Page 22 of I Will Ruin You

Billy stopped pacing and pointed a finger at him. “You need to be a hundred percent straight with me here.”

“’Bout what?”

“Psycho Bitch and Butthead paid me a visit. And not on a pickup day.”

“So?”

“They’re saying I stole from them.”

“Did you?” Stuart asked.

“I look like I got a death wish? Look at this.” He lifted up his shirt to reveal a large purple bruise and a bandage taped over the right side of his chest. “Nipple was practically hanging off.”

“Fuck,” Stuart said. “How did they—”

There wasn’t time to finish the question. Billy grabbed him by the shirt, threw him down on the floor, and sat on his stomach, straddling him with his legs, pinning his arms.

“Billy! Get the fuck—”

Billy released one arm and grabbed Stuart’s jaw so he could stop his head from moving and fixed his glare on him. “You gotta be straight with me like never before. If you took it, if you admit it, right now, without my having to beat the truth out of you, then okay, we’ll figure out how to handle it. Say you didn’t know it was theirs. Something. Then you give me the money to pay them back. Make things right.”

“Billy, I didn’t take—”

“Do not fucking lie to me. This is your one chance, Stuart. Maybe one time, when I was asleep or something, you took my key and opened the locker and helped yourself to just a little of what was in there? Didn’t think I’d notice? Didn’t think they’d notice?”

“You’re my fucking friend!” Stuart said, taking a swing with his free arm at Billy’s face and missing. “Make that ex-friend! Jesus!”

And then Stuart started to weep.

“Oh shit,” Billy said, getting off his friend and standing. He extended a hand to help him up.

“Fuck you,” Stuart said, and found his own way up.

“I’m just—I’m losing my mind here, man. I’m sorry.”

Stuart walked to a far corner of the room, and now it was his turn to point.

“Listen, if I had taken any of your shit, I’d have been within my rights to do it. You always freeze me out.” He sniffed, took a tissue from his pocket, and wiped his nose. “I could have helped you with it, helped you hide stuff, done whatever you needed, but no. That’s not how you treat friends.”

He opened his arms wide to indicate his residence. “Look at this shithole. How do you sleep at night in your nice house with your nice wife you can fuck whenever you want knowing this is how I live?” He shook his head. “And then accusing me of ripping you off. I didn’t do it. I didn’t touch your shit.”

Billy hung his head. “Okay.” He found a chair and sat. “I gotta pay them back. Where do I find that kind of money? I don’t make this right, they’ll fucking kill me.”

“They’ve got you in place. They need you.”

Billy shook his head. “They’ll find someone else. Another guy at another airport. Bring it in by truck. FedEx it, whatever. I got a good thing going here and I’m gonna lose it if I don’t find out what happened to that shipment.”

“Maybe somebody dipped into it before it got put on the plane,” Stuart said, his voice softening.

“They say no.”

“Who else knows what you’re holding for them?”

“Nobody.”

Stuart gave him a look, like maybe Billy knew but wasn’t willing to admit it.

“What?” Billy said.