The woman, who has never done one reckless thing in her life, was too much of a risk. Every bank in town that had given me the time of day had sympathetically explained to me how math didn’t lie. The one thing that was certain in this life, besides death and taxes, was that math didn’t lie.
Because I didn’t really own anything, I didn’t have a solid credit history established, proving I paid my debts responsibly. And once you added my monthly income, tips included, and subtracted my living costs, the money left over wasn’t enough to cover the repayment amount and give myself some breathing room. The only positive thing any of the banks could comment on was how I had decent credit despite not owning a car or house, and I had a solid work history, having worked at The Opera for the past few years.
After being turned away from the banks, I had sat in front of my dated laptop and had scoured the internet for online lenders, and most of them had come back with the same refusal. And the ones who were willing to loan me money couldn’t loan me the entire thirty-thousand, or the interest was so high, I wouldn’t have been able to pay my monthly bills and the repayment amount.
As I wracked my brain, trying to find a solution, I had thought about just moving in with Keith and combining our incomes to be able to pay back the loan, but Keith’s credit and job history was shit, so him co-signing a loan would actually be taking a step back.
Panicked and with no other options in sight, I had broken down and had gone to The Opera to ask Kim if she knew a way to help me. She’d been in the middle of her shift, but when she saw I was a mess, she had dragged me to the back where the employees took their break. After she promised she’d stop by after work, I had gone home, and scoured the internet for more lending companies until the sites had become so sketchy, I might as well reach out to the Mob.
And now, Kim was sitting on my couch, staring at me like I’d just declared I was an alien from outer space.
“Jesus Christ, Devi,” she muttered. “I…holy shit.”
“I know.” And I did. I did know.
“I have a couple of hundred saved up that you can ha-”
“Oh, God, Kim,” I rushed out, hugging her because I just needed to hug someone. When I pulled back, I took her hands in mine. “You have no idea how much your offer means to me, really. I…but a few hundred can’t help me.”
She didn’t comment for a long while, but when she pulled her phone from her purse, she said, “Give me a sec, okay?” I nodded and went into the kitchen to give her some privacy.
Though my apartment was small as hell and I could hear her conversation if I wanted to, I made excessive noise getting a couple of glasses from the cupboards, and after pulling the ice trays from the freezer, I noisily cracked them free, and dumped them in the glasses. I refilled them in the sink and placing them back into the freezer, I opened the fridge and grabbed the pitcher of iced tea. And it wasn’t until I saw her put her phone away that I walked back into the living room with our drinks. I placed them both on the coffee table, knowing they were probably going to go untouched.
“Okay, so, I called my cousin, Sully, and…well, after assuring him I wasn’t the one in trouble, he told me there were three…uh, unorthodox lenders in Rockford.”
Unorthodox lenders.
Loan sharks.
God, how I hated myself for asking. “And?”
“There’s Milton Downey, but Sully said he works in small amounts mostly. Like, two-thousand or as high as five, but that’s it.” Kim reached over and squeezed my knee. “That’s not to say he won’t or can’t do thirty, just that he’s not known to.”
“Who else?” If I had to meet with Milton Downey as a last resort, I will, but I didn’t need two-thousand or five. For that amount, I’d just go back to the bank.
“Alvin Fischer is ano-”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s who Keith owes the money to.” I let out a deep sigh. “I’d be paying him back with his own money, and…Christ, Kim, I can’t go begging to the man who beat up my brother and who might very well kill him.” I fought back the tears of stress. “I know this is all Keith’s fault, but…I just can’t.”
“No, no, no,” she whispered. “It’s okay. I get it. I understand.”
“So, who’s the third guy?”
“Cassius Sire,” she said. “And Sully said if he were ever in need to borrow money like that, Cassius is who he would go to.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t ask,” she grumbled regretfully. “He just said he’d go to Cassius over the other two.”
“So…so, how in the hell would I even get a hold of the man? I mean…”Christ, I was in way over my head.“I mean, I don’t know anyone who…” I didn’t even know what I was trying to say. How did a person get in touch with a goddamn loan shark? At least, how did they do it without calling attention to themselves?
“Hold that thought,” she said as she grabbed her phone from her purse again.
I didn’t utter a word as I heard her talking to her cousin again, asking him how to get in touch with Cassius Sire. And, holy crap, was that his real name? Who named their kid that? Or was it his street name? Something he thought would sound cool and powerful. Because Cassius Sire, really? Was I going to have to curtsey when I meet him?
Kim hung up with her cousin and I wasn’t sure if I was happy or scared to death with what he said next. “He’s known to frequent The Tenor. It’s a bar in town, and you might run into him there by chance,” she said. “However, for an official meeting, you need to go the bar and speak to someone to request one.”
That didn’t make any sense. “Why would he let a random bar arrange his meetings?”
