Excerpt: Sunny Green, Bounty Hunter

“He’s got expensive taste. He dropped fifteen bucks for a cup of regular coffee.”
“Oh, but it’s the best kind of regular coffee in the verse - Black Cat.”
“Isn’t that stuff banned in the Bae Verse?”
“Yup.”
Frank whistled in appreciation. “Where do you think he gets the shine?”
“I don’t know. He’s probably a prince or something, what with his looks and all.” I buckled my boots. That’s rule number two: never get caught with your pants down or your shoes untied. Just because you feel safe, doesn’t mean you are. It would behoove a hunter to sleep at least partially dressed.
[...]
I knew the second I looked into Franks eyes that something was going to happen to the twins and it wasn’t going to be good. They weren’t part of the deal, which had been difficult enough to get in the first place seeing as I was just a kid with absolutely no experience and no in.
Except now I did have an in. Jesse and James were escapees; people will pay a lot of money to retrieve their escapees, especially scientists, like the ones at the Center for Scientific Exploration. The ones that needed Jesse, James, and I, in order to continue their research.
[...]
“Just spill it already, you’re making me fidget.”
He cleared his throat. “You remember those nice condos we saw back in the Prime last year? In the South-West Quadrant?”
“You mean when we took down that lawman who did the thing? I wasn’t really looking at the houses, I was a little bit more preoccupied with the pig we were chasing down.”
“But the condos were nice, yeah?”
“Sure, yeah, they were nice. Where are you going with this?” I looked over at him, he was looking out the window, avoiding my gaze. He cleared his throat again.
“I’m getting old, Sunny, I’m nearly twice your age.”
“You say that like I expect you to play hopscotch or something.” I always hated when Frank started talking like that, about how old he was getting and how times were changing. It made me feel old, and I was not old by any means.
“Very funny, kid.” I hated when he called me kid. Like I was some kind of naive child. He shuffled a bit in his seat, adjusting his seat belt. “I’m trying to be serious here.”
“Serious about what? Condos in the Prime? We don’t live in the Prime, so what’s the point?”
“You know, if you would just let me talk, maybe I could get to point.”
[...]
“You just got back from a case, am I right? How did that go?”
“It went well.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah - what are you getting at, sir?”
“I can't be certain, but I’m pretty sure that people aren't supposed to just explode like that.”
“Oh.”
“Is that all you have to say for yourself? ‘Oh’?”