Geo is a loan shark. Possibly a murderer. On top of all that, an alcoholic.
Wesley tried to…
I shake my head. I don’t want to think about what Wesley tried to do. I mean, I knew he was attracted to me, there’s no mistaking the way he looks at me sometimes.
But this?
The driver pulls to a stop in front of my door, and I pay him as I get out. I don’t bother to take the change, letting him keep it, but as he drives off, I wonder if maybe I should have. I don’t have a job. I’m so far behind on my rent. That money might have been the difference between eating and not eating.
I push open the door to the building and climb up the stairs to my apartment, and then I see it.
Pinned to the door is a notice.
An eviction notice.
Effective immediately.
I fumble with my key, dropping it once as my shattered nerves fire on all cylinders. What am I going to do? Where am I going to go?
Beth. I need to call Beth.
Grabbing my phone and dialing her number, I finally get the key into the lock and—to my relief—the handle turns. They haven’t changed the locks yet, and I’m clinging onto that good news like it’s a life raft in the middle of the ocean.
And then my whole world collapses.
“Hey, Nicci! So, what’s happening?” Beth’s voice on the phone sounds like it’s a million miles away, the way my ears are ringing. “How are things going with Geo?”
I almost drop the phone as I look around the apartment. “It’s all gone,” I mutter, my heart in my throat. “Everything’s gone.”
“What’s gone? What the fuck are you talking about? Where are you, Nicci?”
“In my apartment.”
“Right. And what’s missing?”
“Everything. Oh my God, my fish…” I wander over to the space where they should be. Weirdly, the tears I was crying are all dried up. I guess I just don’t have any more left.
“What the fuck? Have you been robbed? That’s it, I’m coming over there. Stay where you are, we’ll get this all sorted.”
I hear the click as she ends the call, but I don’t care anymore. None of this seems real.
“Nicci.”
At first, I think his voice is in my head, that maybe I’m going mad. It wouldn’t be such a bad thing. At least someone else would have to take care of me then, I could just go into a home and let them do what they want to me.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
His voice is so soft, so gentle. I look up to see him standing there in front of me. Why is he here? How can this man, and the one I know really exists, be the same?
“You should leave,” I say, backing away from him. “Beth will be here in a minute, and I’m going to go to her place.”
“What? Why? What’s going on?”
A sudden laugh escapes from my throat, and I can’t believe I’m laughing but suddenly I see how stupid I must look and it’s hilarious. Stupid Nicci, believing everything can be perfect when it’s never been before. “I know everything, Geo, so there’s no need to pretend anymore. And it really was nice while it lasted, so thank you for that, but you can go back to your life now.”
“While it lasted? Precious, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Don’t you understand? I know everything. I can’t be with a loan shark, Geo. And I definitely can’t be with an alcoholic. I saw enough of that with my—”
He cuts me off. “Recovering. Twenty years clean.”
“What?”
“I don’t drink. I have zero desire to drink. For that matter, I’m not a loan shark any more either.”
I shake my head. “Really? So that man the other day was showing you his pockets because he was proud of them, right?”
Geo takes a step forward, and I don’t move away from him. What would be the point? If he’s going to kill me for what I know, it wouldn’t be much different from the way things are right now. “No, I was a loan shark then. I’m not now. I’ve just seen the last of my clients, told him his debt is written off. He got lucky. They all did. But that’s not me anymore, Precious, not now I’m with you.” He reaches out and cups my cheek with his hand, and I lean into it, feeling its warmth.
“Don’t lie to me. Please. Just no more lies.”
“I’m not, baby. You have to believe me. Things have to be different. I have to be different.”
The truth in his words hits me, and it almost makes me sadder to know that he’s done that for me. That he’s changed his life. My heart almost soars, but it gets dragged back down again.
“I’m happy,” I say, nodding. “It’s good that you’ve given up that life. And I’m glad you’re not an alcoholic. But Geo, you don’t want to be associated with me. I’ve got no job, Wesley fired me this afternoon. I’ve got no apartment. I don’t even know where my fish have gone.” I feel a tear spring into my eyes at the thought of my fish, what might have happened to them. I don’t even want to think about the worst possibility, it’s too—