Breaking Down

Chapter 6

6

Tyler

I yawned as I parked my car in its reserved space. After checking to see if I had grabbed everything, I hopped out and walked into my building. The postman was right there in the lobby, distributing the letters into their appropriate boxes.

“Good morning,” the man said with a chipper smile. “What’s your number?”

“302.”

He looked over the box on the floor, fished out a thick stack and handed it to me. “Here you go.”

I took the stack. “Thanks.”

Wanting to burn the letters, I raced up the stairs and entered my apartment. First thing I did was to throw the mail with the rest of the unopened letters on the corner table in the living room. The stack fell from the table and letters spread across the floor.

“Shit.” Groaning, I let go of my bag and coffee mug, and knelt on the floor. I picked up a few letters and noticed not all were bad news. With another groan, I sat down on the floor and started sorting through the mail. Ads, magazines, credit card applications, and any other s**t went directly to the trash. But the stack that remained was still thick.

I knew better, but I couldn’t help it. I opened the letter on top. A medical bill. I should have stopped there, but now I was in the thick of it. I opened the letters and found more medical bills, most past due, and several electrical and water and cell phone bills. And another notice on rent. I leaned back on the counter and let my shoulders droop.

As much as I tried to fight the current, I was drowning in bills. Rent was late and soon I would be kicked out. I hadn’t bought real groceries in the longest time—other than pop tarts and cheap frozen food, bread, and milk—and the last time I slept for over five hours … well, I couldn’t really remember when that happened. Maybe a year ago? Eighteen months?

And it would never end. Never. I would have all this debt for the rest of my life, and soon I would be homeless because no one would rent me an apartment, even a shitty one. Shittier than this one.

I closed my eyes and let out a long breath.

There was nothing I could do. Nothing more than I already did. I quit school, I worked all the time, I cut all the fluff from my life. No gym, no real food, no internet, no latest model phone, no nice clothes, no movies, no eating out, no dating, no flirting even. Nothing. I was a shell walking around, running around, trying to make ends meet, when I knew, I knew, I would never catch up. Never.

There had to be a way. There had to be something that could help me, that could make this burden a little easier to carry.

A beautiful face with dark hair and bright blue eyes appeared behind my eyelids, and I snapped my eyes open.

Shit.

Gabriela had offered to make me a deal, a deal that could change all of this s**t. A deal that would make me debt free in a couple of years—if she could cover the amount of money I owed. But even if she couldn’t, perhaps she would offer me enough to pay the most pressing bills, to keep me afloat while I figured out what to do next.

But marriage? Would it be so bad to be married to her for two years, just two years, and then be debt free? In two years, we would get a divorce. I could go back to vet school, I could rent a nicer apartment, and I could start my life anew.

Shit. I would be twenty-seven then, and I was talking about starting my life.

I exhaled. Marriage. Damn, marriage. Could I get married? I mean, we could elope and pretend we lived together, right? That wouldn’t be too hard, right?

All right, all right. Think.

Fake marriage to a pretty girl and be debt free, hopefully, in two years, or continue with my miserable existence and be homeless and never eat a decent meal again?

There was no option there.

Shit, it seemed I would be getting hitched.

Still reluctant, I picked up my phone and realized I didn’t have her number. How would I find her, then? Garrett. She had mentioned Garrett knew about this.

Holding my breath, I called Garrett.

He answered on the third ring. “Hey, Ty. Everything all right?”

“Actually, no,” I confessed. “But maybe it’ll be. I need to talk to Gabriela. Can you give me her number?”