Jared couldn't drink all four espressos. He looked into the cup. Guessed that he had drunk perhaps half. Decided he was too nervous. Looked both way on the street to make sure nobody was watching him. And dumped it out.

He was already a nervous guy. Had he drunk the rest...

It was 9AM.

Big Joe had stayed in. Like he always did the night before a job.

He had drunk two shots of whiskey. Like he always did the night before a job.

It helped him fall asleep. Knew it didn't help him actually  sleep . But shit sleep wasn't his big concern,...

The till was on the left side. Always.

There was so much that could go wrong in this business. When it came to the details. You needed to keep things predictable. Reliable. Otherwise when shit went left, nobody would know what to do.

When things went haywire there were no guarantees of...

At the dinner he had been anxious to leave. Immediately after leaving the parking lot of motel he felt like he lost something. This phase was now over. It was goodbye to Sammy. The Motel. And those dance lessons he used to do. He would never see them again.

But there...

That evening I checked into the motel late. The man, who I only could assume to be the owner, looked upset. Downtrodden. Didn't know if it was because he just hated being there or if he was genuinely having a bad day.

I say he had to be the owner because...

"Who even reads books   these days?"

"Nobody."

"So why are you writing one."

"Plenty of people still write books."

"So let me get this straight. You're telling me nobody reads. But people still write?"

Jack's autobiographer nodded.

"Also what's this mess with Jackoff calling you his autobiographer? Doesn't he know what an  autobiography even means?"

"I don't...

The work wasn't chaos. In fact Keith liked it. There was some bitter that came with the new fruit. Nearly half his previous coworkers were laid off. And he was doing double the work as before. But he was barely doing anything before. So the doubling didn't affect him much....

Emily didn't have a dog. Her family had one growing up.

Jack was sort of like a  dog for her now. The intimate level of understanding did that. She'd know what foods made him shit and fart. She'd know what foods made him happy. And once in awhile, she would...

The donations would have to stop one day. Just a matter of time.

His girlfriend always got her way. Even though he was the face of the brand, she was the one who controlled the strings. Jack was a mere  puppet .

He hadn't even really wanted to get buff. He only...

Ezekiel was livid.

"You're telling me... just as we've gotten things down to a reliable science.... you are looking to change the whole process!?"

Charles kept his stare. Had to. If he were to look away while Ezekiel glared at him, then it would show weakness. Ezekiel might sabotage him then. It...