Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 117574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 588(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 588(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Charlotte pulls away from our kiss and presses her forehead to mine. “You should pay the invoice now, honey, to make double-damn sure it’s time-stamped before midnight.”
“Right you are.” With a huge smile on my face, I log into our account again, intending to transfer the money from there to my bank account . . . and suddenly realize a truly horrible thing. “Oh, no,” I gasp out. “Yesterday was the end of the payment cycle. We won’t be able to access the money we made today for another two weeks!”
Charlotte’s face turns pale. “No.”
“Fuck.”
We stare at each other, both of us trying not to hyperventilate.
“Okay, don’t panic,” Charlotte finally says. “We can still make this work.”
“How?”
“I’ve got five or six thousand bucks of available credit across several cards. How about you?”
“I-I . . .” I take a deep breath. “I don’t know. F-four thousand, m-maybe?”
“Okay, that’s good. We’ll withdraw cash from all our credit cards and transfer everything into your bank account now. As long as we pay off our cards before thirty days, which we will, we won’t even have to pay interest on the withdrawals. Plus, you’ve got that five grand that’s already sitting in your account, right?”
I nod. “But even if we do all this, I’ll still need to get my hands on another six or seven grand within . . .” I look at the clock on my car’s dashboard and finish my sentence with “the next nineteen minutes.”
Charlotte runs her hand through her red hair. “Could you ask your brother or mother for a temporary loan? Whoever you ask, you’d be able to pay them back in two weeks. I’d call Tessa, but if I tell her I’ve got some sort of emergency that requires she Venmo me seven grand in the next fifteen minutes, she’s going to get in her car and physically track me down to make sure I’m not being held hostage by a madman. You, on the other hand, can believably tell your brother or mother that some money you made doing whatever side hustle they think you do to make ends meet is glitching, and you need a quick bridge loan to cover your tuition before midnight, and you’ll call your employer in the morning to find out what’s going on. You could say that, and your family won’t freak out and think you’ve been abducted, the way Tessa would think about me. Welcome to male privilege.”
I lean my forehead against my steering wheel for a beat, trying desperately to think of another solution. Some way to do this without involving my mother or brother. But Charlotte’s right. This is our only hope.
“I’ll call my brother first,” I say. “He’ll still be up to answer my call. My mother is probably fast asleep by now.” I push the button, and, thankfully, my brother, Max, answers immediately.
“Hey, Augs,” he says. “What’s up?’
“I’ve got a bit of an emergency, Maxy-pad. I need your help.”
I tell him the thing Charlotte suggested, and he doesn’t hesitate to offer his assistance.
“Do you need more than seven grand?” he asks.
“No, seven will do it. Like I said, I’ll pay you back in two weeks.”
My phone buzzes with a Venmo notification—seven thousand bucks, sent from one Maximillian Vaughn.
“Don’t bother paying me back,” Max says. “If you need this for school, consider it my early Christmas present to you.”
I protest. Tell him I can’t accept that, and he insists he’s having a phenomenal year, thanks to his new, high-paying job, and the success of the company he and his wife, Marnie, recently founded together.
“Okay, we’ll talk about this more later,” I say. “When I’m not watching the clock tick down and having a heart attack. For now, just know I’m beyond grateful to you, brother. Thank you so much.”
“Whatever you need. Always. I hope you know that.”
My heart squeezes. That’s my brother for you. People can think what they want about some of his harder exterior edges, but this right here is the Max I know: a softie with a heart of gold, through and through.
“Hey, come on down for a couple days, if you can,” Max says. “We’re having a blast with Mom and Henry. It’d be awesome if you could join us for a bit. You’re on spring break, right?”
“Yeah, I’ll have to let you know about that. Gotta go, brother. I’ve got a tuition invoice to pay. Thank you again for saving me from catastrophe.”
After ending the call, I launch furiously into withdrawing all available funds from my credit cards, while Charlotte does the same on her end. Soon, however, with about ten minutes to spare before midnight, I’ve got a grand total of $21,816 sitting in my bank account. Enough to pay twenty grand to the school now, and still have a cushion for taxis and dinners in New Jersey and groceries and gas whenever we get home.