“I’m not going with you,” I say.
I’m out the door before Dex can say anything else. I tear open the envelope as I walk, scanning the page as I take in the first pay I’ve gotten in almost a year. Even if it’s only three hundred dollars, it makes me feel like an actual person again. A non-worthless member of society.
As soon as I’ve cashed the check, my first stop is the supermarket. Once you know what it’s like to go without food for a few days, it changes you. All I can think about is how many bags of rice and cans of beans I can get—solid food, stuff that’ll last forever. I stock up on cat food, too. Can’t let my little fur baby starve.
The rest of the money I hold onto. It’s another week before our next pay, and I don’t want to run out again. It’s going to take a month to pay off my flight at this rate, so things will be tight for a while longer.
I don’t head back to the cabin until dinnertime. I’m not ready to face the awkwardness that is this evening. Maybe Dex willchicken out and save me from going through with it, but I have a feeling he won’t.
When I step through the door, I smell something delicious rising from the pot on the stove.
“I’m making nachos,” Dex says. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“You trying to set the mood?” I tease.
I’m rewarded by the sight of Dex blushing.
“I’ve got alcohol too,” he says. “I thought that would be useful.”
“Fucking genius.”
We start with rum and coke while Dex finishes dinner. I’m lucky he’s thought to stock us with meat and vegetables instead of just bulk foods like I did, or we would’ve gotten sick of rice and beans really fast.
The assembled nachos are truly a sight to behold. We load them up with the chili he’s been cooking, shredded cheese, a mound of sour cream, and guacamole.
“Who knew you could cook something besides instant noodles?” I raise my glass to him.
“My parents didn’t believe in making the woman cook all the time, so I got taught same as my sister.”
“You have a sister?” I look at Dex in surprise. “Has she cut you off too?”
“I don’t know. She’s older than me, and she moved down to New York a few years back. We were close when we were kids, but we don’t keep in touch very well now. I’m sure my dad has told her everything, so—” Dex grimaces. “What about you? D’you have any siblings?”
“I’ve got a couple stepbrothers. They’re much younger than me, so we aren’t close.”
We dig into our nachos, and it’s hard to talk with toppings spilling off the corn chips and meat juices dripping down our fingers. When I’m finished, I lean back in my chair and foldmy hands over my stomach. “That was fucking delicious, Dex. Thank you.”
“More alcohol?”
“Please.”
We switch to whisky on the rocks, and suddenly I can’t distract myself any longer from what we’re about to do. Blood is already rushing to my cock, and the itchy, anxious feeling is back.
I down my first glass of whisky in a few burning gulps. I’m not nearly drunk enough for this.
Dex wordlessly pours more, and now my knee is bouncing under the table where it keeps hitting Dex’s leg.
“You’re so fucking nervous,” he says with a laugh. “Why the hell did you come up with this?”
“I really don’t know.”
“I’ve got condoms and lube,” Dex says.
“Shit. I didn’t even think about that.” Fuck, this is way too real.
Dex finishes his whisky and stands, and the bulge in his pants makes me hard.
He’s as worked up as I am.
