Page 35 of Jace 4Ever
Jace
“We’re out of food!”
The cracks in the ceiling were calling my name again. I just wanted to lie in bed and count them, over and over. I didn’t want to deal with my older, far less responsible criminal brother.
“Hey!” The pounding on the door wasn’t helping me like him more. “We’re out of food, fag!”
I sat up and stared hard at the wall. “Then go to the store!”
“I ain’t got no money.”
“That’s a double negative, jackass, and that means you have money. Get your own food!”
“You wanna live here in one piece, you need to fill these fucking cabinets. Now. I’m hungry.”
“Why can’t you just go to the store?” My question was too quiet for him to hear, but it was loud enough for me to hear my own anger. “Give me an hour, man. Just one hour. I’ll go to the store.”
“I’m going to go talk to some guys about stuff, but when I get back, there better be food up in this shit.”
I waited for the door slam just a few minutes later and waited another five for good measure. The new steel door was working, as far as I could tell. Jerrod hadn’t been in my space in a while.
My phone alarm hadn’t even gone off yet, which meant it was probably ass o’clock in the morning. The phone told me I was right as it blinked four thirty in the morning. Thank God for all night grocery stores.
It also meant that once again Jerrod had been out all night, fucking around, selling, buying, and making trouble. I just hoped he didn’t get arrested.
There was no way I could go into even more debt for him. I was tired of working in porn and pseudo snuff films to pay down that money. I was terrified that one of these days, someone was going to cross the line in the snuffs. I also hated how he handled the porn. I couldn’t say anything until I was free of the debt.
Climbing out of bed, I headed for the shower to clean up. The bathroom I had was nothing like the one I shared with Nelson in his apartment. That had enough room for four people—not that I would ever want more than him and me in there, but there was room. It was large, with unlimited hot water, clean white tiles and smart black trim and accessories. This was full of returning mildew, unstable tiles, bad drainage, and a cheap plastic curtain with rusted fixtures.
Still, it was mine and I did what I could to keep it clean and fresh, and I scrubbed it down with bleach once a month and cleanser every week. Just because Jerrod was disgusting didn’t mean I had to be. I also took care of the kitchen.
Pulling on a pair of the adorable panties Nelson had given me, this pair was pink, I hiked up a pair of comfortable jeans and pulled on a T-shirt. There would be just enough time to get a few days’ worth of food, drop it back off here, and get to work on time. Snagging my keys and phone from my dresser, I walked out of my room and locked the knob and the deadbolt, and headed out the door.
The grocer was down three blocks and there was no one on the streets at five in the morning. I made good time during the walk. This was a pay week, so I hoped the balance in my bank account was decent. It was probably smarter if I checked the account before I grabbed a cart, so I loaded the app and tapped in my code.
I stopped absolutely dead.
That couldn’t be right.
I logged out and logged back in.
The same numbers appeared in the account: $52,680.
That had to be an error. I tapped on the account information and pulled up the deposits and withdrawals. There, just at the top, was a deposit from Max Imum Drive Productions for $52,300.
The panic attack almost took me to the ground. As it was, I had to find a building to lean against to get my bearings. Nelson had said ten percent, just ten percent, as an advance on the script. That meant they were going to pay me half a million dollars for the script.
If I could have vomited, I would have. It was more than twice what I owed Denis. I could pay him off, get away from porn, and get a real job on a real set in a real location. I could pay for my own plane ticket on a lower A film, and get some damn recognition as a good lighting tech.
All because I helped Nelson with a damn script.
“You okay there, kiddo?”
I gasped and looked up, shoving my phone in my pocket. It was the grocery owner, Mr. Donald. “Hey, hi. Yeah. I’m okay. Got good news. Like really freakin’ amazing news.”
“Okay, good, but you look like you could use a sip of water.” He held out a small bottle for me.
I took it gratefully and cracked it open. A quick sip seemed to settle me a lot and I nodded. “Yes, thanks. I’m actually here to buy some food for the week. I hadn’t realized I’d made it all the way here.”
