All Chapters of Piss Off, This Is My Money : Chapter 31
- Chapter 40
154 chapters
31
Outside, the professor made the call. Second ring, Jace picked up.“Hey…if you’re still in school, swing by my office. We need to chat.”“About my fucking score?” Jace asked, voice sharp.“Yeah…that too.”A few minutes later, Jace strolled into the office. Two bottles of soda in his hand. No hesitation. No give-a-fuck attitude. He set them on the table and plopped down opposite the professor.“That’s…thoughtful of you, bringing me something chill to drink,” the professor said, stretching a hand toward a bottle with a forced smile.“I didn’t buy any for you though,” Jace said flatly, not even flicking an eye toward him.The professor froze for a second, then awkwardly reached for the soda.“Unless…you’re paying for one,” Jace added, fake calmness. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to take it.”“Come on, Jace,” the professor said, grabbing one anyway, still smiling like he thought he was playing along.“The past five months of my life taught me something real,” Jace said suddenly.
32
He leaned forward.“Help you graduate from this school in one piece.”Jace nodded slowly, as if he were listening very carefully.Encouraged—thinking he’d finally hit gold—the professor continued quickly.“Maya’s parents are involved now. They want your shares—the stock. They want things to go back to how they were before.”He gestured vaguely.“That’s what’s happening with your score. But if you want, I can help you manage your shares—protect them from Maya’s parents. The dean’s son and I, we’re willing to help you keep it.”Jace tilted his head.“So what you’re saying is…”He looked up, eyes calm, voice steady.“If I don’t offer my shares, I won’t make it out of this school with my degree?”The professor smiled. Slow. Confident.“Exactly,” he said.Then, just to make sure the message landed,“And Maya’s parents are involved now,” the professor added. “Check your fucking phone, sir. I have a surprise for you,” Jace said, already standing up, calm as if he were about to crush someone
33
8:30. H. Jay’s bar.Every bastard on the basketball team was already inside, drinks lined up like a goddamn mountain. High-priced, absurd, flashy as hell.The plan? Simple. Make Jace choke. Make him pay. Make him know his mouth is bigger than his wallet.Every order they dropped on the table was another trap. Every smirk aimed at him a countdown. Their goal: Jace shouldn’t leave the bar without debt tattooed across his face.A few other rich-ass idiots had come too, thinking this was their moment to flex. Risk-takers, counting on virality to refund their stupidity.“More drinks! Come on!” some asshole from the basketball team yelled, waving at a waiter.The Livestreamer whispered into her phone, wide-eyed. “Guys…they’ve spent over a million dollars in ten minutes already!”“Jace is going to go broke at this rate!”“Where the hell is he?”“Is he scared now?”“Twenty minutes past the time and he still isn’t here!”“Jace is such a loser!”“Maybe…he can’t even pay?”The bar buzzed, phones
34
The crowd exploded anyway.Cheers. Screams. Phones in the air.Just as the noise was climbing toward madness, another car rolled in.A second Rolls.Inside the bar, the basketball guys were going red with rage.This bastard again?Couldn’t Jace stop pulling attention like a fucking parasite?One guy stayed seated, recording their faces—green with envy, jaws tight with barely contained fury.Outside, the door to the third car opened.This time, everyone knew.This had to be Jace.Breath held.Silence stretched.But fuck—another man stepped out.Sunshades.Tailored suit.Aura screaming money, authority, untouchable.Recognition hit late—then hard.It was the owner of H. Jay’s bar.Chaos detonated.“What the fuck is happening?!”“Where’s Jace?!”“Is this a movie?!”Cops shoved the crowd back, forming a human wall around the bar owner as cameras went wild.Everyone rushed inside. Nobody wanted to miss whatever the hell this was becoming.Inside, one of the basketball guys jumped up, forc
35
Jace had turned his phone off completely.Too many strange numbers blowing it up.Too many hate messages from Maya’s die‑hard fans.Too many deranged lovers obsessing over him, asking him out like he’d suddenly signed some invisible contract to date every fucking girl on earth.Calls from Maya’s parents too. One after another. All of them asking for “a chat.”A chat about what, exactly?What the fuck did they expect him to say?His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep. Not the dramatic kind—the real kind. The kind that burns.He was done. Finished. Drained to the bone.Maybe he should disappear.Go on some long vacation.Hell—vanish for a few years.Because this shit? This pressure?Nobody warns you about what it costs to stay one step ahead of people who want you dead, ruined, or owned.He stepped out of the elevator, dragging his feet down the hallway like gravity had doubled overnight.All he wanted was sleep. Endless sleep.And Trevon—Fuck.He hadn’t even been able to call him.
