“Okay, yes. Mathew.”
“All right, yes, I remember,” Carlos said.
“Well, I sort of paid for one of the girls to come over here.”
“What the hell, Chase? We were just talking about it, like, four days ago.”
I knew it sounded pretty damn crazy that I had already talked to the girl, paid for her flight, and she was in Atlanta. It had not sounded all that crazy to me, up until that moment when I had to tell Carlos about what was going on.
“There’s a lot more to the story, and I’ll tell you all about it. But could you please come get me from my brother’s cabin? Jordan has my car and I’m worried about her.”
“Chase, is Jordan the girl you flew over here?”
“Yep.”
“Jesus, Chase. What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into? I’ll be right over, if I can even find the place again. It’s been ages since I’ve been out there. Text me the address.”
“Oh, and I’m going to need you to come inside and help me out to the car when you get here. I have a few broken ribs.”
“What the hell, Chase!” he screamed into the phone.
“I’ll explain that, too. Please hurry.”
Carlos was a good friend, and although I knew he was going to give me hell for doing business with Escabar, I also knew he would do his best to help me out. There was a limit to how much he could help me, though. I knew he didn’t have the kind of money I needed.
It was also possible, after I shared everything that was going on, that Carlos would decide to distance himself from me. He had Maria now, and I knew he was trying to build a life with her. Hanging around a guy who was on the wrong side of Jose Escabar was not something he was going to want to do. But for the night, I thought he would at least help me out.
I took my pain medication and tried to clean myself up the best I could. I still felt horrible, and I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the evening. But I knew Jordan should have been back by now. Even if she was mad at me, she didn’t strike me as the type of person who would just disappear like she had.
I tried calling her phone one last time, but it was off and went straight to voicemail. I desperately hoped she was just pissed off at me, and she would be sitting at the bowling alley having drinks with her new friends. But something inside of me knew that wasn’t going to be what was going on.
I heard Carlos pull up out front, and I waited for him to come in.
“Dude, I can’t tie my shoes,” I said as I pointed at my tennis shoes.
“What the fuck happened to you, Chase?”
I probably looked like a total disaster. My eye was still bruised, and I was hunched over from the pain in my ribs. I felt like utter shit. Yet, I was so excited that Carlos had been willing to drop everything and come over to get me. That was a true friend. If he actually stuck around through this crap, and I made it out on the other side, I was going to always remember him and what he did for me the night I needed him most.
“It’s a long story. Tie my shoes and help me into the car, I’ll tell you on the drive into town.”
As Carlos tied my shoes and helped me stand up, I tried my hardest not to wince in pain, but it didn’t work very well. I was in more pain than before. Probably from all the moving around I had done while having sex with Jordan.
We made our way out of the woods and onto the main road, and he looked over at me. I didn’t want to go into all the details. I wanted him to just drive me to the bowling alley with no questions asked. But I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
“Tell me what’s going on.”
He was serious, and I knew I couldn’t bullshit him at all. I needed someone on my side, and it was going to have to be Carlos. I started at the beginning. I really couldn’t remember what I had told him, what I had told Jordan, and what I had told Mathew. I just had to start at the beginning and tell him everything.
“You know how my father cut me off from the joint bank account?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I didn’t cut down my spending. I ended up going to Jose Escabar for money. A lot of it.”
“Yeah, so pay him back. What’s the issue?”
“The other day, I went to make an interest payment and he said he wants the whole amount in two weeks. I panicked while I was there and stole his black book.”