“Technically, no,” Jayce said, climbing into the driver’s seat. I joined him in the passenger side and he continued, “If we see the sheriff or someone else coming to check on us, we can rush back out there.”
He reached through the cab divider into his cooler and pulled out a sandwich in a plastic baggy.
My stomach rumbled. “We can’t go somewhere?”
“We can,” he said as he opened his sandwich bag. “But it’s a small town. We’ll get caught. Then Mindy would dock us an hour on our time sheet.”
“Oh. Okay.” I opened my purse, and breathed a sigh of relief to see the can of fruit and bag of chips that I’d bought from the motel lobby. A meager meal, but better than nothing. I peeled off the top of the can of fruit and asked, “How many hours of community service do you have?”
He bit into his sandwich. “Too many.”
I grabbed a slimy piece of fruit and popped it in my mouth. “I’ve got a hundred and twenty. And my license is suspended until I’m done.”
“Sounds like Judge Benjamin, all right,” Jayce muttered.
“He told me you were a bad guy.”
Jayce snorted without looking up from his sandwich. “Did he now?”
“Uh huh. Probably ‘cause you’re part of that biker gang, right? The Copperheads?”
His head whipped around and his eyes were full of fire. “Why the fuck do you think that?”
“I dunno,” I said defensively. “They were visiting you in jail. You ride a bike like them.”
“How do you know what I ride?”
“I saw you on the road last night. When the sheriff was driving me back to the motel.”
Jayce examined my face like he was trying to decide if I was telling the truth. He must have come to the conclusion that I was, because he said, “I’mnota Copperhead.”
“Okay, okay. I didn’t realize it was a touchy subject.”
He looked in the side mirror. A car came driving up the road, then passed us. It wasn’t the sheriff.
“Maybe,” Jayce said, “you should mind your own business.”
“I was just making conversation.”
“Whatever you say, Peaches.”
I blinked. “What’d you call me?”
“Peaches.”
“Let me guess,” I said through clenched teeth. “Because I’ve got an ass like a Georgia peach. Sweet and juicy enough to sink your teeth into. I heard enough crappy comments like that in my old job, thank you very much.”
“I…” he started to say, but I was still going off on him.
“Do you honestly think girls like to have their bodies compared tofruit? Are guys that oblivious?”
Jayce only stared at me. “You’re eating a can of peaches.”
I glanced down and winced. He was right.
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m hungover. My mind is still cloudy.”
“Uh huh,” he grunted.