Almost immediately after hearing the words that Gary had said, Xin dropped her fork, which she was using to enjoy her dessert, onto the ground. It took her a moment or two, and she only reacted when Gary was the one who went to pick it up.
The two of them slid under the table and reached to get the fork.
"It's okay, I'll get it," Xin said, as she placed it back on her plate and sat there in silence, looking at Gary until she eventually smiled.
"Haha, that's quite the funny joke, Gary," Xin chuckled. "I mean, it's a good way to try and convince me, but it's kinda cruel, don't you think? You know, growing up, all I would hear were the bad news and stories about gangs from my father, even though he was quite the big hypocrite."
It wasn't just her father, but even during the time she had lived with her brother, the two of them would always consider those working for gangs as scum. Yet, everywhere Xin's father, Ben Clove went, he would work closely with a gang to get what he wanted. This time, it appeared that things in Slough hadn't worked his way, since the Howlers had taken over everything and had placed Ben as a figurehead.
Gary took a moment, looked directly into her eyes, and didn't falter for a moment as he spoke again. "I'm not joking, Xin. I am really the leader of the Howlers Gang, the corporation. I'm in charge of it all."
The shock still hit Xin the same way. She almost had forgotten to breathe for a moment and took in a sudden deep breath.
"I'm not lying to you," Gary added. "I'm sure you've heard the rumor as well. That I earned money from my time in the AFC, and I used that money to invest, and that's how I became a successful business tycoon. But you should know, of all people, how unbelievable that is. We don't make much money from fights, let alone a debut match. Nearly all of it is from sponsors. Everything I invested and now own, all of it was through the Howlers gang."
"You really are serious, aren't you?" Xin asked. "When... when did this happen, how did it happen, how is it even possible?"
It was quite the story for Gary to tell, but he decided to be somewhat truthful. He explained how he was originally in the Underdogs gang, working as a transporter. He had an accident with a delivery, and that was how he had originally become an Altered.
From there, he went on to explain his connection to Kai and the continuing spiraling and growing of the whole gang. What he did leave out, though, was all the parts to do with him being a werewolf. This was a secret that the whole world didn't know, and back then, there were multiple frightening things that had occurred, those to do with Billy and so on.
"I can't believe it, I can't believe you were going through all that... I thought something was up when you and my brother came to save me, but honestly, I didn't know much. I thought the Howlers were already an established gang, but for you to have raised it from the ground up," Xin continued, amazed.
"Honestly, although we call ourselves a gang, that is just to protect ourselves from others getting involved in Slough," Gary explained. "I hope that you would know me well enough to know that I wouldn't try to do anything underhanded."
Immediately, Xin couldn't say anything bad about the Howlers, just a single look at how much the city had changed showed that. Once in a while, when she talked with her father, she would hear him complaining, but that seemed to lessen as time went on as well, as even he saw the benefits to it all.
"It's still really hard to believe that you were the boss of this whole thing. Wait! Does that mean you also had a run-in with my father?"
Gary was a little nervous to admit it, but he nodded and gave a nervous smile. "We had our differences, but things are fine now. I know you disliked your father, but I'm sure you care about him as well. You should know I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."
Both of their cheeks turned a shade redder after hearing those words, and in order to change the subject, Gary started to tap the card that was laid out on the table.
"So about the sponsor, as I said, it would be coming from a genuine position. I wanted to offer this to help you. If you accept, then all those annoying offers from other groups will go away. If someone wants to get to you, they will come through us. You won't be part of the Howlers, just working with us."
Xin picked up the card again and started to rotate it, pushing its edge against the table, continuously flipping it over and over. She had to admit that this was a good deal in more ways than one. She was originally either just going to go with the best deal one of the corporations offered or go with one that wasn't so flashy, in hopes they wouldn't ask much of her.
"I want to say yes, I like you, Gary, I like you a lot, and you are actually one of the few people who knows what's important to me and puts me first. I now understand why you left the AFC. I had no idea you had such big things going on. Now that I know who you are, it might be selfish of me to ask this, but I can't help but do so because I have no one else I can ask," Xin said.
"If I accept your sponsor, I want you to look into a situation. It's to do with Jayden, something is wrong."
****
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