My Bad Boy’s Ego — Chapter 34

"Isaiah?"

Even though Isaiah has only been to my house once, I could never imagine my brother and some random friend of mine to just meeting. Colton doesn't even have the guts to come inside my house.

I was utterly confused as all I could do was look back and forth between Isaiah and Austin. Fiddling with the strap of my bag, Austin motioned me to come sit next to him as I followed his little command.

By this time, I didn't feel tired anymore. It was as if I snapped out of my lazy consciousness and regain a pinch of reality.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Isaiah, with no intention of being rude.

Isaiah smiles at me sheepishly, as he has his arms crossed against his chest. Being an athlete, Isaiah was quiet fit as a teenager his age. Although he was the same age as me, he would have the benefit of pulling it off as a legal drinker. He had very masculine features, especially due to his very fit athletic body and his serious face would come off as very intimidating.

"I just had to talk with Austin," Isaiah responded casually, poking a finger at Austin. My eyebrows furrowed together as I glanced at Austin. The last time Isaiah came here, Austin and Isaiah had absolutely no contact aside from exchanging looks and small threats towards each other. Something about this situation didn't link up.

"About what?" I asked, sending a small laugh as I made the situation a little bit more awkward than it should be.

Austin releases a smile as he rests his hand behind me on the coach. He leans back as he releases a yawn, brushing his other hand through his red locks as they stay up for a few seconds before leaning back against his head. I was jealous of how soft his hair turns out to be.

"We were talking about soccer," Austin answers, avoiding my eye contact. Even though he had his ankle resting calmly on his knees, and his voice showed a lot of confidence; I knew my brother and can always look through his lies.

"No really," I turned my body facing body Isaiah and Austin. I peered over at Isaiah to see him staring at me in an almost sorrowful expression.

The room got quiet, as the two attempted to find ways to break me the news. I was quick to get impatient as I collapse my body against the coach, observing one of my old paintings that was hung on the wall.

"If you guys won't tell me what's happening around here, I might as well just leave," I murmured.

I could hear Austin taking a deep breath as he sits upwards in his position, closing his eyes for a brief second before exchanging glances with Isaiah.

"I know about the debt," Isaiah suddenly spoke up, catching me by surprise. As I expected myself not to believe him, I looked at Austin for clarification before reality hit me like a ton of bricks.

Pushing my speechless self away, I managed to speak up towards Isaiah, "How?"

Isaiah releases his arms from his chest as he rests them on the arm rest. One hand was up at his mouth, with his thumb rubbing against his chin.

"You can't expect my family to be best friends with Landon's and not know what's happening in his business," Isaiah stated quietly.

"I don't understand," I muttered underneath my breath, trying to solve the puzzle pieces of this mystery.

I looked at Austin again for any source of assistance, but instead my dear brother just shoots me a look of pure helplessness.

"But Landon told me he didn't know anything about," I trailed off, furrowing my eyebrows together as I jumped towards the conclusion.

He lied to me.

Almost immediately, Isaiah was able to read the expression on my face, "No, he didn't."

"What?"

Now was I even more confused.

Isaiah pressed his lips in a thin line before looking down at the floor.

"Before you and I even met, the Carthy's family and mine appointed to dinner at a gala. It was about three years ago, before I was fully developed into training for the next ownership position for our athletic organization. Because Landon's family, and my family were so close; deals were passed back and forth rapidly between our dads, and the oldest sons. Landon was excluded from this conversation. I remember specifically that an older man had joined the conversation later on that evening, talking about the big lay off that happened in around Eastern. That guy who I later found out was Charles, ended up helping a lot of people by giving out loans for survival." Isaiah paused as he regains his look from the floor. He casts Austin and I a hesitant look as he suddenly uncomfortably rubs his palm against his knees.

"But those were never Charles's intentions. I found out about a year later that his deal was only offered due to the huge interest that he 'mentions' in the contract," Isaiah stops talking. Instead, he reaches into his duffel bag and pulls out a thick black folder. He flips through pages and pages until he stops his track on the same copy that Landon had shown us earlier.

Isaiah gets up from his seat and walks over towards the coffee table in front of Austin and I. He drops the folder onto the table as he pulls out loose papers from all over the folder. Every page he pulls out, he rests it on the table side to side until it filled up the whole table. As the end of his task, there was over twenty loose pages of documents on the table.

I can see him bit his lip nervously as he finally looks me in the eyes.

