badlands // zayn malik

chapter three

→ i'm headed straight for the castle,
they've got the kingdom locked up.
- castle, halsey

&&

III. Zayn

"I have the money."

I chew nervously on my bottom lip, every part of my body perspiring under Theo's intimidating stare. I keep a firm grip on the cheque I held between my hands, a sense of worry exploding in every inch of my skin. I could hear my heartbeat thumping with each second. I had no idea why I was nervous - I've been doing this for almost a year already, and I still feel anxious whenever I had money to hand over to Theo.

"Good." Theo simply says, looking me up and down. I feel myself becoming self-conscious, imagining Theo judging me inside his head. "I was worried that you wouldn't show up with anything this month."

"Sorry. I do have a lot of money for you this time." I apologise timidly, before sliding the cheque across the table to him. "There. This cheque is worth $5,000. I stole it from the Ashmont City Bank, I don't know if you heard it on the news."

"Five grand?" He questions, grabbing and examining the piece of paper like it was some sort of fraud.

"Is that okay?" I ask worriedly. Theo was a man who rarely showed emotion. I wasn't sure if he was unimpressed, suspicious or pleased with the amount of money I had given to him.

He contemplates quietly for a few moments, then suddenly, a coy smirk creeps onto his face. "I'm surprised, Malik. Extremely surprised. You haven't clocked up a few grand in months. Thank you, though. This will be put into good use."

I mentally snort. Good use? It was probably going towards buying a sparkly new Porsche.

Before I could respond, Theo's phone starts to buzz loudly, vibrating abruptly out of nowhere. He sighs, annoyed at the disruption, and picks up the phone to check the Caller I.D, "I have to take this, sorry."

I nod in acknowledgement, leaning back to rest on the lavish, extravagant and most-likely very overpriced suede chair. I couldn't help but eavesdrop on Theo's conversation.

"Yes...I know you've told me a million times, George, but I haven't- Yes, yes, I know- You promise? Really? Arthur Kensington really said that? Ha! Okay, I was planning to make Leon do it- Oh no. Oh well, I'll find somebody else to do it..." His eyes slowly land on me and I hold my breath. "No, no, no, it's fine. Yes, he'll probably agree, I'll ask him-Shut the fuck up, George. Okay, bye."

"God, he's annoying." He rolls his eyes melodramatically after hanging up on whoever he was speaking to. He takes a deep breath to compose himself and stares at me directly in the eyes. I gulp.

"I have a proposal for you, Zayn. A benefit of sorts. Trust me, it's so much better than the benefits I give you now, I know you've been struggling with money for quite some time now."

"You do?!" I exclaim, perking up at his comment. At the moment, Theo provided me with enough money to pay my rent and groceries, with a few more dollars on the side if he was feeling generous. Sometimes, even that wasn't enough, and I had to miss out on eating for a few days. It was no biggie - I guess I was just used to it.

Theo immediately types something on his laptop, "You know Arthur Kensington?"

I narrow my eyes at him in confusion. "Who's that?"

I had never heard of an Arthur Kensington. Even his name sounded really posh and royal - I haven't heard a name like that in a long time.

"He's the mayor of Roseburgh, the town next to ours.' I raise one eyebrow, still confused. "Here in the badlands, we don't really talk about Roseburgh, we don't want anybody from Ashmont moving there, after The Great Migration From Ashmont of 1989."