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“I thought… thought they went to the creditors.”
“Leon’s the creditors. She had me convince them to buy up the debt. Reverse double-agent, had them think I was their inside man.”
“But… the Cameron account…”
“Really bumped up the valuation. Her account’s switched to Leon.”
“Jesus Christ. You fucking knew all this?”
“Knew more than that. Knew you were the fall girl. Why do you think she put you in the public eye—insisting you take Cameron, you go do the headliner…”
“You didn’t tell me?” My voice was in shambles now, crackling and broken. He snorted.
“I fucking tried. You got rid of every notice I gave you. As if you’d believe me anyway? With your head that far up María’s ass?”
“I’d have… looked into it…” The words felt hollow, knowing it was a lie. I’d have dismissed him outright. Like I had when he’d said the conference was strange. When Ruth had said it. When they’d all said the Cameron account was strange.
Shit.
“Figured I’d try bullying you out of the company at least. See if I could get you to pay attention to what was going on. You weren’t receptive.”
“Fuck off. Why would you want to help me? You can’t stand me any more than I can stand you.”
“Yeah, of course not, and this shit is why, self-righteous prick who thinks she’s all that just because María dotes on her, with your whole worldview crumbling when you’re finding out she was using you. But…” He sighed, and his voice came back softer. “But I don’t want to just stand by and watch someone else take the fall for something she didn’t do. Not even you.”
I wiped my eyes. Crying in front of anyone was awful. In front of Miguel? Unconscionable. “Well, aren’t you just such a sweetheart?”
“Shut up.”
“You know, it’s not my fault she was gay.”
“You think that’s why I don’t like you?”
“So why my home? What do you possibly stand to gain from kicking me out?”
He sighed. “That’s… I have nothing to do with that.”
“Bullshit.”
“I’ve done nothing but try to help you, sticking my neck out for you, and this is how you respond. Well, fuck you too, London. By the way—that housing fund resource is run dry, so good fucking luck. Have a nice life, asshole.”
He hung up. I fell onto my back, the phone slipping from my hand, and I stared at the ceiling as Earl jumped up onto my chest, curling up on me, purring.
Tears burned hot at my eyes. I couldn’t afford to lose Earl’s home.
Choking back the heat in the back of my throat, I sat up, and I hugged him, ignoring his protestations, just burying my face in his fur and crying.
∞∞∞
I wasn’t sure when I’d gotten in the car, but I knew when I got out. It had been a while since I was at this house, and it looked different by night—I’d certainly never expected to pull up to it thirty minutes to midnight.
I stepped out of the car and shut the door, marching across the white stone strip steps that led to the front door, and I knocked, hard. She was probably asleep right now, so I waited a minute and knocked, hard, again.
The door pulled open just enough to see her face, and I guess I’d been wrong. Not sleeping. María’s eyes were blotchy, tired, puffy and red.
“Look—” she started, but I wasn’t about giving her the floor to say whatever the fuck she wanted right now.
“Why my apartment, too? Insult to injury?”
