Page 123 of House of Cards
I’m yelling now. Should care. Don’t.
“You know the diner’s gone? Your fucking loan shark or whatever he is burned it down because ofyou!” The tears are fighting to come back, making every word tight and forced, but I battle them as valiantly as I battle the urge to slam the phone down just to make Ricky’s ear ring for the next two days.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the money, huh? We could have worked something out. Because you’re a fucking coward, Ricky, that’s why! My life is ruined because of you, you motherfucking piece of shit!”
I sound like a fucking lunatic. Sweet, worried, then all-out berserk. I take a breath, because I’m lightheaded from lack of oxygen, and in that beat, hear something on the other end of the line.
Someone chuckling.
My breath hitches in my throat, and the receiver creaks as my hand tightens knuckle-white around the plastic casing.
That…
Jesus, that’s not Ricky.
“You miss me,mamacita?” Buzzcut—Elonzo—rasps into the phone. “’Cos I sure missed you.”
“Wh—” My voice is so thick it’s barely legible. The dizziness is back. It makes my knees so weak I don’t have a choice but to sink to the ground.
“Wh-why are you answering Ricky’s phone?”
“You set fire to shit,las ratas?1 come running out. Isn’t that right, Ricky?”
Something changes in his tone. I’d have expected anger, but Elonzo sounds almost…disappointed. As if their now-ruined relationship runs deeper than just an unpaid debt.
My heart plummets fifty thousand feet below sea level when I hear a rustle, a loud rip, and a bleat of pain in a voice that could only be Ricky’s.
“Ricky!” I wail, pressing the phone so hard against my ear it aches.
“Zoey? Fuck, Zoey, I’m so sorry!” Ricky sounds desperate, and guilty. Like there’s more to apologize for than just borrowing money. What the fuck is going on? “This shit wasn’t supposed to?—“
A meatythudends Ricky’s sentence. My entire body flinches at the groan of pain he lets out before Elonzo’s smug voice oozes into my ear again.
“Ricky can’t come to the phone right now, but?—“
“You cheated! I had two weeks to get you your fucking money!” I yell into the receiver. “So you put him back on, and you let me speak to him, you motherfucker!”
There’s a beat of silence. “Interrupt me again,perra?2, and Ricky’s losing his dick.”
Cold flashes through my arteries, forcing me to clamp my arms around my knees and hug them to my chest to stop a violent shiver. I suppress a whimper, trying to keep my shit together, but feeling like I’m about to explode into sobs.
“Want to know why your cute diner went up in flames? You broke the golden rule, Zoey.”
“You think I’m stupid? I didn’t go to the cops!”
“Mob falls in the same category.” He laughs, but the sound cuts off too soon.
Themob?
“I…that’s…” My eyes flick around the hotel room I’m trapped in. “I had no idea about any of that! I came to the casino to get you your money?—”
I have to stop because Elonzo’s laughing so loud he can’t possibly hear me.
“You were planning on robbing the place?”
“I was counting cards,” I push through gritted teeth, my face heating. “And I would have had more than enough if you’d?—“
“Yeah, well, deal’s changed,” he cuts in. “Luis was trying to tell you, but then you went and bit off his fucking ear.”
