“Do what?”
Mickey waved the envelope. “What we both came here for. How much is in here?”
“Two grand, give or take.”
“Where did you get it?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Everything.” Mickey gave Benito an unsubtle once-over. “Especially as you have two phones stuffed in your pockets and this cash doesn’t look like it came from a bank.”
A breeze block took up residence in Benito’s throat.You’re a fucking idiot. You brought too much.But as Mickey’s flinty gaze pierced holes in him, it dawned on him that it wouldn’t have mattered.He sees me.Benito didn’t know what that meant or why it mattered, but the realisation winded him all the same. “Who are you?”
“I’m your mum’s housing officer at DOSHA, Benito. What part of that aren’t you getting?”
“For how long?”
“A year. Maybe more. I haven’t talked to her in a while, though. And I only met your sister a few days ago.”
Mickey’s stare remained fixed on Benito’s pockets before he seemed to shake himself. He folded his arms, still clutching Benito’s envelope, and leaned against the banister railing.
Benito took in his clothes, not that different from the shirt and jeans he’d worn to Freefall and yet a world away from the low slung pjs he’d answered the door in two days ago.Two days.Damn. It felt like a lifetime. Or a fucking fever dream. “I didn’t know. About any of it. I’d have fixed it if I had.”
“Which still begs the question, how? Not being funny, mate, but they’ve never mentioned you. Like, at all. I didn’t know you existed until your sister carjacked me.”
“She did what?”
“Came up on me on the Lakes Estate and banged on my car window. Scared the shit out of me, but I can’t fault her initiative.”
A reluctant smirk twisted Benito’s lips. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. Just tell her not to do it to anyone else. It’s a snake pit out there.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“I don’t know what to think. My brain’s in bits right now.” Mickey’s voice roughened on the last few words. He let his arms drop and shook his head. “This is fucking mad.”
Benito sucked in a shaky breath. “True that. I’m having a hard time believing it’s a coincidence.”
“You think I came onto you in a sex club with the purpose of rinsing your savings to pay your mum’s rent arrears?” Disbelief coloured Mickey’s face again. “That’s more ridiculous than what’s actually happened here.”
“And what’s that?”
“Exactly what you said. A coincidence. And believe me, it’s as fucked up for me as it is for you. There’s a reason I party at a club two hours from where I work.”
Benito’s mind raced, grasping at fragmented threads, trying to piece them together. But he wastired, running on empty. He couldn’t keep up. “This needs to end,” he said. “Whatever it is, it needs to stop.”
“Which part?”
“All of it.”
Mickey nodded. “Forget about you and me.” He held up the envelope. “Whereverthiscame from, it’s not enough on its own. I can negotiate down from the two thousand we asked for, but without a payment plan for the rest and a commitment to make full rent from this point on, it doesn’t mean anything.”
“I can pay all that.”
“With what? Loan shark money? Cash from the road?”
“What?”