“Yeah you too, Brett,” I lied, trying to control my voice. I was actually quite scared, I just prayed he liked me enough to do it quick. A nice shot to the face, or even better, the back of the head so I wouldn’t see it coming.

He pulled back and smiled at me, “So how was it? Ok?” he asked, gripping his hands on my shoulders affectionately.

I nodded, “It was ok,” I said honestly. I glanced round and saw two guys sitting on the sofa off to the side, shit one of them was Terry from juvie. Great, well I guess killing me is a fitting payback for me breaking his face! “Terry,” I greeted, nodding in acknowledgement. Brett started to laugh and slapped me on the shoulder as he walked back round to his side of the desk.

“Yeah, I forgot you two may have some issues to work out before you can work together,” he said, still chuckling. Work together? What the hell does that mean? I looked at him, trying to work out what he meant by that comment. “Maybe you should kiss and make up,” Brett suggested, shrugging and looking extremely amused.

“He can kiss my f**king ass if he wants,” I answered, looking at Terry warningly, he glared at me and stood up. Yeah right, as if he had a chance.

“You little shit, Jamie. I swear to god I’ll…” he started, but Brett held up a hand silencing him.

“Enough! I won’t have you two fighting. Terry, you’ve been here for the last three years so I’ve seen how you operate, but trust me, you don’t want to be having a problem with the kid,” he said laughing.

I gulped, I didn’t want to get into a fight but I knew I could defend myself if I needed to. I’d always been good at taking care of myself, probably because I’d learnt how to block out pain. I mean sure I still felt it but I just didn’t care, pain made you strong, meant you were still alive, pain could be your friend when you think you’re dead inside.

I smiled challenging at Terry, I’d love to see him go against Brett’s orders. Terry was a real ass**le and I’d seen him make many guys lives misery in the year that he was in juvie at the same time as me. He sneered at me and sat back down, I looked back to Brett who was smiling at me proudly.

“So then kid, where are you staying? I’ve set up an apartment for you, just in case. I thought you’d like a couple of days off to get settled, then back to work when you’re ready. I’ve missed your skills and loyalty,” Brett said, rummaging through his desk drawers. Holy shit he thinks I’m going start to work for him again? Oh crap!

“Um Brett, I don’t want this life anymore, I want to start over. I’m gonna get a job, go straight,” I said quietly.

He laughed and looked at me, obviously thinking I was joking. “That’s funny, kid.” He pulled out a set of keys and tossed them to me, “Here, it’s a two bed. We’ll sort out rent and stuff later, go chill. I would imagine that you need to hook up with some girls, right? Four years is a long time,” he said, winking at me.

I looked at him shocked, it would be so easy to take the keys and go, go find some hooker and settle back into this life, I was good at it, going straight would be hard. I looked at the keys in my hand, a nice apartment, good money, wow, it would be easy. But I didn’t have the reason to do it anymore, I didn’t need to bring home the money and have this life. The reason I had to do this died the day I became a murderer. I put the keys back on the desk and shook my head.

“Brett, thank you for going to all this trouble for me, but I can’t, I don’t want to do this.” Oh God please let me try to go straight!

He looked at me shocked, “Kid, I need you here, we’ve been lost without you. The car orders aren’t getting filled, we have no one who can boost like you can.” I could see by the slight tightening of his jaw that he was getting annoyed. He always got what he wanted, no one ever said no to Brett.

“I’m sorry Brett, I am. But I’m not doing this,” I said sternly. I’d made up my mind, either I went straight, or he would have to kill me.

He slammed his fist down on the desk, “You think you can just walk away? For two years I looked after you, showed you my business, two years I spent training you, and you think you can just walk away? You can’t!” he shouted.

“I can’t do this. I’m sorry, Brett, I won’t.” I shook my head and looked him right in the eye showing him I wasn’t going to back down.

He nodded to the two guys behind me, I closed my eyes waiting to die, they both grabbed me and slammed me face first into the desk pinning me there. Someone’s arm was across the back of my neck pressing down, making it hard to breathe, I would imagine it was Terry. I felt something hard press against my temple and the click as the trigger was cocked.

“Kid, I won’t let you walk away, you haven’t put in enough time to walk away. You know the rules, you want out, you earn it, just like everyone else. You still owe me,” Brett growled angrily.

I opened my eyes to see he was the one holding the gun, I didn’t bother to struggle, I was dead either way there was no way I was getting out of here. “Just kill me then, I’m not doing it,” I said.

The gun pressed harder into my temple making pain shoot down my jaw.

“I don’t want to kill you kid. You’re good at what you do, probably the best. It’s a waste,” Brett admitted, looking at me hopefully.

The pressure on the back of my neck increased, “No!” I choked out.

Brett sighed. “I need you to do a job, it’s five cars, one night, I need the order filled, you’re the only one that can do it. I waited until you were out before agreeing, if I can‘t fill the order there‘ll be trouble for me and you don’t want that now do you?” Brett said angrily. “One job, then you’re out, but I need you to do this boost.”