Page 31 of Jace 4Ever
I stared at him. “You came in three minutes. I think I took longer when I was thirteen.”
He tried to come at me, but his buddy Rimmy—oh God, the stories about how he got that name—grabbed his fist. “No, man. Ain’t worth it. Go get dressed. We got drinks and bitches to conquer.”
He gave in a moment later and offered me a middle finger. I offered one right back. As soon as he turned the corner to the dressing area, Rimmy grabbed my shoulder and spun me back to him. “Don’t fuck with him. Just because your ass is never gonna be filled by that doesn’t mean you get to mock it.”
“I don’t want his disease-ridden dick anywhere near me.” I pulled my shoulder away from him. “Don’t touch me, and make sure your buddy washes and trims that wild forest between his legs. No one can see his dick from the pubes. They’re a problem.”
“They’re—”
“Rimmy, they’re a problem,” Denis snapped. “If you have to tie him down and shave that mess, do it. I don’t want to see it again when he comes back next week for his next shoot.”
The look on Rimmy’s face could have dropped a rhino dead in his tracks. After a few heartbeats, he finally turned on his foot and marched off the set.
“You. You gotta watch your mouth, no matter how much you’re right and no matter how much Aric talked down to you. You owe me a lot of money still and remember that it’s only the goodness of my heart that I don’t take your entire paycheck after each shoot.”
No matter how much I wanted to argue, I knew I couldn’t. He could take me to court, or worse, take me out back and either kill me or let his friends take it out of me. Literally.
“Hey, Denis?” I called as he walked away. My words stopped him, but he didn’t turn around. That was the only clue I was going to get that he was listening. “Let’s say, hypothetically, I came into some money. If I paid you a lump sum, could you see your way to end our agreement sooner?”
This time, he turned around. He was laughing as he stepped closer to me. “Are you kidding? You’ve sold everything you own, you’ve got nothing left. Where are you going to come up with a lump sum big enough to knock time off our agreement?”
“I have...something coming down the pike and I think it might pay well.”
“Does it interfere with you being here?”
“Not in the slightest. And it won’t do anything to interfere with the repayment itself. Just...the amount of time it takes.”
“I would need to see at least ten thousand to consider it.”
My head bopped. “That’s what I’m hoping for. Just about ten thousand.”
“If you can come up with ten, I’ll figure out how many hours I can take off the deal. It’ll probably only be about six months.”
“No, I get that,” I said. “I just wanted to see if you were open to the suggestion.”
“I’m always open to money, Jace.”
With a pat to my cheek, he was off again, down to the ratty trailer he called an office on site. I wanted to scrub the spot he touched. He was disgusting and underhanded, but he was the only one who would help me with lawyers.
Not helping my attitude was I hadn’t heard from Nelson in two days. Or anyone else for that matter. It seemed like everyone disappeared, and they weren’t interested in me anymore. That was just me, of course—I knew the whole stupid lot of them were on me like big brothers. I didn’t mind, but it didn’t make sense they had all disappeared.
Of course, as the idea passed through my brain they were abandoning me, my phone pinged.
Nelson: Hey, Jace.
Jace: Hey.
Nelson: I have permission from everyone to tell you they’re sorry they didn’t call you or let you know what was going on.
Nelson: Uriah and the kids got kidnapped and we had to go on a rescue mission.
Jace: Holy CRAP. Is everyone OKAY?
Nelson: Yup. Austin is being released from observation today and I’m sending my plane back for him. They’re having dinner in two weeks once everything calms down for real. Your presence is demanded.
Jace: I will be there. Will you?
Nelson: Miss the chance to hang out with all these nuts? Ha.
