This is your last warning Powers. Pay up.

I scowled, shoving the phone in my pocket, glad that the girls were embroiled in a Starbucks vs Bridgehead debate.

“Be right back,” I said, heading to the bathroom myself. I’d heard voices when Jake was in there, it couldn’t be connected to this, could it?

No way. Jake was as good at keeping secrets as a four-year-old child, not that I was much better. Although with this, there’s been no real choice.

Jake had always been the impulsive one, and when dealing with a crazy fucker like Rodney, you couldn’t afford to be impulsive.

I dug my forehead into the wall, closing my eyes. If only I’d known! That that first ‘loan’ was anything but.

“Didn’t I mention there’d be interest?” Rodney had said, flashing his grilled smile all innocent-like.

And so I’d paid up for that too, the so-called interest, the hundreds more that I owed him on top of the thousand. And then Jake kept winning, and Rodney kept asking. Just a minor adjustment, some interest he’d forgotten, a final goodbye-guarantee. All of it, bullshit. This last time, I’d told him to fuck off for good, that enough was enough. But Rodney was a man who didn’t take kindly being told ‘no’.

And so, here I was, trying to juggle my brother not knowing about the asshat blackmailing me for money I didn’t even owe him anymore. Maybe it was stupid, not telling Jake. But I didn’t want anything else on his mind when he was in the ring, other than beating the other guy to a pulp. And if that meant smashing up the face of one of Rodney’s boys nice and good, so much the better.

Rodney was a determined motherfucker, that much had to be said of him. I fisted my hands and pressed them into my cheekbones. Determined motherfucker or not, this had to stop. Maybe I’d have to tell Jake after all. After the fight next week, once the win was over with, then we could figure this out together.

If there was any figuring this out.

Hearing Cin’s laughter through the door, I froze. Oh right, Cin. And to think, Rodney had tracked me all the way here, done this at Cin’s apartment. My hands balled up so tight I felt like my tendons would burst.

If Rodney had done anything, anything at all to endanger her… Well then, he’d wish he’d never met either of the Powers twins, that was for damn sure.

--

Back in the kitchen, the girls didn’t seem to suspect anything. Although they did seem a bit colder, but who really knew with women anyway.

Although Cin turning so I only got a cheek for a goodbye kiss wasn’t exactly the best send-away.

“Thanks for the breakfast,” she said, smiling shyly.

“Thanks for the Timbits,” I said, reaching over to pop one in my mouth.

And then I paused in the door, wanting to say something more, yet dissuaded by Penelope’s gangly staring form.

“Bye then,” I finally settled on, walking out the door.

Although all the way to my car, even as I called up the tow truck, I was silently cursing myself for not going back and inviting her on another date. The whole thing was weird to me, wanting to see someone as soon as you were leaving them.

A cheesy thought popped up in my head, one I was glad no one else would know: Cin was like Lays – you couldn’t eat just one.