"I'm not stealing anything," I say. "I didn't have the money to pay. I told you that. I spoke to the magistrate and he said I have to pay it in installments, and I have to take personal responsibility for Megan. If she gets in trouble again, she goes right to jail. No passing go. No get out of jail free card."
"Bullshit board games," Tina says, and I'm surprised she knew what I was talking about. "So you're not paying child support anymore?"
"The judge said I still have to. Technically, you have full custody. This is considered a punishment and terms of the release."
"So, she's going to your house, and you're still going to pay child support..." Tina states.
"Dumb mother-fucker," Chuck says, touching Tina's arm, a clear indicator that he's ready to leave.
"You better not be late," Tina says threateningly. "I don't wanna hear none of this rectification bullshit either."
"I'm not doing any of that," I say, "but, can I come by and pick up a few of her things? Clothing and stuff?"
"Sure. She ain't got much," Tina says, and then she walks away. "Call before you come over."
"Got it," I say, and I turn to Megan who's been silent this entire time. "You ready to go?" She nods silently, and I walk her out of the building, and we head across the parking lot in the opposite direction of Tina and Chuck.
"Where are they going?" I ask.
"I don't know," Megan says. "Maybe the bus stop?"
"Mom's car not working?" I ask.
"It got repo'ed," Megan says sullenly. "She forgot to make the payments... for six months."
"Heh. Sounds like Tina," I say as we come to my car and I click the dongle to start the engine and open the doors.
We get inside, and Megan puts on her seat belt and then pulls her phone out of her pocket. "Could you... hold off on that, for a second?"
"What?" Megan asks, looking confused. "I just want to text my friends and let them know what happened."
"Text them in a second," I say and Megan slaps her phone down as if irritated by my request. "Number one, should I go offer to give your mom and Chuck a ride?"
"Fucudge no," Megan says, changing her swear word into something less offensive.
"Okay. Secondly, your case got dismissed."
"What?" Megan asks, turning in her seat to face me. "What do you mean? You just said-"
"I lied," I say quickly. "And you can't tell anyone. Not your mom. Not Chuck-"
"I don't tell that asshole anything!" Megan says sharply. "He can suck a big bag of dicks!"
"Alright," I say, nodding. "You also cannot tell your friends."
"Why not?" Megan asks, tapping her phone on her leg.
"Because they're accomplices. If they find out, the judge will reverse his decision and you go right back to jail."
I wait, watching Megan to see if she believes my lie, or not. I feel it's a little white lie, one intended to require her strict adherence to the rules with immediate consequences, should she break them.
"So, I don't have to stay at your house?"
"I'd like you to... but it's not a requirement."
Megan sits silent for a long moment. "Can I watch T.V. when I want?"
"I don't care," I say with a smirk. "Shoot. If you want, I'll buy you a T.V. for your room. You can watch what you want, whenever you want."
"Seriously?" Megan asks.
"Yeah. Seriously," I say. "But remember, my house has rules."
"I know," Megan says happily. "No swearing, no drinking, no smoking. No boys. No fun." I frown at her and she bursts out giggling. "I'm just joking Daddy."
"Ha-ha," I say. "Very funny."
"Can we go to the store now? For a T.V.?"
I pull the car out of the parking lot and head onto the highway, nodding. "I suppose so. I need to pick up some fasteners and cabinet slides anyway."
"You doing another project?" Megan asks.
"Always," I smile.
"Can I message my friends now?"
"Sure. Go ahead," I say, and she smiles, pulls her phone up to her face, and starts texting like crazy. She's still on her phone when we get to the big-box store and stays glued to it as we walk through the store, buy the T.V., and leave with our purchase. She's still on her phone when we pull into the driveway, and then I'm unloading the T.V. by myself, and asking her if she can please get the door so I don't drop the T.V. This request seems to finally snap her out of it, and she helps me bring the T.V. in.
I make dinner while Megan sits on the couch, texting, and flipping through channels on the T.V. until she finally huffs, saying there's nothing good on. "Put on a movie," I say. "You know where they are."
Megan stands up, lifts the couch cushion, and reveals my extensive DVD collection. She selects one, closes the couch, and turns around, turning the DVD player on with the remote. The T.V. switches input to the DVD player and the screen turns bright blue. A moment later, I see a woman with long curly black hair, riding a huge dick, squeezing her tits as she cums, yelling, "fuck my pussy Daddy!"
"Oh, shit!" I say, running to grab the remote.
"What is that?" Megan giggles, watching, as the man pulls his cock from the woman's pussy and starts shooting thick ropes of cum all over her face.
"I... Sorry... I must have left that DVD in the player," I say, hurrying to the DVD player and ejecting the disc. "Sorry, sorry, sorry."
Megan laughs. "That was hot."
I feel my face burning red and Megan seems to love torturing me about it, making comment after comment as she loads her moving into the player. "She was really pretty." "Did you see her... vagina?" "I wonder if they have someone to shave them?"
I finish making dinner and bring Megan hers to eat on the couch, but she pauses the movie she's watching and stands up, heading back toward the table.
"You can eat on the couch if you want," I say, not wanting to interrupt her movie-watching.
"It's okay. I wanna eat with you," she says, and she comes to the table, sits down, and begins to eat.
"I'm really glad you decided to stay," I say, giving her a smile as I eat.
"Where else was I going to go?" She asks.
"Mmmm. I don't know. Your moms. One of your friends?"
"You want me to leave?" she asks.