Perspectives

Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX

"I'll see you later." Payton announced as she made her way out of the car. She held the crook of her neck and bent her head towards her shoulder, finally feeling the effects of the long drive.

"Josh will shout you when the money drops, yeah. Love." Marco assured her before driving off with the rest of the guys in the car.

Rekindling with Josh brought Payton an unexpected opportunity. He was an old friend that liked to make money and knew Payton shared a similar passion, he was well connected in the fraud game and provided her with an opportunity she could not refuse. They travelled a total of six hours back and forth from London to Nottingham and had picked her up at 4am as they had to pick up a motorbike from a dealership. The motorbike had a resale value of £11,000 but the card details they had bought from their plug and replicated belonged to a woman, therefore they needed a female to complete the job. Payton agreed because as usual, she needed the money. By the time the money was split between everyone involved, her share would not be the largest, but it was still more money than she had beforehand.

She yawned as she chucked her house keys on the side table. Her grandmother took Saniyah to her swimming lesson and when they returned, she would be heading out again, leaving Payton to babysit so she hoped to get a chance to nap before they returned. Kicking off her shoes, she slumped onto her bed and felt so grateful for the cushion of her soft mattress against her tired body.

The insufferable sound of the iPhone ringtone snatched Payton from the brink of sleep, she moaned aloud and instinctively looked at the time on her phone, confirming that she only got 20 minutes of sleep before she was rudely interrupted. She answered Trent's call grumpily, not bothering to hide her annoyance.

"What do you want?" she hissed.

"Payton, are you sick?" Trent let out a guttural chuckle as he found himself amused by her attitude.

"You woke me up, T."

"Money's calling, b. Imma be on Belane Street in half an hour. Make sure you're there."

In her socks and slides, Payton dragged her feet along the floor although she knew she would face Trent's wrath if she was late. He was parked in his BMW A-Class, a more understated look compared to his Range Rover, Payton laughed lowly to herself, thinking it was clear how Trent's flashiness influenced Andre. She found herself taken aback when she saw a man she did not recognise in the passenger seat of Trent's car and peeked at the two men curiously.

Trent unlocked the back door from the inside and allowed Payton to climb in. The man had a sullen, pensive look on his face and his wrinkles became more apparent when he frowned. He had the darkest skin Payton had ever seen and his hazel toned eyes stood as a stark contrast against him. His shoulder length dreadlocks swung as his face moved slightly and a strong smell of weed and essential oils secreted from him.

"I got another package for you." Trent pointed at the rectangular cardboard box on his lap.

Payton breathed out and pondered to herself. After the events of the morning, she did not want to be greedy and wanted to focus on her legal job for a while. The harder she worked, the more likely it was for her to get a promotion. She did not like doing illegal things for money, and keeping criminal paraphernalia was the worst on the list of things she engaged in. The risk of getting caught was always there and the last thing she wanted was to bring police or other trouble to her family home. Unfortunately, there were only so many times she could refuse Trent and with the strange man sitting next to him, she knew this was not one of those occasions.

"What's inside it?"

"No." Trent tutted. "Don't ask that question and if you know what is good for you... do not look inside under any circumstances."