Relapse (Michael De Santa x OC)

Silence

Laura ran along the Vespucci beach path in the cool summer breeze contrasted by the warm sun rays. The beach wasn't crowded at this time. It was still too early for anyone to come by. Laura was surprised she managed to go running all alone and without the badgering of Mary Ann but she wasn't complaining, it cleared her head being alone. She stopped, resting her hands on her knees, desperate for a breath.

"Goddammit"

She said to herself, thinking of what Michael said. His previous words shadowing her thoughts. Did he really mean it? It was a topic that made her smile once thought of. But the only problem was that Michael was nowhere to be found. Anywho, this was all suspicious. The news of that witness on that cartel case getting shot, the robberies and the violence was concerning on its own. She knew one way or another all those elaborate crimes going on had some sort of connection with Michael.

She sighed knowing all this out of town business kinda thing had to do with this. It's been a few days and she thought of calling him to check up on how he was doing.

One ring. Two ring. It kept on going but there was no answer. The second time ended the same way.

"Uh..hi"

She looked up and saw an African American man who was wearing a blue shirt and grey sweatpants was standing in front of her. Laura didn't speak a word but just stared at him, thinking about what Michael told her about strangers. Her eyes moved to his hands to see if there was a gun but there wasn't. Maybe it was because they were in a public place and that tensed her up.

"Hey, just.. just relax. I'm here because of Michael"

She was ready to bolt at this point. This was it, where his present ended her future.

"Look, he's a friend of mine and told me to just look after you"

"Oh. Look after me?"

"Yeah, just to be sure. He's just caught up in a bit of a problem right now so he'll be away. I'm Franklin. Franklin Clinton? If he ever talked about me?"

She thought for a while about whether he mentioned him or not. But at least he was no Trevor.

"I mean, I'll be around. Just not follow you anywhere. But if you notice any strange shit around just give me a call and I'll be right over, alright? No pressure"

"Where is he?"

"Uh, didn't he tell you that?"

"No, he didn't. I would appreciate if you did"

"I don't think I've..got the authority to.. mention that"

"You wanna help, right? Just tell me where he is"

"I.. I don't know, dawg. Why don't you just ask him?"

"I would if he answered"

Franklin sat next to her on the bench and leaned back, looking around at the other joggers trying to energise before the long day ahead of them. Laura sighed and looked up at the sky, it was a clear blue.

"I'm gonna go home now. Just tell him if he could answer my calls, that would be great"

She got up and headed to her car. Franklin didn't follow and she was thankful, a moment of privacy was all she wanted. Laura got in the car and got out her phone, she looked at Devin's number. A feeling in her but she wanted to confirm. The last thing she knew about her ex husband was that he was in Liberty City. But she could never call him now, they haven't spoken in ages and she planned to keep it that way. Instead she opened up his website to check for not-so-private line. She knew Devin wouldn't keep his personal line on there and it was probably his secretary or any employee of his. Thinking about Michael's denied connection with him made her concerned because there was no way he'd get that worked up because of him just seeing him on TV. Laura was sure there was more to it and she could expose that if she only had a bit more help. And she suddenly got it.