The following day my mood just got worse and worse. Getting up and getting to my bosses rinky dink place in order to see what all the commotion was. Especially since the big guy's lapdog had bitched in my ear last night. Instead of taking my van which nobody in the gang knew about, I just took the Harley I had stored in my garage.
I get to the place down by the docks and park it in the alleyway next to the joint. I didn't want anyone trying to steal it and didn't want any of the other goons to get their gross fingers on it either. Who knows what they been touching these days. After covering my bike up with the sheet I had in the satchel on the side of my bike, I head over to the warehouse.
I could see a few nameless jockeys standing around, idiots only used for muscle and not much else. They just did the jobs as we told them. The main bunch were the worst type.
I pulled open the door and stepped in the door locking back behind me as I strolled over to where the rest of the douchbags were. "There he is. The prince himself!" Someone catcalled cheering at my arrival. I rolled my eyes as a male much taller than me met me half way with a hard slap on my back and a firm shake of my hand.
"How are you Jess mate?" His Australian accent was there but it pretty much blended in the longer you knew the man. "I'm doing well Jim. But what the hell was up last night that the bitch had to call me?" I said the last part in a hushed tone.
"I heard that you premadona." A rough voice called over from behind Jim. I letter in his direction at the African male who had his arms crossed over his chest his dreadlocks done up nice and tight his olive almost brown eyes leering back.
"Oooh I'm soooo scared! Is the chihuahua gonna try and bite me?" Waving my hands in a dramatic fashion with a fake scared expression on my face I approached Axel before giving him a good hard smack on his shoulder, which surprised him enough to make him flinch under my touch.
"Didn't think so…" my emerald eyes turned cold against him as I peered at him again this time Axel talking the hint and stepping away a huff could be audibly heard as he walked away. Jim scratched the top of his head having removed his brown cowboy hat.
"Sweet Jesus and here I thought you two would go at it like a couple of pissed off Meerkats." Jim almost sounded disappointed but I knew it was for show. He cared about the both of us and our bickering often made him be put on the spot to end the fighting. Today I wasn't in the mood to shed blood on my hood clothing.
"What and stain my perfectly good shirt? No thanks man. I'm at least attempting to go out with someone tonight, I don't need this kind of nonsense." I let it slip what I was doing tonight, in hopes that there wasn't any kind of situation going down tonight to interfere with my plans.
Honestly and in actuality it's not a date it's just Jaden and me hanging out at a bar. Jaden had asked me last night after I dropped him off if he could see me again, only this time in a very fun and open environment and not some rich boys almost frat party like how we met.
"Oooh is it a dame? Or a fella?" Jim raised an eyebrow at me nudging me with his elbow. I looked at him questioningly before rolling my eyes as the boss came out of a back room hands a bloody mess with Adrian, our sort of hacker/ cyber informant. He usually is the one to keep track of the transactions and money details. Except this time he also had a bit of blood on his hands.
"So we have a job in a couple days. Get ready everyone we need to find a Mr, and Mrs. Takeo Yuki. He owes a decent amount of money close to 3 million. Adrian's gonna track down their finances so we can get a pinpoint of their location and then we're gonna move in for extraction. You know the rules." I ruffled the back of my head as this big burly thing of a man comes towards me. He was a good foot taller than me to the point I was looking more at his chest than at him.
"Boss what's the deal with having your puppy calling me yesterday on my day off?" I retort using my most respectful tone while still laced with annoyance directed at Axel. Axel from his spot by Adrian flipped me off openly. I rolled my eyes at the two of them.
"You see Jesse, things were getting sticky last night I just wanted you here to help make things go smoothly you know. Sadly Adrian and I had to get a little… ugly if you know what I'm saying. We didn't want to but because you weren't here to place the nice guy your alway good at doing we had to get rough." He expresses the situation as if it was something that could be handled delicately. Stuff involving money was never delicate especially with high corporate clowns like those that lose their money and borrow from other even more loaded idiots.
We're just the clean up crew hired to get money back that belonged to the higher paying corporate idiots, either by bloody means or theft. You can say it's gang related stuff, but it's good money even if its illegal money.
