If Rhys wasn't friends with Ian, then Aria was blonde and blue eyed. There was absolutely no way that the two men weren't at least acquaintances. Ian had sounded too worried to just be friends with this guy. Then again, none of this was Aria's business, so she just shrugged it off. It wasn't her job to question her boss, even if said boss was her friend. "Oh of course! You're literally the nicest guy I've spoken to in months. Plus, with you being around Killian, you'll be seeing a lot of me. I'm no fighter so I can't really protect you from those guys, but if you ever need to get patched up, I'm the gal to call." Aria smiled just as a car pulled up out front and Aria squealed, "oh god he's here."

Out of the car hopped Killian, a solemn expression on his face as he opened the door or the smoothie shop warily, immediately scanning the occupants until his eyes landed on Rhys, and the look of intense apprehension on his face slowly left.

Rhys looked towards the door at Aria's squeak, although he didn't pause in his words, "Thank you... and good to know."

He sent a friendly smile in Ian's direction before his name was called, and he went to the counter to pick up their smoothies.

With three drinks and straws carefully balanced in his hands, Rhys headed back to Aria and Ian, who were now standing by one another, and gave them their smoothies, "Aria picked yours out," He told Ian, "And she thought you'd like it. It has pineapple in it."

Popping the straw into his own smoothie, Rhys took a sip and pocketed the trash. The smoothie was just as good as he remembered, and he hummed appreciatively.

Ian hurried over to Aria, who had suddenly grown rather serious upon making eye contact with Killian. "You look like shit, what's up?" Aria looked her leader up and down, concern written across her features. "Nothing, don't worry about it. Are you two okay?" Killian scanned Aria, who looked completely unharmed, and he assumed neither had gotten hurt since they weren't at the hospital. "Yea, we're fine, your little friend over there saved both of us." Aria grinned and nudged Ian with her elbow, "I didn't realize you had so many friends Ian." The bigger man sighed, rolling his eyes though there was a glint of humor in there as well.

"Wolfie and Pat might turn up eventually, they're checking out the Macy's as we speak, they know where we are so they might turn up. And he isn't my fr-" Ian cut himself off as Rhys approached giving the other man a once over before noticing that Rhys had gotten him a smoothie. "Oh uh, thank you both. And it's nice to finally meet you Rhys." Aria couldn't quite tell if Ian was joking or not as he sipped his smoothie, surprise lighting up his features, it was actually pretty good.

Aria immediately smirked, Ian didn't like admitting it but she knew him pretty damn well, and getting him the right kind of smoothie was just one step forwards in stabilizing their sorta friendship. "I'm sorry about what happened at the Macy's Rhys. We just lost this area, and I didn't even know you were working there, otherwise I would've warned you. Again I'm so sorry it won-" Killian's phone began to ring and he immediately frowned, the name Wolfie was written across the screen and Ian immediately answered, his eyes darting around as Wolfie gave him the report.

"Sorry, he's always busy now." Aria sighed, her eyes drifting from Ian to Rhys.

Rhys shrugged, sipping his smoothie casually, "Eh. No biggie." He kept his voice soft since Ian was on the phone, "And since I just almost got physically assaulted at Macy's, I'm pretty sure I can get some compensation for that. As I quit. That job was awful anyway."

Rhys definitely wasn't upset by the fact that he had to quit - it was just scary and frustrating that these people kept finding him. It would be difficult to find a new job, especially since he'd recently been fired/quit two jobs in a short period of time.

McDonalds would hire anyone, though...

Rhys shook himself out of his thoughts, and asked Aria a question, "Know any places that are hiring?"

He really didn't want to work at McDonalds.

While Ian blabbed away on his phone, his eyebrows furrowed and his voice low, Aria listened to Rhys attentively. Her smiled dropped at his words though, and a guilty expression rose to her face. Aria felt as though this was all partly her fault. Granted, she wasn't the one that had scrambled into his apartment, but this battle he was trapped in was because of her own gang. If only she was a bit stronger, and didn't have to worry about her little one at home, she'd be able to help her own kick out the rival gang and things would return to normal.

"Well at least you can get some compensation, that's definitely better than nothing." Aria paused, sipping her smoothie as she pondered his question. She didn't reply for a long while, but eventually snapped back into her normal attentive self. "Oh! I do know a place actually. How do you feel about little coffee shops that have plenty of business but is kind of hidden so those other idiots won't be able to find you? Plus, it's owned by one of Ian's guys so you'll basically always have some protection. They won't bother you at all, they don't even have to know who you are. You'll just work for them." Aria gave Rhys a big smile, ignoring the fact that Ian's face grew red beside them as he began to grow angry.

