Two weeks had gone by since the last incident. Fortunately there weren't any surprise visits from Mr. White anymore. I had a suspicion that that wouldn’t be the case but seems like I have nothing to worry about. Not a goddamn thing.

Well there was one thing that I had to worry about, my girlfriend’s father.

“So…..Jesse, what do you do?” He said with a slight scowl. There was a slight glare every time his eyes fell on me.

I was tempted to say, ‘Your daughter!’ but common sense prevailed. The man was at least a foot taller than me and he looked like he had that old man strength. Yeah sure I used to be a drug dealer but I was a wimp.

“I’m working as a cashier at Gamestop. That’s what I plan to do until I save up to start a restaurant.”

“A restaurant?” His ears perked up. Which was unnerving since Jane does that thing too but when her dad did it….yeah it wasn’t as nearly as endearing as her.

“Yeah…in the meantime I’m taking a correspondence course for accounting.” I said with the widest smile.

Of course I planned to get a degree, why wouldn’t I?

Numbers were always my thing, I had a love for them. Remember when you were a kid? When building sand castles and having fun was all you had to worry about.

I was the kind of boy to focus on solving his math. There was something about numbers that made my soul sing.

I was good at it, I felt alive when I did it.

This obsession grew as I got older. I majored in mathematics and was about to get a doctorate when a friend invited me to work for him in his firm. The money was too good to pass up. In hindsight I shouldn’t have done that but then again, my situation here was comfy so it’s not like I could complain.

“I never took you for an accountant. To be honest, I thought you were……” He looked over to the kitchen, making sure that Jane couldn’t hear the rest of what he was going to say.

“A junkie.” I finished his sentence.

His eyes went cold as winter as soon as I said that.

“Yeah…..sorry about that.” He apologized but it didn’t feel sincere.

“No, don't be. Your suspicions were kinda spot on.”

His face twisted into confusion and then anger, then after another second it looked like he had aged ten years. He looked dead tired, anticipating the hurdles his daughter has to overcome now.

“I should say half right. I used to smoke pot and get high….but that’s in the past. I haven’t done anything for a year now.” I lied. The truth was that it hadn’t been even six months but I couldn’t say that to a concerned father. I had to embellish certain details to make myself look good.

To his credit, he didn’t look convinced, in fact it looked like he was even more suspicious of me than before. Guess he had heard enough lies out of his daughter’s mouth to know better than to trust a junkie. That too a junkie who happens to be dating your daughter.

“Does she know?” He asked me, gesturing towards his daughter.

“What do you think?” I deadpanned.

It was a hard conversation to have. She looked like she was going to have a panic attack when I revealed I used to do drugs. Eventually she calmed down and we were able to have an adult conversation about the situation. She revealed to me that she used to do heroin but was clean for about a year now. She got in with the wrong crowd and one of her newer friends introduced her to the substance. Ever since then it loomed large in her life. Destroying every single relationship she had. She was just a normal girl who lost her way and had to go through hell to find her way back.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

At that moment, I made a vow to myself. That I would use all the resources to atone for my sins of peddling that very substance.

I would make sure to help the lives of all the people that I had destroyed to get here.

“Dinner’s ready!” She yelled out from the kitchen with a giant goofy grin.

After dinner, we were watching the Knicks game. When Jane had gone to get some beer for us, her father came closer to me and said, “You better stay on the straight path…….and don’t break my little girl’s heart or else I’ll…..” He let the threat hang in the air.

He didn’t look like a violent person, in fact he looked like a giant nerd if anything but at that moment I swear to god he was more scary than Gus or Mr. White.

He left ‘our’ home with an uneasy smile. I guess he had his misgivings about me and frankly I didn’t blame him. He didn’t even know the full truth about me and even then I could understand why he wouldn’t want me to date his daughter.

I was responsible for Jane dying in the actual cannon so I knew better than to question his instinctual parental instincts.

“So….you think he likes me?” I ask her with a sly smile.

“I think he hates you…” She laughed as she did the dishes.

“Well that’s too bad, he’s gonna have to get used to me because I’m not going anywhere!”

She laughed again but this time it didn’t feel like I was the joke. I crept behind her back and rested my head on her shoulder.

“I’m not letting you go anywhere.” I hugged her tightly prompting her to giggle again.

When she finished laughing, she said “You’re the one who wanted to meet him!”

“Yeah that’s because I wanted to make things official….you know?”

“Official!” She repeated it with a smirk.

I gave her cheek a light peck and grabbed the garbage.

“Thank you.” She said gratefully as I left.

A slight draft entered as I opened the door, making me shiver slightly. I guess the starks were always eventually right, Winter was coming.

I disposed of the garbage into the trashcan and was about to head back inside when I got this weird feeling.

Another slight draft blew, making me shiver again.

The pit in my stomach only grew deeper. It felt like someone was watching me again but this was different. I couldn’t explain it well but it was different, it was more vague….like the guy knew what he was doing.

Naturally my sight went to where the spot Mr. White had parked his car before but it was empty.

It’s probably nothing, you’re just overthinking again!

A small part of my subconscious whispered seductively, tempting me to turn back towards the door.

It’s probably just your imagination! You’re out of the game...no one’s watching you. Just go back inside your home and make out with your hot girlfriend. Don’t stick your nose in things that don’t concern you.

This time the reasoning was too solid for me to not listen. I turned back to the porch.

That’s right, turn back and go back to her.

Just as I was about to make my first step, Jane ran up holding something.

“You wanna watch ‘The Notebook.’? It’s cheesy but I think you’ll like it.” She said with her giant grin as she hugged the door. Suddenly every single worry I had disappeared like mist.

Yeah it’s probably just my imagination.

“Sure thing, babe.”

She did a small shoulder dance and hopped back into the house.

Damn I was really the luckiest guy in the world.

I followed her lead and headed back into the home. I closed the door shut and was about to walk away from the thin white door but my hand wouldn’t leave the doorknob. It just wouldn't budge.

“Come on dude, what are you doing? Why are you chasing after ghosts? Why can’t you leave well enough alone-” I scolded myself quietly.

CLICK

The door’s lock clicked shut. For some reason, that sound snapped me out of the spell I was in.

“What am I fucking stupid? I’m not gonna live my life in fear.” I said to myself, this time with much more confidence.

“What was that babe?” I heard Jane ask me from the hall.

“Nothing…I’ll be there in a few minutes.” I opened the door and the wind howled this time but I wasn’t fazed.

“Alright but don’t keep a girl waiting for too long!” She joked.

“I won’t.”

I closed the door quietly and went outside the porch. That feeling wasn’t there anymore. I didn’t feel like someone was stalking me anymore.

I kept looking at the rows of cars aligned by the side. No car had moved. It was exactly as it was before.

I didn’t stop looking though, my gaze went from one car to the next. Memorizing the plates, the make and color of each car.

There were 15 cars parked at the side of the street. Most of them were sedans who looked thoroughly used and worn out. There were some newer models but not many.

Maybe I really was imagining things-

That’s when my eyes settled on a rough looking Lincoln town car at the far end of the street. There was something about that car.

I opened the picket fence lock and started walking towards the car. I couldn’t place it but I remember seeing that car from somewhere.

I was getting closer and closer when-

The headlights turned on and the car’s engine came to life.

I stopped walking and stood there in the middle of the street as the car slowly passed me by with its windows rolled down.

Inside the car were Mike Ehrmantraut and Tyrus Kitt. They didn’t even look at me as they passed me by.

I just stood there watching the car leave quietly.

“Ah shit man, I thought I was out.”