Blitz (Blast Brothers #3) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,33
and we talked every once in a while, you know? Anyway, this one day, I see her in the parking lot – at the university I mean – and she's standing outside this little white car, looking ready to cry."
As Mina talked, I mentally filed away the unrelated data for later. So, she'd taken some marketing classes in college, huh?
Had she graduated?
Or was she still going?
By now, I was pissed at myself for not looking further into her background. But until today's meeting, I'd figured she was full of hot air and not worth the effort.
But then, she'd surprised me by delivering more than she'd promised. In my book, that meant something. And if I weren't occupied with the task of driving her home, I would've already checked her background for red flags.
Or rather, I would've had someone else do the checking, because I paid people for a reason.
In the car, Mina continued. "So I pull up and roll down my car window. And when I ask her what's wrong, she tells me that she's locked out of her car, and that her spare keys are forty-five minutes away at her dad's place."
It was easy to see where this was going. "So you offered to take her there."
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"Not hard to guess."
"Why?" she laughed. "Because I seem like a sucker?"
Sucker. It was another clean word that sounded too nice on her lips – not dirty, but thought-provoking. I shifted in my seat. Too thought-provoking.
Absently, I replied, "No. Because you seem like a decent person." Shit. My own statement caught me off-guard, even more so because I meant it.
What the hell was that about? Could someone be decent and crazy? It was hard to say.
From the look on Mina's face, she was just as surprised as I was. "Oh. Well, thanks."
"You're welcome. Now finish the story."
"Alright, so we're in the car like two minutes when she launches into a sales pitch, telling me about these dietary supplements."
"Supplements?"
"Right. For fitness, hair loss, all kinds of things." Mina made a scoffing sound. "Apparently, she sells them on the side."
I had to laugh. "So she tried to sell you some?"
"No. It's even worse. She tried to get me to sell them."
"No kidding?"
"No kidding. Anyway, she tells me how it's this spectacular opportunity, and how it gets even better if I recruit other salespeople, because then I get money for what they sell, too."
"So, multi-level marketing, huh?" I knew how that went. The people on the top made all the money, while the people on the bottom pestered their friends for peanuts.
"Right," Mina said. "And she wanted me selling underneath her."
Underneath her. That sounded like a nice place to be, even if that's not what Mina meant. Again, I shifted in my seat.
If I were smart, I'd think about supplements instead. "So, what'd you tell her?"
"I told her flat-out that I wasn't interested. But I said it nicely, which apparently, was a huge mistake."
"Oh yeah? Why's that?"
"Because she won't give up. And the closer we get to her dad's place, the more she pushes – you know, because I'm a captive audience. And the harder she pushes, the harder I resist. And pretty soon, all I can think is, 'Why did I ever let this person into my car?'"
Finally, I got the connection. This time, Mina was in the passenger's seat, looking to make a deal. And me? I was her prospect – one she didn't want to piss off.
Her logic was sound, especially for a nutjob – except more and more, I was doubting my initial assessment.
By now, I was doubting a lot of things.
I asked, "So how'd the drive end?"
"Terrible," she laughed. "With me getting a ticket."
"For what? Tossing her ass out?"
"No. For speeding, which I was. And you wanna know why?"
"Why?"
"Because I couldn't wait to get her out of my car."
I gave my speedometer a quick glance. I wasn't speeding. What the hell did that mean?
Nothing good, that's for damn sure.
I asked, "So how fast were you going?"
"Let's put it this way. I'm just lucky I didn't get a ticket for reckless driving."
I smiled. "That fast, huh?"
"Oh yeah," she said. "In the end, my 'good deed' cost me over two-hundred dollars."
There was a time when this would've sounded like a lot of money. Now it was pocket change. But I saw what Mina meant.
And I had to give her credit. She was no Tanya Whoever. She knew when to push, and when to let it go.