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He shook his head gravely. “Either you pay it or you’re out.”
Silence descended over the shop, as the two of us ran out of things to say. There was no way in hell I was budging on the rent. It wasn’t even a matter of money, it was a matter of principal.
“Look…” Gus said, his voice going suspiciously low. “Maybe the two of us could… work out some sort of a deal.”
Fifteen
SAVANNAH
My fists were clenched so tightly I thought my fingernails might draw blood. My entire face twitched as I arched an eyebrow.
“A deal?”
The whole thing was unbelievable. It was everything I could do to keep my mouth from twisting into a snarl.
“Yeah, sure,” said Gus. “You know... one hand washes the other.”
“Tit for tat?”
My landlord’s face broke into the same crooked-toothed grin as last time.
“Now you’re getting it.”
“No, not really. Explain the deal.”
“Well,” Gus shrugged again. “Let’s say you were to give me a private reading.” He nodded over my shoulder. “In the back room there. One night, after you close.”
“A private… reading.”
“Yes,” Gus nodded. He cleared his throat and stood up a little straighter. “Just me and you.”
“And in return?”
“You don’t have to pay the rent increase,” he said simply. “This month or the next.”
I nodded very slowly. “So let me see if I have this straight,” I said. “Just so we’re on the same page.”
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My landlord shifted. Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow.
“You’re looking to fuck me.”
I let the words drop loudly, heavily into the silence. Putting on my best contemplative look, I tapped my chin with one finger.
“In the back room right there. One night. After I close.”
Gus said absolutely nothing. In the silence of the shop, I could practically hear his heart beating faster.
“And in return, I save… what? A few hundred dollars?”
The man standing across from me remained motionless. Eventually I saw his shoulders give a tiny shrug, almost imperceptibly.
“That’s pretty fucking sad, Gus,” I sighed. “Sad and pathetic. Don’t you think?”
“Well—”
“I mean shit, you could just go out and hire a prostitute with the money,” I taunted him. “She might not want to fuck you either, but for that much, she might at least pretend.”
