Two Sides of the Same Coin

Chapter 5

You open your eyes slowly, blinking and staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling. Your brain panics for a moment, but soon everything comes back to you and you remember the events of the previous night. Your boyfriend is a crazy, possessive murderer with a group of friends that have been terrorising Los Santos for as long as you've lived here. You sigh softly, looking around a little. You hadn't even noticed that you were no longer on the couch you passed out on, but instead in a lavish room complete with a walk-in closet and your very own bathroom.

Getting up and approaching your closet, you open it slowly to reveal that all of your clothes had been retrieved and you had some new outfits, too. You look around slowly and find some boxes in the back, packed with all of your things from your apartment. You frown, knowing that they had to get into your apartment somehow in order to get all this stuff. The idea gives you the creeps, and you leave your closet without grabbing any new clothes.

You walk towards your bedroom door, hearing screams of laughter and anger from somewhere else in the building. With your hand on the knob, you debate leaving your room before deciding there was nothing to lose, even if everyone knew you were awake. You open your door and peek out, looking up and down the hallway of doors before deciding to follow the voices. You pull your door shut behind you and make your way down the hall. When you're the closest you can be to the room with the voices, you hesitate. The door is closed. What if it's a bedroom? But that wouldn't make sense, it sounds like there are at least four people in there, and one of them is Jack.

You crack open the door and lean your head in to see the room, sighing in relief when you see that it's just the main room where you initially fell asleep. You step in and look around, waiting with bated breath to see if any of them notices you. In the room, Jeremy and Jack crowd behind Michael and Gavin, who are playing an intense round of some shooter game, and Michael is clearly getting pissed at Gavin's inability to properly play games. A short look around by Jeremy ends up in, "Hey! (Y/n), it's about time. How are you feeling? Does your head hurt? Do you need water? You saw that we brought your stuff, right?"

You shift your weight awkwardly, nodding a little. "Um.. What time is it..? I think I lost my phone..," you ask softly. Michael pauses the game and the other three look at you. None of them move, but then Jack answers, "The time is currently 1:53 P.M." Your eyes widen and you cover your mouth quickly. "Oh my God, I am so late for work!" You turn around quickly to head back to your room, but Gavin's voice stops you short. "Hey, relax, it's fine. You don't have to worry about working. We can cover for you, (Y/n). It'll be fine. We'll get you a new phone, too," he assures, smiling brightly. Michael glares at the Brit before nodding. "Yeah, none of us here ever really work. We just wait for whenever one of us comes up with a new heist. Our achievements have gotten us quite far in life," he says.

You hesitate, but nod. James wouldn't be too happy to know that you exited the building anyway, you're certain. "What about Ja- I mean... Ryan? He works... He has an office job," you question, tilting your head a little. Jeremy shrugs. "He says it makes him feel better to be contributing to society more than he takes from it. Plus, it brings in some extra money when we fail any of our robberies. We never really questioned him or stopped him from doing whatever he wants. He's a little..," he trails off and makes a circular motion at the side of his head with his index finger. You nod slowly. "But hey!" Jeremy says cheerfully. "C'mon over, take a seat. Or, Jack can show you where the kitchen is and help you get something to eat. Anyone who can change Ryan's cold, dead heart is always welcome here." He smiles at you brightly, welcoming you over. You glance at Jack for a moment, then hesitate. "Actually, I think something to eat sounds more appealing... no offense," you say softly.

"Hey, none taken. Jack, can you take her to the kitchen?" Jeremy looks at Jack, and you can see Jeremy begging her silently to just do what he says for once. You can tell nobody really listens to Jeremy much. "Eh, sure, why not," she says. "Come on, (Y/n). I'll even show you a couple of other rooms on the way." She leads you through a separate door that goes immediately into another room. There are multiple other doors within the room, and she points out each of them, labeling them with silly names, even though most are just closets or one or bathrooms, presumably to make you feel more comfortable. "This last room on the left is the meeting room. It's where we go to make all our dumb plans and shit. It's just a small closet with a table, some chairs, and a map of the city on a whiteboard on the wall. Nothin' special." She shrugs a little, smiling. "We might be the most infamous group in Los Santos, but we're not over the top with our building. Those huge conference rooms don't make sense when it's just the six of us."