First Date

Maddie drummed her fingers on the table and she took another swig of her beer. The contact was late and, considering the shithole she'd agreed to meet them in, was quite possibly dead in a ditch somewhere. She'd wait another ten minutes, she decided; after that, it didn't matter if they could provide twice the amount of product as her back-ups. Mads had come all the way from Liberty City since it was important to the client that any potential manufacturer was a neutral party; that was the professionalism she conducted herself with. Such professionalism clearly did not exist within the other party she was meant to be meeting. The risk factor of the meet was making her skin tingle and it only got worse as the sun dipped lower beneath the horizon. A feeling settled in her gut situated somewhere comfortably between caution and paranoia. The looks she was getting from the other punters didn't help. She was aware what could happen to a woman as young as her in a place like Sandy Shores, which was exactly why she'd dressed as gruffly as possible - a tan Stetson to hide her distinctive red hair, a loose red flannel shirt, dark brown combats and practical boots. Her gun was strapped to her hip in plain view. Despite this, certain slightly drunk patrons were beginning to see past the warnings. Maddie pulled her Stetson lower over her face to cover her green-grey eyes and downed the last of her drink.

She had been trying her best to drown her developing migraine in alcohol but it wasn't working. Perhaps she was to blame, after all she had agreed to a meet the day after she'd arrived in Los Santos. She was unsure if her impatience was due to the jet lag, the heat or just the utter disdain which she had developed for the place in the short time she'd stayed in it. As she considered this, a short, raggedy man burst through the entrance of the Yellow Jack Inn and made a beeline for her table.
"You must be Mads Grey," He looked almost paler than her, if that were possible, as he sank into the booth opposite her.
"Jakowski?"
"Call me Ron." He nodded curtly before ordering himself a drink.
"You're late, I was considering calling this whole thing off."
"Oh! Oh no, no, no you can't do that!"
"I don't work with people that can't deliver, Ron. My clients trust me to find good quality partnerships. You kept me waiting for thirty five minutes!"
"We would have been here when you said but, unfortunately, as the result of some total bullsh- ah, I mean unforeseen circumstances Trevor - sorry, our founder the great Mr. Trevor Philips - has had to temporarily go take care of some business in the city. " He was definitely less eloquent face to face than he was over a computer screen and the difference was highly underwhelming.

He continued to ramble out apologies when a loud trill from his pocket cut him off. He pulled the phone out of his pocket and his beady eyes widened.
"I'm sorry, I have to take this," Ron scrambled to his feet to put some distance between the two of them before answering.
"Speak of the Devil and he shall appear huh?" Maddie thought Ron was out of earshot, but the way the man flinched at her words told her otherwise. She scanned the bar again to find that nobody met her eyes. Strange, considering many of these same people had been looking at her like their latest prey just minutes before. Even the fact that the bar was considerably emptier couldn't account for such an acute difference. The name Trevor Philips carried weight in these parts, she concluded. It made no difference, she was done. The man hadn't even bothered to come to the meet himself, instead sending some terrified lackey, and she wasn't about to stake her reputation on the shrivelled sack of shit she'd just met. Ron was at the bar, facing away from the exit - perfect. She took the chance to slip out quietly.
"Yeah, I did but it's going to take a while… No, I haven't- I'm in the meet… No, no I'm sure I told you when it was…! No I can show her around myself, you don't need to-" snippets of Ron's conversation reached her before the door swung closed. Her instincts had turned out to be correct - it seemed from the conversation that Jakowski's boss didn't think her business was important enough to even remember. Well at least this happened now, Mads thought, if he was this uninterested at the beginning who knew what kind of shit she could end up in if she'd gone through with a deal. She scanned the parking lot for a car to jack and immediately headed for the Gauntlet, ignoring the sounds of protest emanating from the inn doors as she began hot-wiring.

"Miss Mads! Miss Mads wait!"

She continued to reverse out of the parking space before having to brake hard as Ron ran out to stand at the back of her car.
"Hey! You crazy fuck, are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"Don't leave yet! We need to reach a deal!"
"Fuck…" She rolled her window down and waited for Ron to scrabble his way around to the driver's side.
"Please, just give us a chance. Hear us out and we can prove that this deal will be beneficial to your clients."
"Why are you trying so hard? Your boss doesn't even know you're meeting me. Just pretend this never happened."
"Wait, it's a misunderstanding… Trevor's had a real rough couple of days, owing to his circumstances like I said. There is no way that if things were normal he'd have forgot you or your business Miss Mads… so maybe we could come to an understanding ourselves?"
"I have a commitment to fill and I don't have time to put aside every time someone has a fucking personal crisis. Maybe if I'm in a bind again I can work something out with your outfit but as it is I'm sorry but we are done."

The man fidgeted under Maddie's intense gaze, but when she rolled up her window back up he threw his left hand into it causing a sickening crunch as the glass hit the top of the frame.
"Jesus fucking Christ! I could've cut your goddamn hand off!"
"No, please- wait, look-" he wheezed, clutching his mangled hand. "Okay, between us the Boss is a bit… unpredictable at sales pitches, but please. Please. He said he's coming up tonight… Just meet him. I'm begging you."
"Fine, fine." She sighed. "But not tonight, it's too late. If your boss is interested in my services, have him come meet me out where I'm staying in Paleto Bay. I'll be sticking around in Los Santos for another ten days to have discussions with the other interested parties. If he can convince me, we'll do business - but it's first come first served and if I land the other partners then I'm leaving early."
"Thanks, Miss Mads! We won't let you down! You'll see, Trevor Philips Enterprises will be the right-"

Maddie drove out of the parking lot without so much as a blink. What a shitshow. The guy was fucking desperate, and being more afraid of his boss than of dying? The definition of bad news. Either way, Maddie wasn't dumb enough to actually wait around for this apparently terrifying fucking shit house to eventually turn up to meet her. She floored the accelerator as she hit the highway, time being of the essence. If she worked her ass off she could probably get the contacts she needed in five days - a week maximum. Once they were secure she would take the first plane back to Liberty City - God, she hated whichever prick that had convinced her branching out her contact network was a good idea. She was perfectly happy what she already had going, which meant heading back home as soon as possible. Just this deal - then she'd be gone, Maddie resolved. With any luck, after the next few days, she would completely forget she ever set foot anywhere in Los Santos or came across the name Trevor Philips.

A/N -

I decided to give this fic another chance (though it seems like it will require a mountain of editing ¬.¬) If you'd like to read the old version it's still up on AO3 under the same name but even though the first few chapters will match, the timeline has been changed up a bit so moving forward it will diverge. Like I said on there, if I have any other basic housekeeping bits like this I'll put them here and some chapters will have potentially upsetting scenes (I mean, it's GTA) so I'll stick a trigger warning in the in the beginning if anyone wants to skip them.

Sorry for the super long note but I would love it if you could R&R, constructive criticism is totally welcome since I'm kind of unsure about this one.

Hallie.