Page 31 of I Will Ruin You

Billy stood there, gun in hand, stupefied, trying to make sense of what had happened. Just when you thought your problems could not get any worse, a new one came knocking at the door. He reviewed everything that had transpired over the last few days, looking for something that might explain this.

Could it have something to do with Stuart? Was he into some kind of shit he hadn’t told Billy about? When he returned with the chicken wings, Billy would ask. Wasn’t it kind of convenient Stuart decided to take off just before this latest person showed up?

Maybe he’d have learned more if he hadn’t started waving the gun around. No one was going to be interested in sticking around one once they’d seen that. You think you’re gonna get shot, you get back in your car and hit the fucking road.

But Billy had an idea what was behind the visit.

Lucy.

She’d probably been pretty careless when she’d sold the stuff she’d stolen from the locker. Wasn’t discreet. Put the word out. Maybe one of her customers had overdosed, and now a loved one wanted to put the fear of God into both of them. Stop selling this shit or else.

That made as much sense as anything.

He didn’t know what he was going to do about her. If she was waiting for a text from him saying he was sorry, that he shouldn’t have waved that gun in her face, well, she was going to be waiting a long time.

But at the same time, he wanted to protect her from Andrea and Gerhard. Because God help her if they found out what she’d done.

I’m in what you might call a no-win situation, he thought.

He heard another car pulling up to the garage. The engine died, a door opened and closed. He hoped it was Stuart with the wings. Didn’t think to tell him to get extra-spicy. Kind of had a lot on his mind at the time.

Billy went to the door, opened it, found someone standing there.

Not Stuart. Not that other nut who’d come earlier.

But Billy sure knew who it was.

This evening had no end of surprises. Way things were going, there’d be fucking Girl Scouts here selling cookies before the night was through.