Chapter Text
It’s 9:24am and already the gentle tinkling of whiskey being poured over ice can be heard through the apartment. Geoff pointedly ignores Jack’s raised eyebrows, refusing to even give him the “it’s 5 o’ clock somewhere” excuse.
Ryan and Michael burst through the door a while ago to give him the fantastic news that they have a body in the boot of the car. A live one. Some asshole kid that was waiting for them at the store they planned to rob in the early hours of that morning, he was out front, cash in hand. He had recognised Ryan and Michael, had known that they were going to rob the place and did the job himself before they turned up.
So best case scenario they would have to bribe the kid to keep his mouth shut and their identities safe, or scare his ass out of town. Then there was the possibility that they’d have to kill him.
So considering this monumental fuck-up of a morning, Geoff was going to drink his whiskey thank you very much.
“Sorry... what?” Geoff pinched the bridge of his nose and took a step closer to the guy tied to the chair in front of him. “You’re gonna have to run that by me again, for a second there I thought you were asking me to hire you”
He had to hand it to the kid, he looked nervous rather than scared, despite being tied up and surrounded by four other criminals. And asking for a job? He had balls... either that or he was just plain stupid.
“Wasn’t sure you were taking resumes so I wanted to show you what I could do” he shifted a little, barely holding his thin smile in place. “I’ve got skills you could use and being a lone wolf in Los Santos isn’t really working for me”
Michael raises his eyebrows at this and puffs out a laugh, “Did you ever consider that the Fake AH Crew doesn’t need your help? And that now you know too much we’re going to have to deal with you?”
Before Geoff has the chance to tell Michael that he is The Boss and he will handle this, the door swings open behind him catching his attention. Gavin leads in with a surprised smirk at the scene that’s laid out before him, followed by Ray and Jeremy.
“Holy shit” Jeremy says breathlessly and then again, louder “Holy shit”
Before Geoff has a chance to explain their little predicament, Jeremy barrels past him and hugs the stranger. “Matthew Bragg, fucking long time no see!” He pulls back to grab his shoulders and the others can all see him grinning. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Matt (as Jeremy so helpfully identified) looked even more shocked. There was a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes but it disappeared when he started to smile, “I could say the same to you!”
Jeremy suddenly remembers the rest of the crew, wide eyed and open mouthed in the background, and turns to them to explain, “This is Matt, we were partners for a long time but we were separated a couple of years ago and I haven’t seen the bastard since”.
He accompanied these words by ruffling Matt’s hair but the ease with which the pair interacted did nothing to make Geoff feel less wary. He pulled at his moustache, obviously trying to figure out what to do next, “yes, you have told us about him”.
A cheeky expression crept onto Matt’s face and he chastised Jeremy with a tone of mock seriousness, “see Mr Ramsey here is looking all serious because we were in the middle of my job interview before you so rudely interrupted”
“You just asked to join the crew?” even Jeremy marvelled at his friend’s audacity.
“If by ‘asked’ you mean ‘tracked us down and hijacked a job we were supposed to be doing’” The face paint under the mask that Ryan was wearing creeped the fuck out of Matt but he noted that he sounded a little impressed.
“You motherfucker” Jeremy laughed quietly and then turned to Geoff, trying hard to keep his expression sober with only a fraction of puppy dog eyes, “If it helps your decision at all Geoff, I think you should hire him. I know we can trust him and he’d be a real asset to the crew”
Geoff threw himself down into a chair opposite Matt and released his annoyance in an exaggerated sigh. He leaned forward and braced his forearms on his thighs, scrutinising Matt all over, searching for cracks.
“We can’t just hire some kid because he walks up and asks for a job”
“Well he did manage to-”
“Shut up Jack you’re not helping”
“Not to mention I know where your base is now, what’s to stop me from going to the police?” Matt chimed in, tone dry but eyes shining with humour.
“You’re a criminal Matt”
“...Good point.”