Ties

Chapter Thirty-Nine

"I can explain." Blaze steps into the room holding up the broken headset that Chaz recently bought him. My brain full-on spinning from the rows and columns of numbers. From years worth of colossal sums of money coming and going. Holy shit, I'm not even sure what I'm looking at?

Sleepy green irises travel warily back and forth between the two of us, and he scrunches his nose. "Are you guys having a fight?" His hand, still clutching the snapped in two contraption, drops by his waist side. Blaze angles his head towards me, side-eyeing Chaz with a frown, awaiting a response.

"No," Chaz says slowly, not shifting his attention from mine, lips pressed tight as he draws a few breaths. "It's fine, I'll get you a new one." He flaps a quick palm to the side. "We're just talking about work stuff, it's not important." He glances over, offering a half-hearted smile. My son knits his brows, glaring with his fiercest attempt at a mean look.

Truth be told, Blaze is totally in love with him, too. He's way happier than he's been in years, living for the playful jokes and banter the two share. Secretly, I know he's praying this won't get messed up—I feel the same way.

"Okay, well, don't yell at my mom," he snarls.

"Blaze, it's fine," I say, pulling myself up from the bed, doing the best I can to plaster on a fake grin. "It's work, stuff." Biting my lip, I meet Chaz's accusatory stare with wide eyes. "Just give us a minute." I stand directly in front of him, folder in hand, nodding to the door, then back to Blaze.

He doesn't budge. His angry expression fades and he frowns again. "I don't want you guys to fight." He almost whines, which makes my heart hurt, especially when I take in the distrusting scowl on Chaz's face. His nostrils flare slightly, jaw clenching off and on when he swallows. Just the way he's staring at me—I feel guilty. Kind of like when a cop is driving behind you, even though you aren't speeding. But anyway, I'm not sure what the crime is?

"We're not," we both say quickly, in unison.

Blaze reluctantly walks out, and I quietly close the door behind him. "What is all this?" I ask, raising the folder, meeting a stern and suspicious glare. "I've never even heard of these companies? Why would we be giving them back money? It doesn't make sense?" My brain is working overtime, struggling to make heads or tails of this, attempting to connect the dots that I can't seem to piece together.

"Look at me." Chaz's stressed voice cracks when he reaches out, taking the folder from my hand. Raising my chin, I maintain solid eye contact as he studies my face. "Why would you sign this?" he asks, his voice softer than before. "Why would you put your name on something you hadn't fully read?"

I open my mouth a few times, starting, stopping—failing to come up with a logical answer. He's right. Why would I have signed something I didn't thoroughly research? That's business one oh one. Dot all the I's, cross all the T's. It's something I always took seriously.