In Love With My Mobster Best Friend (mxmxm)

ELEVEN: PLACE

Media: Mercy – Shawn Mendes

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Coe's POV

What you read from books, learn from documentaries or watch from movies, will never compare to experiencing it first hand with your own eyes and your own body.

Yes, a well-described book can make you feel as though you were right there, feeling the emotions of the characters in the book like it was your own. A well-researched documentary can inform you of details you've never quite known or could even guess before. A well-scripted movie can tease your senses and evoke emotions in you as you sympathise with the characters and the pictures that you see.

But they aren't really of your own. They can be easily and quickly forgotten because they aren't as intense and lasting as when you create your own experience and be immersed in it.

Which was exactly why I felt like I needed to visit the washroom again for the fourth time since we've arrived at Jared's workplace. I have been here all three hours, and I was still on edge, hyper-anxious and I was dying to get out of here. My heart was racing and it was getting quite obvious that I was clearly ignorant about what a gang was like. To be honest, what I have seen and heard was nothing like the preconceived notion that I had about gangs. It only made me feel all the more like an alien, watching everything happen as though I was not inside of my body, but outside of it, watching the people walk by and the conversations flow.

We didn't travel to a run-down area where people were more likely to join gangs in order to survive in a tough neighbourhood, no. We didn't meet people who were had the stereotypical gangster mannerisms, no. I didn't feel like I was going to get shot by a drive-by car as we make our way down the streets to Jared's place of work, no.

No, none of those. In fact, with everything I've seen, I don't even think Jared is a real gangster. Hear me out.

We arrived at a legitimate looking business building, nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, the building was even nicer than my publishing company. I was already awed and impressed even as Jared briefly pointed out to me that we had arrived at our destination and I should like what I see. I agree, wholeheartedly. Just looking from the outside of the building, I could tell that this place was posh. I would feel pampered just walking into the lobby and taking the lift up and down to God knows where. I know. If I am so impressed, I should think about moving into this gangster lifestyle if the staff perks were good. I don't deny that the thought had crossed my mind.

We then had our car parked by a proper valet wearing an expensive looking uniform. He was polite, introducing himself and the company, as well as greeting Jared and Heath with the utmost respect. His back was straight and his smile charming and I wondered if the staff perks for a valet were attractive enough for me to give up my job as an editor and work here.

We entered the building, and I very nearly lost control of my jaw. The ceiling was luxuriously high and ridiculously beautiful. There were glass chandeliers that lined the lobby, as though it was a well furnished hotel lobby. The floor was marbled and the lights that hit the ground made it seem like I walked into anything but a office building. I was getting enticed by this place already, despite feeling my nerves building up painfully.

We meet many employees along the way that were not tatted up on obvious places on their skin, they didn't portray an aggressive stance to a stranger like me, and I made it through the doors of the building with Jared and Heath flanking my sides, with no bullet holes in my chest. I know, I had a proceived notion about how they were, and I really shouldn't judge everyone based on what I saw on the television. But can you blame me? I was as ignorant as any one who didn't know better. Besides, the mob was always so secretive. Case in point: Jared kept this secret from me for eight years.