After shelling the hundred-dollar bills out of a safe that sat underneath his desk, Aaron abruptly slid the book he'd taken from his drawer earlier over to her. "All I need now is for you to jot down your full name, address and phone numbers on this paper. Oh, and when you get paid and the amount you borrowed."
Faith picked up the pen he provided her, but the only problem was, her hand was having trouble making it write.
"I can't get rid of those medical bills for you if you don't write down your information for me," Aaron pressed, sounding audibly irritable now. "I ain't got all night."
At this point, even if this was among the stupidest decisions she'd ever made, it didn't matter. She was just going to write it all down, like the other deadbeats and lowlifes with nowhere else to turn who wandered into this office on a daily basis had to do. Even if something did go wrong, Faith told herself, she would just have to tell her boyfriend the truth, since he probably knew as well as she did that their families and other legitimate loan sources would only try to separate her and Rowan from one another. She intended to tell Rowan about this eventually, but...at the right time. After all, they had escaped from much worse situations before, though it still didn't change the fact that Faith was attempting this by herself and was generally out of practice. Better this than Rowan coming here with me and potentially getting mixed up with the wrong crowd again, being the social butterfly that he is at any chance he's given.
"I...work at home and I don't have a landline, so there'll just be one phone number," Faith said quietly as she finished and slid the book back to Aaron, proceeding to stare down at her lap.
"Thanks," Aaron said curtly, taking a moment to glance at what she'd written down. After closing the book and putting it away, he slid the money across his desk to her. "That didn't hurt so bad, did it?" The fact that Aaron's smile was back once again should have worried her, but if he really did have a gun of his own in one of his drawers, now he was less likely to pull it out at least. He nodded at the money, as if permitting her to touch it now, and Faith gingerly picked it up, unable to help but marvel at it--just a little. "Well Faith, have fun."
"Yeah, I'll have a lot of fun paying off that hospital," Faith muttered.
"Well listen, you wrote here that ya' get paid every Friday around five-ish. We can do this one of two ways--you could come by here, or I could just get it from your place every week."
No way am I giving him a reason to come to our house--not if I can help it. "I'll go with the first option. But...if I absolutely can't make it for whatever reason, I'll let you know."
"Fine, but just sayin', the second option might be safer. It can get rough around here sometimes. Heh, I'm shocked you even decided to come here by yourself to begin with."
Faith shrugged. "Rowan doesn't know I'm doing this, and I'd rather keep it like that until I'm done paying you back." If someone looking like Aaron came to our door asking for me, I'm sure Rowan would think I was cheating on him, even if he didn't find out what I was really doing, she thought, becoming disgusted with herself immediately after letting such a thought pop into her mind. Aaron had the same dark wavy hair and olive complexion she remembered, and while he'd gained some charisma since she last saw him, he'd also gained a couple of pounds to go with it. Hopefully he spent more time at that desk than he did tracking down his enemies or vulnerable people who couldn't pay all that interest back.
"Do what ya' have to, just as long as I get it back on time. So we're almost done, just hold on a sec." He then took his phone and appeared to call someone. "...Yeah, she's ready. You guys make sure Ms. Salter gets outta here safely, ya' hear?"
When Aaron saw Faith giving him another suspicious gaze, he reasoned, "You don't really wanna be walking around alone with all that cash at this hour, do you?"
"Well I mean, I suppose not." Still, when dealing with someone like Aaron Galanos, "getting out of here safely" could have more than one meaning to it. Maybe she was overthinking this entire thing, but she had yet to exit this building and get safely back home in one piece.
"Then go on, get outta here. Like Tracy said, you're probably not the only person I'll be seein' tonight."
Right. "Well, thank you for your help, then," Faith nodded to him. Neither of them completely looked away from one another until Faith was fully out of the room and had closed the office door behind her--just in case.
When she came back down the hall to the front, Tracy stood by the door, almost as if guarding it. Levi, obviously being the less intimidating of the duo, nodded to her and smiled--but not that greasy smile that Aaron had. Unlike Aaron or Tracy, Levi looked like he might still have a healthy amount of humanity inside him. "Sure you don't want any ice cream for the road while you're here?"
"No thanks," Faith answered, subtly glancing between Levi and Tracy.
"Okay, but for future reference, they make a mean neapolitan," a new, gruffer male voice said, its source coming out from behind the opposite wall at the other side of the counter and causing Faith to jump. "Name's Keith, by the way. You walked by me pretty fast earlier."
So I wasn't wrong... It really is Officer Keith. What's he doing here? "Oh, that was you?" Faith asked awkwardly.
"Yeah, but I get it. Can't be too careful out there, after all."
"Mm-hm," Faith muttered, praying she wasn't in the middle of some sting operation.
"You be sure and be nice to Mr. Galanos, now. The man goes through a lot, always getting his name slandered all while trying to keep his business going. It's tough for him sometimes."
Faith could only nod, unsure how to verbally respond to that. Was Keith still a police officer? And if so, was this what Aaron meant by 'some of them being easier to work with than others'?
"Well in that case, let's get a move on." Tracy moved a curly strand of her jet black hair out of her eyes. "Which car's yours? The SUV, right?"
"Um...why would you need to know that?" she asked, tightening her grip on her purse strap before once again letting her hand slowly slide down her side and into her purse. "Did Aaron--uh, Mr. Galanos tell you to ask?"
"Yes and no. It's kind of an...unwritten policy around here that we get your license plate number if you've got a car, in addition to having your name in Mr. Galanos's book," Levi explained. "It'll only take a second."
"And I'm gonna need you to take your hand outta your purse," Keith added. His face showed that it wasn't a request, and like Aaron, he had a larger build and carried himself like someone you wouldn't want to make angry.
"Oh...okay." Faith pretended to sound confused as to why, but ultimately took her hand out. Maybe she wasn't being as subtle as she thought she was. Reluctantly, she led the three to her vehicle and watched intently as Levi took out his phone and snapped a picture of her license plate. She backed up just a couple of steps, so she could keep them all within her direct eyesight. Actually, it appeared that both Faith and Tracy were trying to keep each other within eyesight, as she continuously was trying to avoid meeting Tracy's scrutinizing eyes.
This feeling was vaguely familiar, similar to when she would have to get a shot at the doctor's office as a child. Levi taking that one picture had probably taken a few seconds, but it had felt more like minutes.
"That's it, you're good to go," Levi said reassuringly, pocketing his phone. Only when he added, "We'll see you next week then, I guess" did she actually begin to relax slightly. She just wanted to get back home and go to bed--if sleep would even come for her tonight. But she figured that if any of these people were planning to hurt her, they likely would have already done it.
"Yeah. See you next week." With that, she climbed inside her car and shut the door, not waiting for them to head back inside. For something she had been planning for a week, she still couldn't believe she'd actually gone through with it. Assuming this wasn't some elaborate set-up by one of her and Rowan's many enemies, was it possible that this had actually gone somewhat well?
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