Breath of the Future

Chapter 8

* art credits to artmetica on twitter, of course**

I woke up the next morning and signed into my computer early, looking forward to getting my work done for the day so I could just relax and do whatever. I got a good amount of my work done before I received a call from Lester at around one o'clock.

    "Did you see the news?" He asked.

    "No..." I mumbled.

    "You did a great days work yesterday, Kathryn. That asshole you did that switcharoo for? He was exposed after that client of his overdosed last night. He lost all his credibility as well as his license, good work."

    I laughed.

    "Thank you, Lester."

    "Hey, I've got some more work for you wherever you're interested, if you'd like to meet me at the San Andreas pier."

    I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

    "Maybe another time, Lester. I want to take some time for myself today. The last few days have been...stressful."

    "I can tell, and I understand completely. Don't hesitate to give me a call. But hey, I heard there's some kind of opening party at Rattlesnake lounge tonight, you should go if you're looking for some fun. It's just an idea, I'll be in touch."

    And he hung up.

    A party, huh? I hadn't been to a party in lord knows how long. I definitely wasn't the partying type. But this seemed more like an event rather than a trashy party full of stray people fondling each other.

    I looked up the event on LifeInvader and it turned out, it was real. Most of the photos of the new lounge looked very nice, but it didn't look like it would draw in a younger crowd at all. I decided if I was going to go to this thing, get out of my shell a little, I would have to buy a nice dress or something.

    I grabbed my bag with my wallet and all my other things and peeked into Michael's room briefly to let him know I was going out shopping, but he wasn't home. I texted him and he told me he had been out with Trevor mostly just fucking around. I couldn't tell him anything other than to try not to get himself killed. And with that text, I headed out.

    I ended up at a store called Wisdom that really just looked like it was targeted at teens trying to dress like adults, but I noticed they had some fancy dresses in the back. I looked around until I found the sale rack and picked out a short navy dress with ruffled sleeves.

    "This'll do..." I murmured to myself.

    I bought the dress and some strappy sandals to go with it before heading to a coffee shop to think for a while. I looked out into the crowded street as the images of Michael holding me on the couch replayed in my head. Whether it was Michael or not, I needed that. For the last few years, it felt like there had been an elephant sitting on my chest. I made a pretty good cut from Lester's drug switch job, but I knew that after this heist, I was done for good and would return to civilian life. I wanted to be a nobody again. I loved Trevor dearly, but I wasn't going to stay wrapped up in his shenanigans if I could help it.

    There was a lot of fighting in the area where Trevor and I used to work just outside of Sandy Shores. Sometimes it would get so bad that we would have to lock down the warehouse so as not to draw attention to ourselves. Ron, Chef, and Wade seemed to be used to it, but I never was able to calm down with all the noise of gunfire outside. Trevor used to just sit and talk me through it, sometimes hold me, in a brotherly way. I was his muse when it came to becoming a more caring person, and my college education gave us the upper hand when deciding how to run our scams. I was going to remain a loyal friend to Trevor no matter what, but after this heist, the criminal life was his to take, and I was going to slink back into the shadows.