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ERIK DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF JASMINE REEVES.
She was hidden, like everyone he worked with. They never reveal any personal information, hell some of them never even smiled, all to keep up that facade they needed for this line of work. Erik knew what that was like. He felt like he was living two different lives all the time. There was the stone-cold killer and cocky mercenary persona he had built up in his time in the Black Ops and in the underground criminal scene, and then there was the side of him that would volunteer teaching kids basketball at the court he grew up playing on. Erik always kept those two spheres of his life away from each other. It was easier that way.
Jasmine, on the other hand, didn't seem to have a second life. Whenever he was around, she was always doing her job. She had even come by and seen him after a lesson of basketball, before their little deal in his old apartment-turned control center. But Jasmine...Jasmine never seemed to take a break. Every person he worked with, he knew something about them outside of their work persona. He knew hobbies, he knew how many kids some people had, he knew which city they were born in. And then there was his personal negotiator, his own business partner, and he didn't know anything.
So he decided to change that.
"What the hell'd you drag me out here again for?"
Erik chuckled at the shorter woman's attitude as she glared at him under the visor of her hand, protecting her eyes from the beating hot sun. At least she dressed better this time, he noticed, taking in her nicely-fitting crop top and track shorts matching set. "I wanna get to know you."
She raised a flawless eyebrow at him. "And we couldn't have done this in air conditioning because...?"
"Because, you don't open up easy" he stated, as if she were an open book for him to read. She parted her lips to protest, but he held his hands up and smiled, revealing his two dimples and pearly-white teeth. "Chill ma, I get it. Everyone's like that in the business. Don't take it too hard."
Just on time, a little kid leaning on the side of scrawny, minus his adorable cheeks, ran up to Erik. He was panting heavily, his hands resting on his knees as a basketball sat snugly in the corner between his elbow and his side. "Mr. Stevens! Mr. Stevens!"
Erik turned and knelt down on the hot pavement to his height, which looked like a hard thing to do from an outsider perspective since it was practically an oven outside. "What's up lil' man? Just on time today, good job."
The child showcased his megawatt smile. "Thanks, I ran a whole mile from my house to here. Well, I don't think it was a full mile but my mom said it was close" he said, scrunching up his nose in thought. It was cute.
