“Not as hard as this apology is,” she said. “No wonder you’re such an asshole all the time. You arenotgood at this.”
I pretended to drop her.
She shrieked and clutched at me, and I hauled her back up.
“Also,” she added, “while I don’t regret anything I said, I can admit that screaming at you while you were driving probably wasn’t the smartest move.”
I was quiet for a bit, thinking over what she’d said to me right before the near-miss. “I don’t go after people who can’t pay.” God, why did I even feel the need to explain myself? “Or innocent people. I do my research. We usually cut people off when they hit what we believe is their debt ceiling.”
“Then how do you explain what happened with Blake?”
Shit. I’d walked right into this.
“That was a one-time thing,” I said. Technically, it wasn’t a lie.
“You still hurt people. You still ruin their lives. And maybe most of them deserve it, but it doesn’t make you any better than they are.”
I sighed. “I try to avoid hurting people. At least physically. Usually, I get big scary guys to threaten to do it, and that’s enough to put the fear of God into them. I’ve found threats of public exposure or asset seizure to be much more effective than violence, so that’s what we focus on. And we’re not unreasonable. We offer income-based payment plans.”
She made a sound of disbelief.
“Think about it, Sunshine. I wouldn’t be able to keep drawing in wealthy clients if I were as heartless and brutal as everyone says. People would be too scared to come back.”
“So, what? You’ve secretly been some good guy this whole time? Come on, Theo.”
“No, obviously not. I’ve done terrible things, and I have no plan to stop.”
“Why?” The word felt weighted.
“Why not? It’s good money. It’s challenging, every month presenting different obstacles, new ways to be creative. But more than anything else, I like it. It’sfun. And it’s what I’m good at.”
We reached her shop, the windows dark because it was so late.
“Okay, you can put me down now,” she said.
I ignored her.
25
Stella
Theo, much to my horror,carried me all the way upstairs to my apartment.
“Where’s the bathroom?” he asked, still holding me.
“Fuuuck you,”Amos answered.
Theo jerked around, clearly looking for another person.
“It’s just Amos,” I told him. “And it’s over there,” I added, pointing.
“Treat, Snack Bitch?”Amos called.
“In a minute.”
“Treat, treat, treat?”
Theo turned toward the bathroom. “Sunshine has just been dethroned.”
