Page 48 of Jace 4Ever
Jace
“Jerrod?” The apartment was dark and smelled dank, like the cheap weed my brother always smoked. “Jerrod, are you here?”
“The fuck you want, shitbag?”
Judging by how far away his voice sounded, he was in his room. I flicked on the light in the living room and made my way back to his room. I hated when he was in his room. There was usually a woman with him, or he was stoned off his gourd and half to fully naked. I didn’t know what it was about marijuana that made him want to strip, but it always did. And if it was half? It was the bottom half.
“I went food shopping, Jerr. I got you all the usual stuff.” The door was ajar, and I was scared to push it open, but I finally did. He was half naked, stoned, and had a woman between his legs. I sighed and shook my head. “Jerrod, why—”
“Get the fuck out, Jace. Go get me the money for this whore. I can’t get it myself, because you fucking had the door replaced.”
“Jerrod, I can’t keep paying for you.”
“Why the hell—oh shit, baby, yeah—not? Mom and Dad would be horrified you don’t want to help family.”
My room was locked and I pulled out the keys to let myself in. I also slammed it behind me and relocked it just as his partner in crime, Anton, came out of nowhere and slammed into the door behind me.
“Hey, you little fucker! Let me in. Let me in!”
“Get bent, Anton!”
“Your room is perfect for storing our guns! Let me in and let me set it up!”
“Get bent, Anton. You don’t live here. If you don’t back off, I’ll call the cops myself and have you bagged for coke and gun running!”
“He will, Anton!” Jerrod laughed from the other room. “Just leave the little faggot alone. He ain’t going to let us in there.”
The safe was still safe under the floorboards, and I pulled the trap door back to open the box with the money in it. It had more than two thousand dollars in it for the first time ever. I took out a hundred. If Jerrod’s blow job cost more than that, he could figure out how to get rid of her and the pimp I knew was waiting downstairs somewhere.
I put everything back, rolled the carpet back, and listened at the door. Anton was a mouth breather, and I didn’t hear him outside in the hall. I moved fast, unlocking the door, and relocking the knob as I ducked out. I pulled the keys out and twisted the deadbolt shut.
Anton was on the couch in the living room, with Jerrod’s box of Ring Dings on his lap. I was glad I’d bought two boxes and hid one. “Are you serious right now? You’re eating my brother’s food. I don’t pay for yours.”
“These are Ring Dings, asshole. Not gold. Fuck off.”
I snatched the box from his lap. “Pay rent or give me money for food and I’ll shop for you. Until then, you can eat the cheap ass ramen under the sink and nothing else.”
He stared at me. “Whatchu gonna do to stop me, shrimp?”
“My brother hates when you eat his food, Ant. I’m not the one going to stop you. He is.”
“Jace! Where the fuck is this bitch’s money?”
I walked back to the room where Jerrod was wiping his dick off with a wet wipe. And the woman was pulling up her top. “How much?”
She looked me up and down. “How much you got? I’ll do you too for the same price.”
Jerrod started laughing. “Wrong tree, bitch. He likes the D.”
“A blow is a blow,” she said.
“How. Much?” My words were sharp.
She huffed disgusted. “Twenty.”
I held out two twenties. “Go. Get out of my apartment.”
Her hand moved fast to grab the money and she was out the front door in less than a minute. Jerrod had leaned back on his bed and was taking another puff off his joint. “You overpaid her.”
