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“We have a new heist opportunity boys.” Bruce said as he walked into the living room.
“Oh nice. What is it?” James asked.
“It’s a job from Rooster Teeth. Fake AH was too busy with something more important. Said something about the heist taking too long.”
“How long is the heist gonna take?”
“A couple days Im not sure they didn’t brief it yet.” The others nodded except for Peake who sat there counting on his fingers.
“What day is it today?” He muttered.
“It’s Thursday, why?” Bruce raised an eyebrow.
“I can’t do it.” He held eye contact with Bruce while the rest of the room suddenly grew an uncomfortable air. Everyone else bit their tongue. They knew Bruce couldn’t convince Peake to do a heist on a Sunday. That didn’t mean Bruce wasn’t going to try and convince him anyway.
“Why not?” Bruce knew exactly why not. Bruce knew that every single Sunday of Matthew Peakes life he had attended at least 1 church service. Even though he worked for one of the most notorious underground crime lords, Matt Peake kept God close to his heart. Everyone had heard Peake pray after a heist, before bed, during anything that made him feel like he needed comfort. Nobody had ever really questioned his practices to his face but here Bruce was, attempting to convince the single most stubborn man in Los Santos to budge. It wouldn’t happen it was impossible. When Peake didn’t say anything, Bruce spoke up again.
“Matt the pay out is almost 700k! It’s like 96,000 per person, you could buy your own church with that much money dude.”
Peake was angry. Not all of his problems could be solved by throwing money at it. The greediness of his peers upset him especially when they acted like he wanted to partake in the wasting of money that cost peoples lives. The fact that Bruce was treading on Peake’s religion also infuriated him. But like every other time he was angry, he held a perfect poker face. Instead of lashing out or upsetting the others, he stood up and walked to his room and locked the door. And just like every other time he was upset he got on his knees and clasped his hands together and began to speak soft words to God.
“Jesus Christ Bruce.” Adam rolled his eyes at the older guy.
“Yeah, he’s our problem right now.”
“Religion isn’t the problem here. There isn’t even really a problem. Just go back to RT and tell them we can’t do the heist.” James spoke up again.
“I can’t I already promised them.”
“Bruce we can’t do it without Peake.”
“Why can’t he just miss one service?” Bruce looked around the rest of the room for help.
“That is literally like telling you to hold in your farts for a day.” James was quick to defend his friend.
“We don’t even know when the heist starts or how long it will take and Peake is already saying no to it. It could completely avoid Sunday for all we know!” Bruce knew it was a losing argument.
“We don’t generally receive a heist and start it several days after.”
“Why does he even have so much faith in a god anyway?”
“Hey, watch it pendejo...” Omar said quietly behind Bruce.
Bruce was not an atheist nor an agnostic or anything meaning he didn’t believe in God. He knew something was up there but he didn’t have much faith in them and didn’t care to think of them. He had nothing against people who trusted the thing in the sky but he thought some people took it too far. He’s the leader of a gang in one of the worlds most dangerous cities he didn’t understand how someone born in this city, been a victim of its disgusting vices, could have faith but Peake was a fucking tree, a California Redwood when it came to his faith. Despite the poverty, violence, rape, and disease epidemics in the city, Peake firmly believed that one day God would put him on the path to a better life without corruption and needing to kill people for a living. Almost everyone in the crew thought that was crazy but they didn’t say anything. Most of the crew knew they would die before they were 40. Hell 2 of their members left because they knew that life wasn’t going to get better. Well, they ‘left’.
“For Jesus’s sake, amen.” A phrase heard often by the crew, often falling out of Peakes lips. He stood up and stretched his legs out a little bit before deciding to leave his room. He was hoping that Bruce would leave him alone. Working with people who didn’t have faith was trying but he didn’t mind as long as they kept their mouths shut. This was his thing. He prayed as a form of comfort, he felt safe when he knew God was listening to him. He kept a low profile in his profession in order to be able to keep his relationship with God. If his church knew he was a sniper employed by Rooster Teeth they wouldn’t let him help with the next bake sale. Well they wouldn’t let him through their door. Through all of this though he kept his composure because he knew in his heart that God understood and forgave him for his sins. He knew he was loved. To him it was merely his shortcoming, being in a crew of sinners. But he was no better.
“Hey Peake,” Bruce stopped the short man on the way out of his room.
“Yeah?” He looked up at him with the same unreadable expression he donned before.
“I’m sorry about earlier. I have no right to try and force you to do stuff.”
“It’s fine.” Peake walked past him to the kitchen.
“No really Peake I didn’t wanna offend you or anything. This heist is just worth so much money.
“Yeah, it’s fine. I just want to go eat please.”
“Oh yeah, yeah go do that. Omar is replacing you for the heist in case you were wondering.”
Peake hummed his approval. Though he wondered what they were going to do without their ‘crowd control.’ As long as the heist went well Peake was content with life. He hoped to come home to 6 breathing members of the crew. Amen.