Page 89 of Margo's Got Money Troubles

Jinx and I spent the next hour going over Maribel’s visit in micro detail, trying to reassure each other that everything would be okay. We debated who’d called in the complaint, and I figured it had to be Mark. There was really no way of knowing.

“What I’m worried about is your drug test,” Jinx said.

“My drug test?” I asked. “Why?”

“Because of the mushrooms,” he said. “I mean, I don’t know if they test for them or not.”

“Oh God,” I said. The mushrooms had not even occurred to me. “Oh no, oh God!”

“It’s okay,” Jinx said. “Jesus, you didn’t realize?”

“No! I didn’t think about that at all! That feels like forever ago! Can it still show up?”

“Don’t panic,” Jinx said. “WWE didn’t test for mushrooms, so CPS might not either.”

We googled and the results were confusing. There were all different kinds of pee tests for different things. Finally, we thought to look up how long mushrooms stayed in your system, and with a urine test it showed up for only one to three days. So even if they did test for mushrooms, I should be in the clear. Hair follicle tests were a whole other story, and we both thanked God I hadn’t been asked for one. I should be okay. Somehow, I didn’t really feel any better.

“I don’t know what to do,” I said.

“Let me see that ankle,” Jinx said, and patted his lap for me to swing up my leg. “Wiggle down here so you can bend your knee.”

I scooted down the couch, Bodhi on my chest. He was in a wonderful, milk-drunk mood at least. Jinx examined my foot, running his fingers over the tendons until he found the place that made me wince. He explored the bones on the top of my foot, but none of that hurt.

“I think it’s a sprain,” he said, finally looking up. “Oh, hey, why are you crying?”

I shrugged, my chin crumpling. I really didn’t know. It might have been that my body didn’t have another way of processing so much adrenaline. I couldn’t tell how bad everything was. I didn’t know if I would lose Bodhi, if I was going to have to quit OnlyFans. I felt guilty for spending a night on my own, for sleeping with JB, for thinking it was okay that I was allowed to be young again just for one night. The needles in my closet. “I’m a bad person,” I gasped.

“No,” Jinx said. “No, honey, you’re not a bad person.”

I closed my eyes.

I couldn’t trust him.

He was a bad person too.

Jinx left for Rite Aid to buy me an ankle brace, and I went to my closet, gathered the bundle of needles, wedged them deep in the diaper trash, then hobbled outside, taking the whole bag with me to the dumpster while Suzie watched Bodhi. I sat down on the curb and called JB, the sun helping to relax some of the muscles in my back. The crows were calling back and forth across the parking lot, arguing from the trees.

“Hey, how are you doing? Everything turn out okay?” he asked, his voice so warm and easy.

“Not really,” I said.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

I didn’t want to get into the details. It all felt so terribly shameful.

“Should I come over?” he asked.

“No,” I said. I knew he had only a few hours before he’d have to head to the airport. We’d made tentative plans to have lunch with my dad, but I couldn’t imagine him coming over now. I felt like I’d throw up. The idea of seeing him and being excited and happy was almost grotesque. “I can’t have lunch.”

“Oh,” he said. I could hear the disappointment in his voice.

“JB,” I said, “I had so much fun last night. But I—I think we should stop seeing each other.”

“What?”

“At least for now. I’m in a really bad situation. I haven’t gone into it with you. Mark, Bodhi’s father, is suing for custody, and I’ve been undergoing this whole investigation, and Child Protective Services came by today—someone reported me for neglect. I—” I broke off, my voice cracking. It burned, having to admit all this to him.

“Oh, Margo, I’m so sorry,” JB said.

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