As the girl accepted my hand, I pulled her upwards to make her stand.
"Ah, t-thanks." she muttered as she dusted her clothing.
"No problem." I tried swallowing my embarrassment and frustration.
Looking at the other boys besides me, I can see them snickering whilst covering their mouth with their hands.
Shitty dudes...
Looking at my surroundings, I can tell that the crowd that formed up around us is slowly starting to disperse and shrink as people turned their attentions away from us and got back to what they are doing earlier.
Yeah, that's right! mind your own businesses.
Looking back at the girl in front of me who had her head lowered, I can't help but let out a sigh.
Well, people can be clumsy sometimes.
"Just be careful next time." I reluctantly pat her head.
"H-Huh?" the girl shook with embarrassment.
Albert! what the f*ck are you doing?!
You swore to never get involve in other people's business unless it's necessary.
"Holy shit!" hearing Kevin's shout, I turn my head toward him.
"What?"
"You just patted her! what are you? a goddamn simp?!"
Quickly withdrawing my hand from the girl's head, I immediately grabbed Kevin's collar and pulled him towards me.
"Shut you're f*cking mouth!" I yelled at him.
Before he can reply, the girl suddenly spoke.
"O-Oh wait, I still have some work to do, I-I got to go!" the girl began to adjust her slightly messy clothing before running away from us.
"S-Should we catch her?" Dave asked.
"Sh*t up!" Nick smacked Dave in the head again.
Watching the back of the girl as she ran away from us, I can see the slightly large curve of her buttocks due to the tight skirt she's wearing.
Damn, what a body she has there.
Feeling my body becoming hot and my face red, I tried to steady myself as I look back at Kevin and the others.
"C'mon, let's go!" I then gestured for them to follow me.
As we continued down the sidewalk, we passed by the alleyway where we had a shootout with some thugs some time ago on the other side of the street.
There were police tapes wrapped around the alley's entrance, blocking anyone from entering inside.
To think it only happened a few days ago... and now we're just hanging around, seemingly forgetting the fact that we actually killed people on that day.
Shit man...
"I remember..." Kevin suddenly spoke, prompting me to look back at him.
"Remember what?" I asked him.
"The way you killed those guys, it's like you've done it before, how you pulled the trigger without any hesitation." Kevin turns to me.
Should I tell him?
Staying quiet for a moment as we walk down the sidewalk, I finally made my decision to tell him what happened on 'that' day.
"Promise me you won't tell this to anyone." I quietly whispered on Kevin.
Turning to look at Dave and Nick who was right following behind us, I sighed in relief as I watch them talk to each other, seemingly unaware of our conversation.
"O-Okay, promise" Kevin quietly answered.
Staring at his eyes for a moment, I sighed before finally speaking.
"Jamie's sister" I muttered to him.
"That b*tch who got murdered on her own hou-..." he stopped his sentence as he looked at me with wide eyes, seemingly on the verge of realizing something surprising.
"You're joking right?"
I shook my head as we continued walking down the path.
"T-Then why did you do it?"
"To get back on him for touching my sister."
Although I told Sarah about what really happened to my sister, I decided to refrain myself from speaking all about it to Kevin, and only told him 1/3 of the truth.
It's just I don't feel it right when a lot of people knows it.
That feeling when you're walking around on the street, oblivious at the fact that many people are already talking about you behind your back.
I pity her so much...
After explaining my reason, Kevin immediately kept his mouth shut.
Staring at him, I can see guilt plastered all around his face.
He then reached for his pocket and pulled out a cigarette pack, handing me one and placing another one on his mouth.
Sharing the light on his lighter, we withdrew the cigarette on our mouths as we took a puff and a slightly refreshing exhale.
"No need to feel bad." I said to Kevin as I took another puff.
He stared at me for a moment before sighing.
After a few more minutes of walking, we finally arrived at our destination, the cafe shop.
"Alright, you all ready?" I asked them.
"Yeah" the boys all said in the same time.
"Good, now let's go." Turning towards the door in front of me, I pushed it open as I stepped inside, followed by the others.
We hear a mini bell clanging as we went inside, and small rows of table and chairs immediately meet our eyes as we stroll forward.
There's no people inside the cafe, which is a good thing since we could 'discuss' business without the interference of the outside.
"Welcome" hearing a man's voice, we turned our heads towards the direction of the sound and saw a man, in his middle 30's, behind a counter.
"Hey, nice place you got here." I said as we make our way toward him.
"Yeah, bet you had a lot of good customers." Kevin added.
"More customers means more good money, you'll be a rich successful guy in no time." I smiled at the owner as I leaned on the counter.
"Uh, t-thank you, so w-what do you good sirs want to buy, we have choco-" he stammered, but I immediately cuts him off.
"But the city is now crueler these days, you don't want to get your shop ransacked in your first days of opening, don't you?" I smirked as I stared at the man in the eyes.
He's starting to sweat and gulp nervously as he listened to my words.
"I-I can assure you good customers that you won't be bothered by such troubles." the owner begins to laugh nervously.
"No, no.. no." I shook my head before continuing...
"For example" I walked to a nearby table, placed my feet at the edge and pushed it, dropping all the wares as the table fell on the ground.
"Hey! what are you doing?!" the man yelled in surprise as he tried to make his way towards me, only to get blocked and stopped by Dave and Nick.
"I told you, the city can be cruel sometimes." I said as I picked up a glass of cup from another nearby table and threw it at the wall, shattering it to pieces.
"No, stop it!" the owner struggled to free himself.
I then picked up a chair and threw it at the counter, making Kevin who was near me immediately duck as the chair landed on a cash register, throwing and scattering all the money everywhere, there were also debris and parts of the register flying around as pieces fell to the ground.
"What do you want?!" the owner cried.
Just as I was about to destroy another furniture, I stopped as I heard the owner's plea.
Took you long enough to say.
"Finally, I was waiting for you to say that." I pointed at the owner and gave him a thumbs up.
Nick and Dave laughed while Kevin only smiled.
"T-Then...?"
"A hundred dollars every week and we will make sure to solve every problems you had within your shop." I simply told him.
He had a shocked expression on his face as he stared at me with fear, and at the same time, anger.
"So what would it be?"
He kept his mouth shut, his eyes glued on the floor as he thinks of something.
"If you don't have our protection, some 'bad' and 'mean' guys would come to your store everyday to wreck havoc on everything you've worked so hard to build for." of course, when I said the 'bad' and 'mean' guys, I referred it to ourselves.
He stared at me for a moment, and after a few minutes of silence, he finally gave me an answer.
"Alright"
"Wise decision my friend." Gesturing for Nick and Dave to let him go, the owner began to scramble towards the scattered bills on the floor and after a few minutes of picking them up one by one, he managed to gather a hundred dollar bills and handed it to me.
"We'll be back by next week, pleasure doing business with you." I mockingly bowed as I pocketed the money I just received from him.
"Just go away." he said, tears starting to form on both of his eyes.
Poor guy... well anyway, I follow the rules of the jungle.
It's either you oppress, or get oppressed...
It's how the world works for hundreds of years.
.
.
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CHAPTER DONE!