Page 44 of Encounter

Yawning, I shut thecar door behind me and headed inside Gregory’s pub. It’d been a long day of driving around finishing annoying little jobs, and I was glad to be done. I waved at Mia who chatted with one of the patrons at the bar and headed straight to the office upstairs.

After punching the code in, I walked through the security door and heard his voice. There were a few familiar faces in the room—Gregory was just divvying out the roles and gigs to the guys, so I rested against the door frame and waited for them to finish.

Recently, there were a few new workers around. The crime in this damn city—or the surrounding areas for that matter—wasn’t slowing down anytime soon... The gangs kept moving in and out, and sometimes it felt like we were the only sane ones in it all.

“Alright. Take your files and keep it movin’,” Gregory said, clapping his hands, and let the guys pick up the papers with background checks and job info from in front of him.

As they passed by me, they all gave me nods, and I even shook hands with some older co-workers I hadn't seen in a while. Once they were all gone, I walked up to Gregory’s table. Sighing, he plopped into his chair and gave me a smirk.

It was funny seeing him like that. Always reminded me of that kid back in our shitty hometown, building his little criminal empire from the back of an abandoned furniture factory. Even then, at barely twelve years old, he had his informants and thieves and schemes.

You’ve walked a long way since the time I tried to steal weed from one of your little friends to impress Lydy but got your gun at the back of my head instead.

How the hell did we become friends again?

“Why’re you staring at me like that?” Gregory barked, cocking his brows. I blinked and shook my head, chuckling.

“Got lost in thought. Been a long day,” I said, and pulled out a crumpled, folded paper from my back pocket. Opening it, I threw it on the table. “I got the money from the fool on Eighth Street and took it back to that weird-ass guy. You know I hate bein’ a loan shark muscle,” I murmured through my teeth and got an understanding expression from Gregory. “I wrote the info I found for that other job on there. He was scared shitless. I reckon it’s all he knows.”

“Fine,” he said, reaching for the paper. “Good job.”

It felt good, finally having it all done. Stretching my arms, I cracked my neck at the same time and flexed my empty stomach. “Wanna go for lunch? I’m starvin’,” I said, glancing down at Gregory.

He frowned and mockingly looked at the clock behind me. “It’s fucking two o’cl—”

“Come on. You’re overworkin’ yourself, let’s take Mia—I’m sure she won’t protest—and eat. You’re the one who keeps tellin’ me we don’t spend enough time together outside work. Like some clingy BFF,” I added, teasing him.

While I laughed at his expression, Gregory rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. “God, fine. Gimme a few minutes,” he said, moving the papers around his desk and clicking something on his computer.

I stepped away and was about to walk down to chat with Mia when my phone buzzed. Gregory and I met eyes, and he gave me the ‘who the hell is calling you?’ look. Besides him, there weren’t many options.

When I saw Galen’s name on the screen, I raised my brows.

He said he couldn’t make the training, right?

I walked out to the end of the hallway before I accepted the call and put the phone to my ear. “Huh… You alright?” I asked, not hiding my surprise.

“Y-Yeah. Yeah!” Galen blurted out on the other side. “I’m sorry if you’re busy right now, or—”

I smirked. “If I was aiming a gun to someone’s head right now, I wouldn’t’ve picked the phone, would I?” I waited, but there was no response.What the hell is going on with this kid again? Did something happen?“What’s up? You canceled today, ‘member?” I reminded him while I brushed my boot against the skirting board of the wall in front of me.

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