No Introduction Needed

Chapter Two

The room grew quiet as the woman stared at the young man that sat across from her, she could see the twitch in his jaw as he ground his teeth, his dark blue eyes flicking everywhere but her, his brown curly hair was a winswept mess, the clothes he was wearing were a bit old and he had this sent about him, not that he was stink just that he smealt as if he had been in the sun all day and this lead her to her next question.

"When were you released?"

The young man seemed a bit shocked at her question he probably thought that she was going to kick him out right away, but she wasn't the type of person to discriminate someone because they happen to have a record and not that she would tell anyone, she already had a few felons working in two of the five ware houses she ran, she would only judge him based on if he could do the job.

The young man cleared his throat for the hundredth time as he finally spoke "Some time today, I don't know the exact time... I don't have a watch."

The woman arched her brow and shifted back going into one of her desk draws to grab a pen, paper and clip board, she quickly took a note and looked up at him with an apologetic smile "I should have asked this earlier but whats your name kid?"

"Maddox Dalton."

She hummed as she jotted it down and then wrote down everything else before looking back up at him "how old are you?" she was a bit surprised when he said he was twenty three, his face could probably pull it off but the rest of him seemed older, not wrinkled but experienced is the word she would use, but maybe he didn't have the experience she needed, only time would tell.

"How long was your sentence?"

Once again he fidgeted in his seat and dropped his gaze "I got twenty five to life but I only served five years." his voice seemed to get quieter as he spoke so she gave him a nod for him to continue "well because I wasn't even there when it happened and some said I was so I got arrested and then they recently found the person that was actually responsible so here I am." he gave a nervous laugh and shifted again.

But the woman didn't feel like laughing, if he was twenty three and been away for five then that meant when he was accused of the crime he was a baby, probably still in high school working to make sure he made something of himself in the future and that meant that whoever had accused him had snatched his future away.

She was a bit more curious than before and she spoke quickly as she leaned forward in her chair "You said that you were arrested five years ago and you just got out, why are you here trying to find a job instead of at home relaxing with your family?"

His head literally dropped and she could see his hands clamp into fist around his ratted jeans, he looked like a clean homeless person "they don't want me there, I got no home and I got no family." she could hear the tears in his voice as he spoke and she suddenly felt a range in her.

"Where are you staying?" she spoke trying to keep the anger from her voice so he didn't think it was directed at him.

She watched as the young man shook his head causing his curls to bounce "I have to find somewhere to stay... so do you have a job you can give me?"

She sat back and took a few more notes before standing up and signalling for him to follow her, she had to look back a few times to make sure he was following her because his steps were so light but they finally made it out to the back where a few men were off loading trucks and sorting boxes, some women here and there taking register of each box that came in or went out.

"Alright so you're lucky that we actually are a few hands short and I have a mega shipment coming in today. Don't consider this a permanent job, consider this a test run, I'm gonna leave Ted in charge of you and she'll report to me how you did and if I should keep you on or let you go, does that sound fair?" she asked cocking her head to the young man that gave her a nod "good well, Ted darling, kindly get him some gloves and a weight belt and put him to work."

She glanced back over to him "we're going to be working till ten tonight, so good luck." he gave her one last nod and went over to Ted who gave him a friendly smile.

-

Maddox was happy that she was giving him a shot, after all the things she asked him he was sure she was going to toss him out on his ass but she didn't and if he worked hard by tomorrow he could consider himself a working man. Ted who stood a few inches shorter than him had collected his bag and walked into a room before coming back with what he needed.

The man helped him to put on the belt and ensured it was set firm before leading him over to the back of the truck where the boxes were coming off, without a word he collected the first box, it was heavy but not heavy enough to put strain on him so he followed the shorter man to the corner of the room and set the box on top of another before going out back.

This continued for a few hours before Ted told Maddox that it was time for a break so they could go get something to eat and he brushed the older man off kindly before going back to his work, he wasn't all that hungry, he had missed his lunch time and he was so accustomed to the prison rules that if you missed lunch you needed to wait till dinner and if you missed dinner you wouldn't eat till the next day.

He had already missed his dinner time so when the morning came he would see about getting a big breakfast but until that time, he was going to work until it was time for him to sleep, so he continued to work the entire half an hour all the other's were gone and continued even after they returned.

A loud bell went off when Maddox had finished carrying over his last box, he was tired, thirsty and covered in sweat but still felt good, he could feel a few stares on him when he raised his shirt to wipe his face and quickly dropped it back to cover his tattoos, he spotted some of the younger, proper looking workers watching him and he felt like shrinking in on himself but decided to just put on a blank face.

He was thankful to Ted who handed him a rag to dry off with after he collected the gloves and belt, he wiped his faces and arms and sleeked his hair back out of his face. When he was finished Ted collected back the rag and handed him his bag before turning and heading down the hall to which he quickly followed.

He watched the older man as he stopped at a large fridge and pulled out two bottles of water giving him one before finally leading him to the woman's office. Ted knocked twice before going in after the woman gave the go ahead and ushered Maddox in before shutting the door in behind them.

"Hey, Maddox, Ted do you have your report."

Ted quickly nodded and sat forward in the chair he had dropped down in after shutting the door "He's a good kid, he was quiet the entire time and just did the work without complain or break, he didn't stop for dinner either but I figured that's got to do with something else but he is a hard worker."

The woman nodded and took a quick note of what he had said before looking back up "and would you be comfortable having an ex-con on your team?" Maddox went rigid at her question and glanced over at Ted.

Ted proceeded to shrug his shoulders "Don't bother me much, as long as he does his work and keeps from making trouble I'll be happy to have him."

The woman nodded and then turned to Maddox with a large smile on her face "well welcome to the Team Maddox, from tomorrow onward you're going to be working under Ted here, you're expected to put in at least eight hours a day but if you work more you will be given over time, but you need to say so ahead of time. As for the pay it's thirteen dollars an hour and you'll be working based on a shift and at the beginning of the week you'll be told which shift you're on, sound good?"

Maddox was quick to nod and the woman gave him a smile before reaching over to shake his hand, he was happy to have a job, the only thing was that now he needed to find somewhere to stay."