We're so good at our jobs that any evidence of someone going missing is promptly covered up and all traces of them living within the city are extinguished. Do I ever feel bad for the people? Obviously cause hard times is hard times. Do I feel bad when I have to do something nasty to them? Not really because they should've just paid them back.
So when I gotta do my job it's because these idiots didn't set the record straight to begin with. "Fine.. let me look at the guy and make sure you didn't kill him." I grumbled slightly annoyed still as he showed me the back room he came from with Adrian. I saw a man laying on the floor in his own blood as I got down next to him. His body face down wearing a dark green shirt that was staining maroon from his blood as I checked for a pulse.
"Your lucky boss. He's got a pulse." I slowly turned the man over to he wasn't laying on top of his blood to see a broken nose bloody lip and a nearly fractured eyelid.
"God damn… Adrian when he's pissed off he's like a god damn gorilla." I knew Adrian's handiwork very well. You piss off a computer hacker like him he won't back down. He nearly put Axel in the hospital for sleeping with a prostitute after they had a fight. Not that the two were exclusively dating it was more like an on and off fling which Adrian took seriously emotionally while Axel took it seriously physically.
Axel was more of a brute than he was an emotional thinker. While Adrian was more logical and yet highly intelligent. The two of them were complete opposite on every level you wouldn't even imagine a decently build guy like Axel would be into Adrian who was every sense of the phrase white and nerdy.
Especially with the rosy red orange hair and green eyes, he even dressed more professionally than the rest of us, wearing a basic business attire that sometimes got scuffed up or even bloody. Axel however wore similar to veteran military look with dark green tank tops slack jeans and thick boots, he even had a hunting knife attached to his boot's hidden inside his pant leg.
The man let out a grown as I checked his neck out. Thankfully it wasn't fractured most of the blood came from small punctures up and down his arms and sides. Jim slid a first aid kit to me as I got to work stitching up the guy. I was no doctor nor professional in first aid profession, but having dealt with injuries of this caliber for so long made it easy to act and take care of.
After carefully stitching the deeper of the knife wounds back up, I move to the guys face. There wasn't much I could do for his eye so I went about working on his nose. "You can hear me right, buddy?" The man groaned in acknowledgment but didn't utter any words the pain still to fresh for him to make out anything intelligent.
"This is gonna hurt but for a second. I'm going to set your nose back." I put my thumbs on either side of his nose where it was broken and took a deep breath. "Alright in 3… 2." I immediately jerk it back into place making the man screech in my ear at the sudden rush of pain in his face.
"What happened to 1??" The man choked out almost in a hushed voice his vocal cords probably raspy from last nights scream fest he did against the boss and Adrian. "I work better under suspense." I cackle at my own retort as I leaned the man against the wall. "Your gonna be sore for a while. Take some pain killers and change the dressings on your arms and sides every day." I got to my feet and looked at my boss with a pointed look. He just sighed ruffling what hair he had left on his head as he shook it.
"This is why we needed you last night Jess. Adrian maybe a loose cannon but your the only one who can smother the smoke and put out the fire fast enough. Just be glad this man disn't wind up dead like the last one." I rolled my eyes. Like the last guy could've been saved. He was literally stabbed in the neck because he gave Axel the lustful let's have a good time I know a place kind of look.
For someone who doesn't commit to the relationship he sure acts like he does. "He'll live. Adrian needs his man to fuck him more so he doesn't fuck up the clients let alone our captives. We're better than that. If we fuck em up sooner before the client allows, we're gonna lose credit." I rolled my eyes as I explain this to the boss.
He nods knowingly and approvingly. He understands the situation the best because he input the same dedication into me. So if I wasn't on the same level as him, then things weren't going the way things should naturally.
"I'll be on my way then." I walked out of the room. I felt a hand on my shoulder before I look back at my boss. "What is it Mr. Viper?" I asked politely. Usually he never touched me unless he wanted something of me.
"My dear Jesse. After this job, I'm considering passing everything on to Axel and Adrian to continue the business. Lots of the cooperates know of these two and trust them with their work. Reason I'm telling you this is because I want you to move on from this profession and get a job worthy of your qualifications. I even have a job offer from a cooperate buddy of mine who would pay you handsomely for your abilities." I thought over his words carefully. After over a decade an a half of being in this man's care I wasn't sure how any job would be any better. Let alone be good enough.
