Page 99 of Cain
“Then you shouldn’t have opened your operation in my fucking town,” Jase shot back. “You and me, we are going to have some words. But my friend here has some questions first.”
The guy’s gaze slid to me, looking at my cut, then back up to my face. “I don’t want any smoke with the Henchmen.”
“This isn’t about the club. This is about a friend of yours.”
“Which friend?”
“Douchebag with a Rolex and a holier-than-thou disposition. Perry.”
The guy stiffened.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Fred.”
“Fred. What’s your business with Perry?”
“We have a little arrangement.”
“Fred, I’m gonna need you to be more straight with me. Or I will let Jase here… persuade you.”
“This is a nice club,” Jase said, picking it up out of the golf bag and lining up a swing. “You golf?”
Fred stiffened and looked at me.
“What do you want to know about Perry?”
“What is your business with him?”
“We’re partners.”
“Partners? Perry is involved in loan sharking?” Fred shrugged. “Why would he do that? He’s a wealthy businessman.”
“And what businessman doesn’t want to make a great return on his investments?”
“Whoops,” Jase said as he swung the golf club and knocked an old fax machine off the desk.
Fred sighed at the threat and focused on me again. “Look, stocks, at best, he could expect, what? A six-percent return on his investment. Why not get into business with me for twenty or thirty percent?”
“Per month?” Jase exploded. The golf club hung down at his side as he gaped at the other loan shark, his lip twisted up. “You fucking asshole.”
“What? Like you’re better than me?”
“Yeah, I am. We don’t drain people dry, you fucking leech. Thirty percent is the kind of interest that makes people swallow a bullet.”
“That’s not my problem,” Fred said, shrugging. “Don’t borrow if you can’t pay it back.”
“It is your problem. Having a bunch of clients self-deleting is a surefire way to lose a shit ton of money.”
“Thirty percent wasn’t even my idea. I was charging twenty.”
From what I understood, that was still high. But doable for a person desperate enough to risk their own safety to borrow from a loan shark.
“Perry made you up it.”
“Said it was the only way he was coming in. We split it sixty-thirty.”
With Perry getting the lion’s share for putting up the cash and Fred getting stiffed while he did all the dirty work.
