“Hahaha, I love you too babe.” Jason kisses his girlfriend goodbye. He stops to say hi to a couple of his friends on there way out after class. Jason glances over his friends shoulder to watch his lovely Samantha walk away. He notices a man sitting on a bench watching her too, and then the man slowly turns his head to Jason and makes eye contact with him. He asks his friends if they recognize the built, black man sitting over there, but they crack a couple jokes about it and continue talking.

The next day after class Jason walks by the same bench and the man is there again, the older black man stares him down. Jason, feeling uncomfortable, walks straight out to his car and passes his friends and girlfriend without saying anything. The door slams as he digs into his back pack for his keys only to remember that he left them in his locker. He begins to open his door and it bumps into something. As he looks up, the man shuts his door back and leans into his window with a soft “Hello Jason.”
Jason scrambles for his phone as he yells “Who the hell are you!?”
“My name is Dequan… its nice to meet you too, Jason Match. Oh, and I need a favor from you, so lets go sit down somewhere and have a talk.”
“No! Go away before I call the police!”
Dequan walks around to the other side of the car to sit inside. “Okay, you drive” says Dequan as he hands Jason his keys.
“No I said! And get out of my car!”
“You drive a hard bargain, but I guess I’ll pay for gas.” He says, as he throws three fresh stacks of hundred dollar bills onto Jason’s lap and a GPS system. Feeling the weight of the money on his lap, Jason picks up his keys from the cup holder that Dequan set down and put them into his ignition. On there way into town, Dequan told Jason everything he needed to do and how. Brainwashing the kid, Dequan had turned Jason into a loyal worker of his. Jason, felling as if he was blessed by God, was sent on his first delivery.
“Just drop me off here and I’ll give you the rest when you get back.” Said Dequan.

“Sir, you forgot your briefcase.” Said Jason as Dequan stepped out of the car.

“Are your retarded?” asked Dequan, lowering his glasses to get a better look at him.

“Oh, sorry, I understand…sir.” Replied Jason feeling quite stupid.
Jason merged on to the freeway and headed south following the GPS system. He knew he was doing something wrong but he couldn’t pass up the $30,000 that was being handed to him for driving a couple hours away.

“Is there a better way to make money?” Jason asked himself, smiling as he put his wrist out the window and turned up some music. Jason pulls into the driveway, checking the mail box to make sure it’s the right address. He sees Dequan sitting outside with a couple of other men sipping on some scotch. Jason steps out of the car with the package and walks towards them.
“Well look who decided to show up.” said Dequan “What do you guys think?”
“Is this a joke?” asks Jason.
“No my friend, that was just a test, and you can keep that package. I’ll be calling you soon Jason.”

Jason turned around and walked back towards his rusted out 1985 mustang. He opened the door with briefcase in hand and began to smile again. He sat in his car and opened the briefcase; it was the rest of the money just as Dequan promised.

Jason began running several packages and briefcases all over the place for Dequan. He was making more money than he would make in his whole lifetime. During the next three months of college his grades went down and his money stash grew. He became unaware that he was constantly blowing off school activities and friends along with his girlfriend. On their one year anniversary, Jason took her to the nicest restaurant in town riding in his brand new BMW.

“Hey there beautiful, how are you?” asks Jason as he pulls into her driveway. She hopped in and ran her hand across the smooth leather that covered the inside of the car.

“Damn…” she thought to herself whispering it under he breath.

“What’s that?” asked Jason

“What? Nothing.”

“Oh. I thought you said something.”

Very few words were said on the way to the restaurant. When they arrived, Jason tossed the keys to the valet boy as if they were best friends and tucked a crisp hundred dollar bill in his coat pocket. They sat down and it hit her, she realized how much he had changed. She didn’t care how he had all this money; she just worried about what it was doing to him.
“It’s not the same Jason. You’re hiding things from me and all your friends. And that kind of explains the new car and fancy restaurant.”
“So what! Now that I am better off you aren’t as happy?”
“No, it’s just that I miss the old Jason that cared about me more than money. So how do you do it?” she asked as she stared deep into his eyes knowing that he would look away soon and not open up to her.
“Oh come on, it’s nothing. Just a little side job that keeps me busy.” said Jason as he looked down at his hands. His phone began to vibrate; he pulled it out slowly and began to read a text from Dequan, completely ignoring her as she continued to talk.
“That’s what I thought, whatever Jason, maybe one day you will realize what we had, but for now I’m done.”
“What? Baby you know I love you, I have just been busy!”
“Oh and your friends at the apartment don’t want to room with you anymore.”

