Play Or Slay

Arriving a little too early, Jim realized that not much had been set up. Besides that, he was the first person to arrive anyway. Noticing this, he thought it would be best to come back later. There was something else he decided to do.

Since the night club where he and his friends had gone to wasn't too far away, he decided to pay the place a little visit. Who knows, perhaps he might earn some more cash today as well.

_________

It had been a while since Jim had been at the club, but still, people couldn't stop talking about him. They called him the Golden boy, seeing as how lucky he got in finishing those wine shots without loosing himself, and how much money he had gathered in such a short time.

Those who were more interested in him were those seated at the higher parts of the bar. Although they could've hired someone to dig up information about him, they decided against him. So far, he didn't appear to be a threat to them. Plus, they weren't that petty at the end of the day.

They just hope that he would come back soon so that they could perhaps have him under their thumbs. That was, of course, how they preferred to do things. There had been other people who had gotten extremely lucky over the past week, but their wins still paled in comparison to Jim's.

__________

On his way to the club, Jim didn't know when he had bumped into someone. With his mind focused on other things, he couldn't keep his eyes focused on the road. Seeing as he was his fault for not watching where he was going, he decided to help the person he had bumped into.

Offering the person a hand, he accepted his help as she stood up to her feet. Looking at her face, he recognized who she was. She was the love of his life not too long ago. Her perfume wafted into his nose, but it caused no reaction within him. Even he was slightly surprised by how quickly he had gotten over her. Perhaps he had finally realized his self worth somewhere down the line after becoming an undead.

"Sorry for bumping into you," Jim said, before walking past her. He didn't even give her the chance to respond as he could see the bar not too far away from where he stood.

Entering the building, the string smell of alcohol and the buzzing music reminded Jim of the last time he was here. Back then, he was still shy, although the urge to party and have fun had surpressed his shyness. This time around, he didn't feel anything towards the bar.

Stepping inside, it seemed like he was quickly recognized by those who came there regularly. With smiling faces, the welcomed in. Not long after, people started asking him whether he was here to engage in some more gambling.

Although the offer was tempting, he decided to decline. Truth be told, he had come here simply because of the entertainment. The club would occasionally have people fighting against each other for cash. It was another means of earning cash in the joint.

Located at another side of the large room, was a ring where competitors were already in the middle of sparring. For now, he would wait here until he felt like going back to the concert since they would still be getting everything set by now.

"Hey, it's a beer you won't be gambling today," a man said, sitting beside Jim. Turning to see who it was, he was surprised to see it was someone he knew.

"I didn't know you were in Memph City, Mike," Jim said. Of course, since BlackBones City was under lockdown, those who didn't live in the city would have to head back to their original city. Although Jim didn't know that Mike was originally from Memph.

"Yeah, even I was surprised to see you here. It's seems your a gambling legend not in one, but two cities," Mike said with a smirk.

The two decided to pass the time talking about other things. Once Jim felt like he had wasted enough time there, he bided Mike farewell before heading back to DreamLand.

_________

Twenty minutes later, and it seemed like the Air Heads had finally gotten their act together. After a nice pep talk from her older sister, Sophie felt like she had what it took to ensure that today's concert ends up a success.

A crowd had already gathered in front of the stage, cheering for the band to step out and perform. Behind the closed curtains, Sophie was facing her band members.

"Alright, is everyone ready?" she asked, her gaze shifting to everyone present.

"Ready!" they all yelled in unison.

Nodding her head, she ordered for the curtains to be lifted.

"We are the Air Heads!!!" she yelled through the microphone, as the band began to play their music and sing.

__________

Amongst other things, the relationship between Daniel and June was still top tier in the eyes of the people. To the public, they were living the ideal life, however, things weren't always as they seemed.

It was a hot sunny day. Daniel decided to head out with his friends to have some fun. And apparently, they decided to have a certain kind of fun.

Luckily for them, there were many strip clubs in the city, a token the government had allowed their gangs to possess, meaning most of the brothels in Memph actually belong to the gangs, particularly the red stripes.

Entering with a lot of noise, they started yelling at those who were meant to serve them, barking orders at whoever seemed to work there. Their actions had attracted a lot of attention, especially from those who secretly worked for the red stripes, but they decided to ignore their jouvenile antics, seeing as they weren't harming anyone.

"Hey, girl, get over here!" Garret, one of Daniel's friends, yelled. Who he was referring to was one of the workers wearing a strip dress. It left little to be desired, and he desired her, for more reasons than one.

Everyone only wanted one thing. The girl he was yelling at maintained the smile on her face, despite the way the boys looked at her. She could clearly see the hunger in their eyes, but still, this was her job after all, and it was normal for people to look at her like that. At the end of the day, this was a brothel.

"Are you boys hungry?" she asked, walking towards them with a mischievous smile on her face. She was a young woman who was well endowed in all the right places. With every step she took, a certain part of her body would shake in response, that was how loaded she was.

With the way she walked, talked, and her perfume, the boys were finding it really impossible to control themselves, as they all nearly pounced on the girl, wanting to take her in public.

"Boy," Daniel said, looking left and right. "People say that sharing is caring."

Everyone had a smirk upon hearing what he said.

__________

Jim had made it back to DreamLand just before the concert was about to begin. The area was packed, meaning Jim had to shovel his way to the front to get a good view of the concert.

Seeing those kids perform, memories of when he was their age flashed in his mind once again. He missed the good old days when he could play his worries away.

____________

Although the band had a couple concerts scheduled for the rest of the week, a date had finally been made when they would mean the owner of Alonso Records. Excited, the group waited impatiently until a week had past.

They would be meeting him in a small restaurant in Memph. After waiting a few minutes, a limousine pulled up in front of the restaurant. Coming out first were two pairs of bodyguards, followed by the one known as Alonso.

Grinning to himself, he made his way into the restaurant. The guards seemed glued to his hip, but he didn't mind. That was what they were paid for.

"Alonso! It's really you!" Jim yelled, unable to contain his excitement.

Taking a seat opposite them, his gaze fell on the group leader.

"It seems you have finally told them about our partnership," Alonso said.

There wasn't really anything planned to be done upon this meeting. This was simply a chance for the two groups to get to know each other since they were officially business partners now.

After hours of chatting and sharing stories, Alonso eventually bud them farewell before getting back into his limousine and driving off.