Chapter 12: Street Hustle
The heat returned two days later with a vengeance, the kind that turns the horizon into a mirage and tempers into paper. Jesse stood in his kitchen with the refrigerator door open, letting cold air bathe his face and neck, while the little machine clicked with a patience he didn't have. The shelves held water, eggs, a jar of salsa, and a carton of milk that had begun to smell like a dare. He wanted—he didn't know. To feel less like he was standing on a rug someone had promised not to pull. To be told, definitely, that he wasn't a screwup. To be…someone.
His phone buzzed. Adam: Outside.
Jesse shut the fridge and looked around his house like it might tell him how to be a person. He straightened a stack of mail into an illusion of order and went out.
Adam leaned against the car, two coffees on the roof. He looked like he'd been carved out of steadiness. "Morning," he said. He handed Jesse a cup. "Let's keep you moving."
Jesse took a sip and grimaced. "Black," he said, accusing. "You trying to make me sober by taste?"
"Routine keeps you breathing," Adam said. He tilted his head toward the passenger seat. "Drive with me."
They did a circuit of the city that felt less like a tour than a set of rituals: this lot, that backroom, a diner where the waitress called everyone "hon" with the kind of voice that knows the names people wish they had. Jesse watched Adam do very little and accomplish much—words measured, movements precise, eyes scanning but never landing long enough to invite notice.
"Yo," Jesse said somewhere between the second and third stop, "how do you, like, not freak out all the time?"
"I schedule my freakouts," Adam said. "And I don't let them change my routes."
Jesse laughed, and the laugh surprised him. "That's messed up," he said. "Kinda smart."
Under the ease, fray. Jesse's phone lit with his parents' number. He let it ring until it stopped. It rang again, a lawyer this time, the voice of his parents in a suit. Jesse sighed, answered, endured. "Yo, I'm good," he said, pacing a little circle on the diner's linoleum. "I got a house. I got a job." He listened to disbelief come down the line like rain. "Yeah? Well—yo, whatever, man." He hung up and stared at the phone like it might apologize.
Adam watched without pretending not to, then stood, stretched the tension out of his shoulders like a man limbering before picking up a heavy box, and said, "Let's go say hi."
Jesse blinked. "To who?"
"Your parents' lawyer," Adam said, as if it were obvious. "We'll make it a short visit."
The law office smelled like carpet glue and stale ambition. The receptionist wore a smile that didn't involve her eyes. The lawyer's handshake tried to be firm and turned into a demonstration. Adam let it squeeze, unamused, then shook back with just enough 4x strength to remind the man that hands are bones and bones are breakable.
"We're concerned," the lawyer said to Adam as if Jesse were a ghost. "About the property. About the…company he keeps."
"Concern is a healthy reflex," Adam said, folding into the chair opposite with a posture that took up exactly as much space as respect allowed. "But unless you represent the mortgage holder or the city, your concern is a hobby."
Jesse made a sound that might have been a giggle if he were ten years younger. The lawyer colored slightly, recalibrated. He tried to pry. Adam offered nothing. He tried to intimidate. Adam smiled without warmth. The meeting ended faster than the receptionist's sigh could finish.
Outside, Jesse burst into laughter. "Yo! You, like, destroyed him with words."
"No," Adam said. "I refused to do his job for him. There's a difference."
"Still," Jesse said, dancing a little, "that was badass."
"Save that word for people who get shot at," Adam said. "We're going to keep you out of that club."
The day unspooled. They moved 9 kg through small meets, each one a careful orchestration of who pays, where eyes go, and how long the car lingers. The System caught the beats like a metronome snapping into time.
Sell 9kg meth.
[Asset recognized: drugs (methamphetamine), 9 kg.]
[Confirm sale for $450,000?] Y/N
Y.
[Sale confirmed. Double-profit applied.]
[Proceeds: $900,000 credited.]
Balance: $1,900,000
Strength: 4x
The drown of panic that had lived behind Jesse's eyes receded a touch. He didn't know the number; he felt it in the way Adam's mouth lost a hard line. They drove back toward Jesse's house as evening laid a gold film over everything ugly.
At the door, a white paper fluttered where no paper had been. Jesse plucked it with the suspicion of a man who knows paper rarely brings kindness. He read the first sentence aloud: "Notice of Eviction." His face did something dramatic and then stopped when he saw the signature: "Yours truly, Prank Dept." He looked up to see Adam's face and let out a vowel that wasn't a word. "Not again!" He laughed because the other option was to cry. "Dude."
"Stress test," Adam said. "You failed."
Jesse clutched his chest. "Heart attack."
"Good," Adam said dryly. "Now you'll sleep."
He left Jesse standing in his doorway with fake eviction in hand and the real feeling of not being alone.
Adam drove, eyes tracing constellations in the city lights that only he could see: routes, risks, Graham's number of possible mistakes. He thought about Skyler—the way she had been absent in small ways that add up to a storm. He didn't need to know about Ted Beneke to read a marriage in decline. He filed it under "variables" and didn't let it shape the next day's schedule.
At midnight, the ledger hummed a lullaby.
Love [Im In Breaking Bad / Dexter ] ? Unlock More Chapters and Support the Story!
Dive deeper into the world of [Im In Breaking Bad / Dexter] with exclusive access to 35+ chapters on my Patreon, plus 5 new chapters every week! Your support starting at just $5/month helps me keep crafting the stories you love across epic universes like [Grimm, Teen Wolf ,MCU and Arrowverse].
By joining, you're not just getting more chapters—you're helping me bring new worlds, twists, and adventures to life. Every pledge makes a huge difference!
👉 Join now at patreon.com/TheFinex5 and start reading today!