The Wild Side of Us

Chapter 14 - Welcome Back to My Other Job

We spent the entire day lazing around. I found scratch pieces of paper and pencils, and gave them to Axel to draw on. Meanwhile, I slept most of the time or watched TV. Whenever I was awake, I kept my ears on full alert, and often looked outside to see if anything abnormal was happening. Not even the neighbors were outside; it was just the usual cars and crowds in the distance. This eased my nerves a little bit. 

For dinner, I cooked some shrimp flavored ramen and told Axel to eat it. He was reluctant at first, but his growling stomach made him slurp the noodles up. Soon after, he was scarfing them down like he wasn't fed in days. I laughed at him, in which his face turned red and he said he was only hungry. "Junk food will do that to you," I had told him. Soon I'll have a kid just like me running around. Not sure how I'll react to that.

It was around ten PM when I got a call from Bobo. I haven't talked to him since our last heist, and I figured he was wondering what I was doing, so I picked up the call and answered him.

"CF, Jet has a job for us," he exclaimed. 

"Odd," I responded. "I called her earlier, and she said she was dry."

"Well, she called me a minute ago, saying she found a mansion worth stealing from. We'd better get our tails onto it before some other guys do, don't you think?" I moved the leg I injured days ago, content to see it didn't hurt anymore. I told Bobo I was up for it, and we made our usual meetup at the Pink Shark. 

When I was changing into darker clothes, I heard Axel shuffle around outside. I guessed he was looking for materials for his art, so I didn't mind the noise much. However, when I exited my room, he was poorly dressed in all black clothes, each pair fitting him a different size.

"What are you doing," I asked with a sigh. 

"You are about to rob someone's house," he said. "Are you not? I would like to come along and observe how you do such a risky task. If you don't mind." He nervously played with his hands.

My ears pressed against my head. No matter how many times I told Axel he couldn't come with me, he insisted on going whenever the topic was brought up. Now that the opportunity has arrived and he knows about it, my new fear is him secretly following me and getting into trouble. Maybe I should've listened to Bobo that one time, where he offered to make me a camera to record video footage if need be. But it was also a good thing I didn't, because the government likely would've taken that. Nevertheless, I was afraid Axel will try to sneak out underneath my nose and put himself in danger.

"You have to stay here," I explained to him. "I don't want to risk you getting hurt, killed, or kidnapped. Like I said a dozen times before, you have zero experience, and if something goes wrong, there is a high chance you will get caught. And that is the last thing I want to happen. For the love of my tail, stay here and keep calm until I get back." Axel weakly nodded, sadly staring at the ground as he slowly took off the black clothes he put on. I felt bad that I couldn't take him, but what I said was true. It really was too dangerous for him to come along. Before I left the trailer, I told him, "Try not to use too many lights. Be as quiet as possible. Stay inside at all times, and don't answer the door if someone knocks or asks to be let in. You'll know it's me because I won't hesitate to unlock the door and walk in, so don't try to poorly attempt to murder me again. I shouldn't be long. Have fun." I walked out and locked the door before he could say anything else.

Bobo was arriving as well when I walked inside the Pink Shark. He grinned at me before explaining where we needed to go and what we needed to grab. It was a mansion a block away, which faced the trailer park though it was hidden behind the abandoned buildings. I needed to go inside and grab a giant diamond, which was said to be guarded on the lowest floor. It was a cliche job, but Jet offered to pay a large sum of cash for it so I had no reasons to object. As usual, Bobo will handle everything related to electricity, and all I had to do was watch out for my tail and that diamond. Since it's a large and pricey diamond, there's no doubt there will be guards everywhere. Dogs, most likely.