Rhys didn't think Aria would respond, but when she did, his face lit up, "Oh! I worked part-time in a coffee shop back when I was in high school. Can you give me the store name so I can apply? That actually sounds perfect."

After so many jobs in customer service, it was easy for Rhys to deal with annoying and sometimes aggressive customers. "I like to bake, and making coffee can be fun," Rhys told Aria, carefully monitoring Ian's face, "Thank you so much. I just hope they can look past my job record these recent months."

It definitely made Aria happy to hear that she had been of some help for Rhys' whole job problem. A smile lit up her face as she replied, "oh of course! It's called The Hideout, and it's definitely a great place. They're always understaffed though, so you'll easily be able to get an interview." At the mention of job record, Aria laughed and waved her hand dismissively, her eyes lit up with humor.

"Oh don't even worry about it. They've hired much sketchier people than you so don't even think about it. All the staff is super nice though, but most are involved with Ian and his crap. You'll probably be the least threatening person they've ever hired. Plus, they definitely need to have someone bake there. Don't get me wrong, the coffee is amazing but the bakery stuff isn't the best." Aria shivered at the thought of the signature banana bread, she hated it.

Killian finally hung up, his color getting better as he sighed and ran a ran through his hair. "Sorry about that, I didn't think the call would take so long. This is really good by the way." Ian held up the smoothie for a moment. "I'm assuming you need a ride home?" Ian looked at Rhys as he talked, his earlier smile had yet to return, he just looked... tired.

Rhys made a mental note of the coffee shop's name, and his worries were soothed as Aria assured him that the staff were nice. That had been a concern for sure. Rhys didn't want to work someplace where his co-workers were total jerks. It wouldn't be the first time, but he would very much prefer to avoid the whole situation.

"Maybe I could bring some samples of the stuff I've made to the job interview?" Rhys pondered out loud, "That could definitely help me out."

Once Ian hung up the phone, Rhys turned to him, cocking his head slightly to the side, "Don't worry about it," He said easily, "And if the place isn't too far out of your way, I wouldn't mind a ride. I could totally walk, though, if it is too much of a problem."

Rhys squinted as he analyzed Ian for a moment, and tried to recall what food he had made recently. Ian looked to be in desperate need of a good meal, "And hey, if you end up driving me back, would you mind taking some food that I've made? It would be a huge help - that way I can make room in the fridge for some practice pastries." Rhys still wasn't sure if Ian would just take food if he offered it, but if it sounded like it would be helping him out?... well then perhaps that might work.

Aria smiled at Rhys, happy to have helped him out. At the mention of bringing samples, she immediately nodded. "I don't doubt that they'll immediately hire you just because you're a nice guy alone, but showing them that you have the experience will definitely help. Plus," Aria nudged him with her shoulder, "I'll put in a good word for you." Aria winked at him with a mischevious grin before turning to Killian, her eyes widening as she looked over him.

"Yea, I'll give you a ride, don't worry about it. I'm going right back to my place anyways so it's not like I'm rushing off anywhere." At those words, Ian looked away, his posture suddenly slumped over, less attentive and more, saddened.

He really didn't have anywhere to be rushing off to. Even his home seemed uninviting without Avery's welcoming presence there.

Perhaps he wouldn't be going home tonight.

As Rhys continued, Killian finally snapped back into focus, pushing his future aside to focus on the now. "Well I guess so, I can't really pass up free food so.." Killian trailed off as he caught Aria's eyes. "What," Ian snapped, his demeanor immediately changing at Aria's stare. "Well you never accept my food." "Yea well that's cuz you're a shit cook." Aria immediately gasped, placing a hand over her chest dramatically. "I am hurt." Aria moved her hand from her chest to up against her forehead, while Ian just rolled his eyes. "You can't be normal for one second, huh." It was more of a statement than a question, but Aria replied anyways. "Nope, never."

Rhys's head bounced between the Aria and Ian like a tennis match, an amused look on his face as he sipped his smoothie, eyebrows raised high.

He didn't want to interrupt them, and grabbed his phone to set a reminder to look up the coffee shop and make sweets, and was greeted with multiple text messages.

The first few were from his boss, which okay, made sense.

The next were from his sisters, which wasn't abnormal, but it was still strange for them to text him multiple times in a row.

The last person made Rhys worry the most, because he hadn't seen that name on his phone for quite a while now.

Rhys bit his lip as he stared at his phone, tossing around a few ideas in his head, before opening his sister's messages.

____________
Bree

The texts he got from Jessi were also pretty similar, with less... colorful... additives. Rhys didn't feel like throwing his phone in a smoothie place, so he carefully didn't look at his mother's message. He might not even look at it at all.

Rhys face was pale and shaken as he put away his phone. He'd text Bree and Jessi back later. He didn't want to get into it right now.