Jason sat at his table as she walked out the door and stepped into a yellow cab. As soon as she pulled away, he threw a hundred on the table and ran out the door.
“You’re late.”
“I’m sorry, Dequan.”
“How’s the girlfriend?” asked Dequan with a slight chuckle.
“Uhhh, good… I guess.”
“Don’t bring her into this, if they find out about this then consider yourself broke.”
“Yes sir, they have no idea, trust me.”
“Okay, and run this for me.” He tossed him a package and began walking away. Jason looked down at the package he was holding and wondered why he was still doing this. He had made enough money to just stop and live his college life. He looked back up at Dequan and wanted to say no, but he couldn’t. He thought about how much more money he has made and how dumb it would be to pass more money up, but his friends came to mind and he realized he needed to turn the job down.
“Sir…” said Jason as Dequan started to walk away
“Time is wasting Jason, get going.”
Jason took a double look at the package and thought one last one wouldn’t matter.
“Thanks” said Jason as he climbed into his car.
This ride was different.
“What’s the point? What’s even in it?” Jason asked himself.
He couldn’t stop thinking about what Samantha said to him.
“I’ll just tell Dequan that I quit…No, I won’t, I can’t. He has been so nice to me and has paid for everything I own. Yeah but he will understand, he knows I have other things to do, and besides he can just find someone else…but he really likes you. Me? No. Yeah, yeah he does. SHUT UP JASON!!!” He continued to drive with a battle going on in his head. He turned up his music to flush out the ideas, but no matter what he did he couldn’t stop thinking about all the fun nights he had with his friends and the memories of him and Samantha. He pulled the car over and looked at the briefcase sitting in the passenger’s seat. He slid it over to his lap and undid the latch. Inhaled a deep breath and looked up then back down at the case. He slowly cracked it open and peered into the briefcase only to find a black lid covering the bottom half of the case. The black lid had a key hole and next to that was a dial for a combination. Almost disappointed, he opened the case the rest of the way. A LCD screen with a camera next to it faced towards Jason.
Dequan’s face then appeared on the screen, “Hello Jason, how are you?”
Jason begins to panic and slams the brief case shut.
“I guess I can’t trust you anymore Jason. Well… there is something you should know.”

Hesitant to open it, Jason began to lift the case back open.
“You have about 5 seconds to get out of your car.”

A digital clock appeared on the screen and began counting down from five. He shoved the briefcase off of his lap and dove out the door; he got to his feet and began to run as his car became engulfed by flames. His $50,000 car, gone. He knew he had to get out of there before cops showed up. Desperate to leave the area, he called his girlfriend for a ride but she wouldn’t answer. Next he called a good friend of his named Chad, he also failed to answer. He began calling everyone he used to hang out with, but not one would answer. He remembered all the times his friends called him to see if he would come party with them but had he always ignored them. His last resort became his only resort, his mom; he didn’t call his dad in fear of him asking too many questions about the situation. He made up a story about how his car broke down and needed a ride.

“What’s the matter? Why are you shaking?” his mom asked.

“ummm, nothing ma I was just scared about my car when I was driving. I’m fine, don’t worry.” replied Jason trying to stop his hand from jittering.

“Well, at least tell me about school or something.”

“Just the usual.” his heart rate increased as he thought about Dequan and how much trouble he was in, “Ha, uhhh. You know just studying and getting those good grades for ya…” his voice was shaky and uncertain.

Mom smiled and began to think about the flowers she was going to plant when she got home.

“Thanks mom, love ya.” said Jason as his mom kissed him.

“Take care hun, and come over for dinner one of these nights, I never see you these days.” his mom replied with a sad puppy face.

“Will do, bye.” said Jason.

At the apartment both of his roommates, who were once his best friends, had already moved out. He walked up a couple steps filled with sorrow and regret. He reached out to grab his door handle as he stared at his feet. He missed and tried again; he took a few more swings towards the door handle but still couldn’t find it. He looked up and the door was wide open.

“Holy s***…”

His apartment was trashed. To shocked to do anything but stare at the damage. He climbed over his busted computer desk and slowly walked up to his room knowing what to expect but still wanting to see for himself. He kept a safe buried in his closet with all the money he had made and everything else that was important to him, it was bent open. There was no point in calling the police unless he wanted to turn himself in. He began cleaning and getting ready to put the apartment up for sale being that he had no way to pay for it now. After a few days of trying to call Samantha and cleaning, he moved back in with his parents and told them everything. He was back to square one with nothing more than a lesson learned.