36
And because she knew how he’d react…he did. Seconds later, the door clicked shut behind them.He lifted her off the floor, holding her close, lips crashing into hers in a hard, hungry kiss—the kind he’d never given her before, the kind she’d always imagined, aching for.She wrapped her legs around him instinctively, angling closer, one hand slipping to his button.Her plan—to stop before he got attached, to make him chase her—was already gone. She was too lost in him, too hot, feeling the curve of his chest…how had she never noticed it all this time?Her heart skipped.Wait…he was in the bathroom now? How could he be this wild?He pulled back slowly, eyes on her.She braced herself for the familiar heat of a blushing eighteen-year-old boy…lust, desire, pleading eyes.But what she saw in Jace…was something else. A monster. A predator. Eyes so dark, so untamed, she couldn’t even call him human.Her body trembled.He lowered her into the bathtub filled with water.“Ja…Jace…” she whimpere
37
Jace was supposed to fucking sleep. At least that was the bare minimum he expected from his own fucked-up self. But like hell, he could get over the fact that Maya could have planted cameras here.She filmed his life for five fucking months—and he didn’t even know. How the hell did he not notice? How did he not see it coming? There could have been a hidden camera anywhere. Anywhere. And he had walked right into it like a blind idiot.His brain, desperate for some goddamned reasoning, snapped back to something he told her weeks ago: “Maya, when I graduate from college, I want a good-paying job. You don’t have to work if you don’t want. But… I want to come home every night to you and our kid, just chill. Maybe watch the news. Some cool, realizing evening.”Damn. And she had laughed and said she was in on whatever future he was dreaming up for them. And he—he had grinned like some insane motherfucker, thinking it was all perfect.And now…he was so fucking lost.He was losing his mind. H
38
Jace’s eyes went wide. Horror.“I’m hungry, man,” James said casually.“What the fuck?!!”“You’re really crazy, man. Told you,” James snapped. “No girls in our freshman year. You fucking bastard, what the hell do you know about girls? Fuck you.”Jace blinked. “She… changed my number?”“Forget it already. I’m hungry.”“This doesn’t make sense, man!”“You ain’t making sense yourself,” James shot back. “Why did you break our promise?”“You know what happened. I was drunk at the freshman party. She told me she was pregnant. Couldn’t leave her. You saw everything.”James seemed like he wanted to say something, but swallowed it back. “I need to eat. I’m starving. Fucking had to ride two hours here with my last cent.”“How did you even know I’m here?”“Trevon called. Told me,” James muttered. “I’m really hungry.”“Come on, chill!”“I could faint without food. And you’ve got some money now. I could actually die without food.”Some minutes later, their order arrived. They ate like no man’s bus
39
Maya’s phone rang. Fear shot through her as she saw who it was. Her mother. “Maya, dear.” “Good morning, Mom,” she answered, tension lacing every word. “We’re going to cancel the lawsuit and ask for negotiations instead.” “Mom…” Maya’s voice choked on her tears. “Thank you. I love you so much.” “Don’t worry, Maya. Just make sure something like this never happens again. We’ll handle the founder of that company claiming to be related to Jace.” “What company is that?” “Maya, that’s not something you should stress over. You should be worried about surviving if we weren’t here. If we’d died two months ago, could you have survived this lawsuit? Coming from a poor Detroit guy two years younger than you?” Maya swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, Mom.” “If you do something, do it well… or don’t do it at all.” “Okay, Mom.” “Don’t misplace the freedom we’ve given you. You were born to control the world. Remember—you are the most beautiful person in the universe. Everything else, we’ll handle.
40
James waited anxiously as Jace answered the call. They were about to head out to the court, the place where Jace said he’d be meeting Maya—a showdown that would put her in her fucking place.“Jace, the Callister team reached out to me,” his uncle said cautiously. He knew how fast Jace could lose it, and right now, the way he handled things—unpredictable as hell—was exactly what the company needed.“What the fuck they tell you?” Jace snapped.“Well… um, they settled everything between us. We had some legal issues with—”“What? You’re okay with that?” Jace cut in sharply.“Uh… what?” His uncle froze, shocked, unsure how to respond.“If you’re fucking okay with that, then consider it one of the few shit I have to put up with for the money you gave me.”“Jace—”“Anything else you want to tell me?”“The board of directors… they want to see you. You know, meetings. The kind you watch in movies.”Jace frowned. “Board of directors?”James raised a brow, silently asking what the hell was going