Page 23 of Believe in Caloosa Springs

Normally, I’d cluster country bumpkins like this into homophobic boxes, had I not seen the chef kiss the sheriff on the lips as he dropped off his breakfast. No one seemed to even bat an eye. Then again, that sheriff (Wyatt, right?) looked scary as fuck, even if he wasn’t wearing a badge. I would bet my savings account that he could take on that entire table of cowboys and then sit back down and finish his biscuit as if nothing had occurred.

All these people just lived their lives in this little town. They all looked as content as clams. I wasn’t explicitly familiar with the comfort level of clams, but my grandpa used to say that all the time, and I guess it just stuck. But for fuck’s sake, what did they do all day? There was literally nothing here. I imagined most of them worked in some form or fashion. I couldn’t imagine they were all just independently wealthy. Were there more farms in the area that I just hadn’t seen? Mandy had mentioned something about trading eggs for weed with a farmer or something.

I ran through a quick checklist of the things that I did on a normal day, whatever the fuck that looked like. When I was at BoysTown, I had a pretty rigid schedule with the chats, member parties, and photo shoots.

Basically it was: wake up, shower on camera for 11,000 creeps on the internet, get dressed, then go grab a coffee from Kappa while I responded to my emails and member messages. Maybe I’d go shopping or catch a movie. Most of the time, I’d just scroll on my phone and order shit from TikTok I didn’t need. Without the rigorous over-sexualized schedule that came with life at BoysTown, and not having to work a shitty retail job, I didn’t know what my days looked like anymore. At that point, I couldn‘t even tell you what Iwantedthem to look like. I guess it was about time I started trying to figure that out.

I was in a unique position for a 20-year-old. I had over six figures in my bank account, an OnlyFans page that maintained 2,200+ subscribers, and all the freedom in the world. But what was I going todowith myself? I was only going to be cute, young, and thin for so long. I eventually wanted to buy a house somewhere. And a car. I could puff my chest all I wanted about my Expedition, but I knew damn well I was never going to getit back from my brother. That was fine, I guessed.Can’t say I never gave you anything, jackass.

I shook off my thoughts and faked a smile as Sam dropped my order down on the table. “Need anything else?”

“I think I’m all set, thanks.”

Sam looked over the top of my head, “Wyatt, have you met Tian yet?”

I waved awkwardly, and the terrifying man nodded his head in… greeting?

“Don’t mind him, he’s shy,” Sam huffed, rolling his eyes before heading back to the kitchen.

I secured the plastic handles from the bag around my wrist and picked up the coffees, one in each hand, to head back across the street.

Mandy was helping a few customers up at the cash register, so I took the food into the back office and began unboxing our breakfast on the large wooden table in the center of the room.

There was a small desk with a laptop pushed into the corner, but the table in the center took up most of the space. A bunch of small jars filled with buds were stacked on one side, with large strips of printed barcode stickers next to it. This was obviously where the majority of the work took place. I’d never worked in a dispensary before, but It always seemed like every time I went into one to pick up, the workers were all bright and cheerful as hell. They seemed happy. They were probably also higher than a giraffe's pussy the entire time, which undoubtedly helped.

I planted my ass on one of the two barstools and unwrapped my set of plastic cutlery. The thought to wait for Mandy to finishwith her customer so we could eat together crossed my mind, but it was fleeting. Fork in hand, I attacked my breakfast.

Chapter Eight

Porter

“I don’t understand why we are spending our free afternoon still working,” Henry complained as I pulled off past the gate and onto the highway.

“We’re not working,” I repeated for the third time since I’d told Henry I wanted to head into town and check out the dispensary. And the town, for that matter. I knew from the Google searches I’d conducted before coming here that Caloosa Springs was just a tiny little country place and didn’t have too much to offer as far as retail or fine dining went, but the pictures online had given it a nice, old-timey feel. If I was going to be living here for the next year at minimum, I wanted to see what I was working with. That’s what I’d told Henry, anyway. “Don’t you want to see our new home? You’re not curious?”

Henry sighed and opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. “What happened tothrow caution to the wind and abandon our entire lives for a new adventure and to live on our own terms? Where’d that attitude go?”

I could see Henry rolling his eyes in my peripheral vision. “Yeah, we did the whole running away thing. It was very stressful, and now I’m tired.”

I chuckled, “Fine, we’ll just pop in the place real quick, check things out…” I paused, “Buysomeweedandthenleave,” I finished, quickly.

Henry whipped his head around and stared at me; his eyes wide as saucers. “You’re going to buydrugs?”

“Is it considered buying drugs if it’s legal?”

“There’s not enough of the stuff back at the farm? I mean, we’ve been around it all day. They said you can’t get high just from being around it or smelling it when it’s not lit, but I definitely started to feel light-headed after a while.”

“I can’t say I had the same experience. Besides, they were all talking about building a big fire and grilling out tonight. I don’t know what the etiquette is, but I don’t want to show up empty-handed.”

“If we aren’t doing any drugs, why would we be expected to show up with said drugs?”

I turned my blinker on—not that there was anyone else on the road with us—and parked by the entrance at Booked. There were two other cars in their parking lot. I assumed (hoped?) one of them belonged to Mandy. I’d never bought any weed before, and I had some questions. I didn’t want to look like a fool in front of any more people that I had to.

“Wearen’tdoing any drugs… right, Porter?”

Without answering, I got out of the car and headed for the entrance. When I walked in, Tian and Mandy looked up from the computer screen they had been scrutinizing.

“Oh, hey…Henry, right?” Mandy asked with a half-smile.

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