Donny’s thin lips twisted into a grin. “Nice to see you, Elaine.”
She took another step back as the four men walked into her apartment, claiming the space as their own. She avoided eye contact, staring instead at their shoes. Black, heavy boots stained her carpet, leaving trails of dirt and sludge that she’d never have to scrub away; it’d be a problem for the tenant that came after her.
The new guys trailed through her house, turning over her living room and tossing her couch cushions onto the ground. They took knives to the pillows, ripping open the material to get to the stuffing. They were looking for money, but they wouldn’t find any.
Carl and Donny stepped into her kitchen and Donny pushed the contents of her kitchen table onto the ground, sweeping her belongings away so easily that she had to squeeze her eyes closed as her life scattered across the linoleum floor.
He spun a chair around and took a seat with his legs hanging over each side. “Y’know, I’m sad to see it end this way Elaine. I was really pulling for you. There aren’t many whores like you in this shitty town. You know that?”
Elaine turned to him, but she couldn’t meet his eye. She focused on the scar that stretched down his face, specifically at the point where it ended halfway into his lip. Someone had nearly sliced him in two when he was younger and she found herself wishing they’d finished the job.
“Boss, she could have the money, you haven’t even asked her yet,” Carl laughed as he continued rooting through her cabinets. Other than the empty cereal boxes, there was nothing left in the cupboards. She’d sustained herself on ramen and tuna fish for the past few weeks.
Donny chuckled. “Right, right, right.” He pressed his hand to his chest and then extended it to her. “Elaine, please take a seat and tell me you’ve got twenty thousand hidden somewhere in this shitty ass apartment.” He leaned back with a wicked smile. “That would make my fucking night.”
She pointed at the peanut tin on the floor. Inside, there was a hundred dollars, a hundred dollars she’d desperately wanted to spend on a gift for Lilah, a little something by which she could remember her mom.
One of the new guys—the one who’d taken a hit of cocaine on the way in—bent to the ground and retrieved the tin. He pried it open, chuckled, and showed it to Donny.
“Is this a joke?” Donny said, ripping the tin from his crony’s hand and slinging it across the room. It collided with a picture frame propped up on the kitchen counter, shattering the glass across the room. The bills still sat folded inside of it.
Elaine shook her head, trying to keep the tears from clouding her vision.
“Fuck this, Donny. Get on with it already. We gotta pick up that delivery across town in fifteen.”
Donny nodded and stood. He rounded the corner toward Elaine, scratching his beard and assessing her with wicked eyes. She held her breath and watched him reach into his pocket out of the corner of her eye; he was reaching for the switchblade.
She jumped up out of her chair and flew across the room, holding her hands up to keep the four men away from her.
“STOP! I can get you the money.”
Donny turned and pounded his fists against the table in anger. “Fucking lies, Elaine!”
The wood threatened to buckle under the force of his fists. She watched it crack in the center, splintering out in two directions. Donny caught his fists just before he rammed them into the table again. He held them aloft and then loosened them, blinking away his anger. He turned toward her and smiled as if the last ten seconds had never happened. She swallowed down her fear as he stepped toward her with the patience of a man stepping toward a scared deer.
“Baby, you can’t get me the money. You say that every single time.” His voice was soft and comforting, and it scared her more than his shouts. “And you know what happens?” He was so close to her face then, breathing right onto her skin. His warm breath stank from rotted teeth. “You never fucking deliver.”
His hand dipped into his pocket for the switchblade and she stood immobile. Her heart hammered in her chest, rioting for her to do something. Act. Move. Run. Instead, she stared up into Donny’s dark brown eyes as tears started to flow.
“Please Donny,” she choked out through sobs. “Please. This time I really mean it. I know where you can get the money.”
Donny laughed and turned back to his men. “You guys hearing this? Maybe she has a few more fuckin’ cans of peanuts layin’ around.”
They chuckled along with him, the sound of it ringing in her ears until Donny flipped open the switchblade and the laughter stopped abruptly. The dull blade caught the light and Elaine finally found the courage to move. She fled past him, trying to make it to the door of the apartment, but he was quicker. He reached out and yanked her by the arm so hard it gave way from the socket.