I let out a half-groan, half-shout. “I’m beginning to realize just how manipulative Scott is. He pretends like he hasn’t done anything wrong, like the charge to my card was just some accident. Meanwhile, behind the scenes he was disabling my notification settings and monitoring my purchases. Unbelievable.”
Jayce shook his head while reading the screen. “If I ever meet this guy, I’m gonna punch him in the mouth for you.”
“If I ever see him again, I’ll do it myself.”
He pointed. “Dispute that shit. Let the credit card company put the hammer down. If you need to, you can prove you were here in Eastland while the charge was made from an IP address in Savannah. Easy, right?”
I hesitated, but only for an instant. I clicked the button to dispute the charge, then followed the prompts on the screen. No, I hadn’t made the purchase. Yes, I still had the physical card in my possession. When I was done I was sent to a screen informing me that the dispute would take three to five days to resolve, and then a new card would be mailed out to me once they verified my identity.
I leaned back in the chair and smiled. “It actually feels really good to stick it to Scott.”
“I’ll bet. Will it fuck up your food truck business?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Do you care?”
I thought about the food truck. The physical truck itself, not the surrounding business and work involved. Scott and I had bought it from a junkyard and fixed it up together with our start-up money. It took over a week gutting the inside, cleaning it up, and then installing the cooking and refrigeration equipment. That was right after we had graduated. I remember feeling sofreethen. No more college term papers, or job hunting, or internships like my other friends. Just the bliss of self-employment.
But that free feeling disappeared quickly. The truck was a lot of work. Even when business thrived, we bled money. We worked sixteen hours a day, the stress of which revealed the cracks in our flawed relationship. Over time the food truck felt less like an accomplishment and more like a burden. One which got heavier every day.
“No,” I said with a smile. “I don’t care what happens to it.”
Jayce fell back into bed, and I laid down next to him. His arm curled around me automatically. “As fucked up as everything is in this town, at least we managed to solve one of your problems.”
“It’s not really solved, though. Since my card has been frozen, I don’t have a way to pay for anything. Motel money is due tomorrow, not to mention feeding myself. Scott sure knows how to screw up an already awful situation.”
“I’ll bankroll you, if need be,” Jayce suggested. “I’d let you crash at my place, but… you know. Since I can’t, the least I can do is make sure you don’t starve.”
“That’s sweet of you,” I said, “but I can borrow money from my parents.”
“Then I’ll float you until their money gets here. Or at least make twice as many extra sandwiches for lunch, so you have one to take home.”
I leaned over and kissed his bearded cheek. “I always wanted to have a sugar daddy.”
Jayce smirked. “At least until Sid finally bashes my head in with that crowbar.”
The comment made me flinch. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s the truth. No use pussy-footing around it.”
I rolled over until I was laying flat on his belly, my chin against his beard. “Then why don’t you leave, like I mentioned? I know you feel guilty about your sister, but that’s no reason to sit around waiting to get murdered. That’s a waste of a perfectly good beard.” I gave it a little tug.
“I’ll consider it,” he replied. “When my community service is up.”
“Why wait?” I asked, even though I selfishly didn’t want him to suddenly depart tomorrow, leaving me alone in this town. “Skipping out on your community service is just a fine, right?”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Jayce said. He sounded like he’d thought about this already. “If I skip out on my service, it might piss off the sheriff and judge enough to trump up some new charges against me. I won’t feel free if someone executes a warrant for my arrest three months from now.”
The sheriff could do that even if hedidfinish his community service, but I didn’t want to crush his spirits by pointing that out.
“I don’t want to risk it all for nothin’,” Jayce said finally. “If I’m gonna be free, it’s gonna be without anything hanging over my head.”
I nodded as if that settled it. “Then here’s hoping we can finish the community service in time. How many more days do you have?”
He blinked. “Eleven. But it’ll go by a lot faster with a fuck-buddy.” He reached around me and grabbed my ass with both hands, digging his fingers into my flesh. I wiggled my butt for him, and felt his shaft swell underneath me.
“My community service ends before yours,” I teased. “You’ll have to use your imagination for the last few days.”