"Aubrey," he trails off, as I looked up at him.

"Your dad owns over thirty thousand dollars," Isaiah informs carefully, "There were more deals behind the eight grand."

My heart immediately dropped. I looked at each of the paper resting on the table. Loads of zeros and commas, it's unbelievable how much money a person can borrow.

Without able to tolerate the information, I dropped my face into my hands. I felt Austin's arms creeping around my shoulder as he pulls me into a warm embrace. Something about his hug tells me that Austin knew about this a lot longer than I did, maybe even when it started.

"Why are you telling us this?" I asked Isaiah, soon getting offended by the wealth.

There was a moment of silence before he spoke up, "I want to help you guys."

"Aubrey, we became friends before I fully understood the situation. I didn't know the debt was from your family. If I knew that, I would've avoided you and decided not to get into the Carthy's and your family's businesses." He tries to explain.

I looked up at Isaiah in disbelief, my eyes red from tiredness and the pressure I'd laid against my face, "Then why didn't you avoid us the moment you found out?" my voice slightly rising from annoyance.

All the information I had to take up within these past two days were completely unmanageable. Half of me wanted to wake up from this horrible nightmare, but the other half of me knew that this was a reality I couldn't escape.

"I owe you," he states almost calmly.

"What do you mean?" I growled at him, throwing my hands in front of me with my fingers bent angrily. I could feel Austin's grip around me was getting tighter as he sits in silence, hoping for me to adapt to the reality of the situation.

"When you helped me from my best friend," a soft chuckle escaped his lips, "I told you I owe you something."

I shook my head, rolling my eyes at him.

"What are you going to do?" I was screaming at this point, "What can you possibly do!"

My throat was clenching in anger as I felt the back of my body heating up in frustration. The back of my neck had a tingling sensation where I wanted to claw my hands into Isaiah's throat and nearly choke him out. But I knew I would never have the heart to do that.

"I can pay it off," Isaiah shakes off.

Being raised under the rule of keeping low profiles, quickly made me contemplate Isaiah's offer. As much as I hate to admit that Isaiah is finding ways to help us out, the assist on terms of money was too sketchy.

"No, you can't," I simply responded. I got up from my seat and took the all papers on the coffee table, stacking them in a neat pile before respectively closing the folder. I was able to slide the thick folder towards Isaiah's direction as I see his hesitance to pick up the folder.

"We don't need you help," I bluntly stated, with a much serious and colder tone.

Isaiah sighs in defeat as he grabs the folder in front of him.

"Just call me if you need help, I guess," he finally admits, pulling the folder towards him as he strolls back to the duffel bag. He carelessly drops the folder as it flops into the bag, grabbing the strap as he swung it over his shoulders.

As he was making his dramatic exit, Isaiah turns around one more time looking back and forth between Austin and I.

"Colton and Bella said they miss you, by the way," he managed to slip through before sliding out of the door.

The last sentence quickly left my mind as I looked over at Austin. Yes, I cared about my two best friends, but it was best not to include them in any of my life drama. It would cause nothing pity towards me and that's the last thing I want on this planet: pity from a friend.

"You should've let him help us," Austin finally speaks up from the moment of silence ever since Isaiah has left our home. I took a deep breathe and sighed as to why this idea had popped in Austin's mind in the first place.

"We don't need his help," I muttered.

"Yes we do, Aubrey. It's thirty grand, how are you going to pay it back?" Austin jerks up, removing his arms from me as he raked his hand through his hair.

Something about Austin's movement quickly irritated me, "Austin, please!"

"We can't pay it off. Final. Dad's working but he's barely getting paid over minimum. We're both full time students, part time jobs will still be useless," Austin fights back, finally getting up on his feet as he hovers over my small body tossed on the couch.

I crossed my arms as I felt myself getting stubborn, "We will find a way."

"Aubrey, this is reality. This is thirty grand. It's not something we can just casually earn and pay off easily," Austin convinces.

Closing my eyes for a brief moment, I took a breath as it made me calm down my rage for just a second.

"We don't need Isaiah's help, or Colton's help, or Landon's help!" I finally screamed at him, voice cracking mid-sentence.

All three of both boys definitely had enough money to easily pay off our debt, but that's not how friends should treat each other. If I go up and beg for someone to pay off my debt, that's not friendship, that's called being used.

"Then what are we going to do?" Austin sighs, dropping his hands by his side.

I shook my head, answering calmly with, "Anything but borrow money from anyone else."