"I'll consider it carefully sir. This job is all I've known. I don't have much of a high school diploma so doing this would be complicated." Viper shook his head at me. "Not a problem, we'll get it all settled and fixed up once this job is over. It might take some time because it was a heavy spender and finding his backlog and tracing him will take time because we need to know the mass amount of money he's borrowed." I nodded at his words as he patted me once before letting his hand fall away as he went back into the room to deal with the slowly recovering man.
Outside I overheard Jim speaking to Axel and what seemed like a new recruite. A very muscular young male who couldn't be much older than 20. Bronze skin tone green olive eyes and a bandana around his head with dreadlocks falling out the back of it. Tight tank top and cameo vest with khaki styled pants and thick army boots. He looked like a little clone of Axel's. "Who's the twerp?" I asked casually as I looked over at them from a foot away.
"This is Hassleberry. He's one of the newbies and Axel wants to bring him into the fold." I cocked my head to the side and gave the younger dude a side glance. He avoided my gaze like the plague, apparently not used to the amount of focused attention.
"He might work. Altho I hope he knows how to use a gun." I shrugged casually. He looked like a spineless chicken to me. I feel like he wouldn't make it a week. It might've been just a feeling, but usually my "feelings" were spot on. It didn't matter to me anyway. I checked the time and noticed it was getting close to meeting up with Jaden.
"Alright, I'm out. See you douches later." I turned away from them as I head to the door but I could hear Jim's heavy footsteps behind me as he follows me out. "So off to meet the fella?" From his tone of voice I could tell he was grinning when I let out a groan as I pushed the door open nearly slamming it into a doofus who stood too close to the door.
"How the fuck did you even guess it was a dude?" My annoyance was clear but I wasn't angry at him. Jim's one of those guys you could go into war with and still sit down and have a good laugh with. He's just that kind of chill. He also didn't judge preferences. He's just that kind of guy, it's why I could almost consider him a friend. I say almost because anytime I referred to someone as a friend, they often used it against me.
It's why Axel and I have such bad blood. I used to call him a friend and then he send his bitch of a boy toy after me with a lie stating I slept with him. Adrian nearly put me in the hospital if it hadn't been for Viper and Jim saving my life. It's why I'm so cold to the both of them. Just give me a reason to stick a gun in either of their faces and pull the trigger and I will guarantee it to happen.
"Hope you have fun, mate. Tell me all about it at breakfast tomorrow?" I smirked just a little before turning to face him slapping him a high five. "Course man. Meet you there at 9." Jim grinned looking at me his dark blue eyes gleaming with a hint of joy. "You'll let me know if the sex goes well right?" My face went dark red as I stomped my foot and nearly sock him in the face for such an obsurd statement.
"You fucking Weasel! You ever say that to my face again and I'll make sure your gator eats you for dinner!" It was a failed threat. His pet gator Shirley adored him. She wouldn't hurt anyone intentionally unless Jim commanded her to do so. Even then she was a gentle soul.
Jim just let out a heartfelt laugh as I stood there all the blood rushing to my face all at once. I grit my teeth and tried not to grind them as I went to the alley and got my bike. "Have a goodnight mate." He waved as he walked off heading in the opposite direction.
I hopped on my bike after securely stuffing the sheet back into the satchel, put my helmet on and started it up before driving it out of the docks. It wouldn't take me long to get to the bar as it was only 10 blocks away. The drive there was breezy as I felt the wind rush past me as I weaved in and out of traffic to get to the bar much quicker.
I knew I should've just gone home and got my van to be more prepared in case I needed to drive Jaden home, but that went out the window because I realized my house was nearly 30 blocks west and it would take too long to drive back without making Jaden think I ditched him.
I pulled up to the place and parked by the door next to another motorcycle. I unclipper my helmet and put it back into the hiding spot I had for it which was a hidden compartment in my seat. I shook my hair out as I headed towards the door to meet up with my so called date, as everyone would call it.