The Ranch Motel - Ch. 9 Contracts

Izzy enters the password for the Wi-Fi. As soon as it connects, her phone won't stop dinging. She sets it on the bed and goes and gets a plastic cup of water before sitting down and waiting for the phone to stop getting messages.

She cups her sex and squeezes softly, trying to comfort herself and help with the raw feeling. The phone shows all but a handful of the messages are from her ex, Jacob.

She thinks back to last night, 'Shit, I cheated on him.' She says to herself, 'No, no, I didn't; we broke up.' They had split up, but she knew she would be getting back with him in a few days once she had cooled off. In the meantime, she would take a few days and go see her parents.

His last text message 3 hours ago reads, "Hey Izzy, I am sorry. Send me a text that you're alive."

She sends one back. "Yes, I am okay, but things happened."

Jacob sits up on their couch and reads her message and responds with, "It's ok; as long as you are ok, we can work through it together."

"I have a chance at a new job. But it has consequences for us." She sits back against the headboard, nervous.

"Where are you?" Jacob texts back.

"Motel in the middle of nowhere," she sends back, unsure if she is allowed to say more.

"Can I call?" Jacob sends back as he tries to keep his emotions in check.

"Yes," she says, but she is also worried he could hear what she had done in her voice. The blankets are pulled up tight for comfort; the contract is no longer on her mind. The phone rings; she gets a moment of panic, then she calms herself down. She hits the button to accept the call.

"Izzy, I have been worried sick about you. You're safe, right?" He asks, sitting on the very edge of the couch.

Her hand squeezes around the cellphone. "I am safe, Jacob," she says and tries not to cry. "So I wanted to talk to you about this new job. It's a big opportunity," she pauses, trying to think of how to phrase things.

"Go on," he says, biting his lower lip.

"It's 100,000 minimum for 6 months of work," she says. "The other 6 months I can do with whatever I want."

He is troubled and confused. 'What on earth is she doing that pays that well for 6 months?' He looks out the window of the apartment. "Would I be able to visit?" he asks hopefully.

"I don't know; I would have to check the contract," she says, searching for the paperwork.  

"We both know it's hard to pass up that kind of money," he frowns, holding his knee with one hand. 'I know she left upset, but is she really breaking up with me like this?'

There is silence from her side of the phone as she looks through the contract.

"What kind of job is it?" He asks. over the phone He can hear her fumbling around looking for the paperwork still.

"It's entertainment sort of, not really; it's complicated, and I can't really talk about it on the phone," she says, already afraid of what will happen if she breaks the NDA, and she hasn't even signed it yet. She pauses and thinks back to the paperwork she signed last night. 'Shit, I may have already signed an NDA. I wasn't paying attention.' She grabs the paperwork off the floor.

I have to read through this and see what it says about visitors." She flips through the paperwork looking for any mention of visitors or significant others or husbands or anything else related. He puts her on speaker and goes down the list of people he messaged looking for her and informs them she is ok. Izzy makes it to the end of page 5, and it has a whole section about visitors. She reads through it, frowning. "No visitors," she says, feeling the weight of the decision grow heavier.

"What if I move there with you? Then I won't be a visitor," he asks, trying to salvage this relationship. He loves her dearly, but their relationship has been bumpy lately; the distance, he is sure, would tear them apart. She is also having the same thought.  

She reads through the contract. "It says significant others cannot be in you during the duration of your contract." They both pause. "That must be a typo, right?" she says

"It sure sounds like it," he says, feeling defeated. "What kind of work would mean I can't be in you anyway, Izzy?" 

"I told you I can't explain; it's part of the contract. Let me go get clarification on this section, and I will call you back, but honestly, Jacob, I don't think you would like being here while I, uh, do this job."

"Why not?" he answers back. "It can't be that bad."

"Maybe I don't want you here while I do it," she says, eyes watery.

"Go clarify, but Izzy, I love you. We can make it work, and if not, we can always try and see if we both hate it, he says with the last of his hope.

"Pack a bag. Let me get stuff clarified. Love you too." She hangs up the phone. She does love him, but she is afraid of what he will think about this place and what it means to lose him.

She slips on a bra; she feels less tender than before. 'Huh, I wonder if it was the tentacle suckers.'

She walks to reception. The uppity day manager is still working. She walks up to the counter. "Hey, where is the Hawaiian shirt guy? I have questions."

"Let me ring him for you, miss," he says and makes a phone call. There is a brief exchange, then he hangs up the phone. 'Gah, he even puts his pinky finger up while he is using a telephone,' she thinks.

"He says he will be right with you and to meet him at your room," the uppity manager says while thinking, 'She isn't even wearing shoes.'

"Thanks," she waves over her shoulder as she walks away. 'Why is he so irritating?' she thinks. She dismisses the thoughts and focuses on the present. She walks up to her room, and Hawaiian shirt guy is sitting on the hood of her car.

"You rang?" He says. She is momentarily frustrated at him sitting on her car. 'It's not much, but it's my car, and we have been through a lot. Maybe I should have Josh Gas restore her. Is that something he does? I wonder if he could hop it up with space technology? What the hell am I talking about?' She focuses on the issue at hand.

"I have questions," she says, crossing her arms. "But let's start with me saying I want 150,000; if I am as special as you say, this shouldn't be an issue."

He nods his head. "Well, let's see. Why don't we call it 125,000, and we will pay the tax on it?" 

She nods her head, loving this confident feeling now for the hard part: "My boyfriend Jacob wants to visit, but the rules say no visitors, but what if he just moves here?

"I wasn't aware you had a significant other. Well, it's unprecedented, but it's not against the rules or the contract." He rubs his chin, thinking through the contract.

"That's great news," she thinks about it. 'Is it? Do I really want to get back together with him?'

'There is a little matter of the clause that says he can't be inside you while you are on contract. And we mean that sexually," he says, pausing. "If he can't control himself, I am sure I can come up with some fun ways to control him for you. But other than that, I think it's wonderful for you to have support. This job can be stressful."

She stands there dumbfounded. "No sex with him for 6 months at a time?"

"That's the deal," he says.

"No wiggle room?" She asks, frustrated, 'This will ruin our relationship; that is a long time without sex.' She thinks, 'But maybe he loves me enough to wait that long.

"What more do you want? I gave you an extra 25,000," he says, shrugging his shoulders. "According to your tax records from last year, that's more than you made in total."

"What does it mean exactly? He can't be in me?" she asks, her arms still crossed in defense.

"It means you can't get his semen inside you. Not any of it," he says, looking uncomfortable with this conversation.

She ponders how to make this work. 'I guess we can just get creative,' she shrugs, 'and if he can't handle it, he can just leave,' her anger still lingering from their fight.

She goes inside her motel room and signs the papers and hands them to the Hawaiian-shirted man still sitting on her car.

"Pleasure doing business with you... Isabella," he says and walks away. "It's a pretty name; it suits you."

"It's Izzy, not Isabella, and get off my car." She closes the door to her motel room and calls Jacob back.