I just nod, scared for whoever gets in their way at the gym today. Their skin is already red from the heightened internal body temperature, likely the result of steroids, and the coffee’s only making it worse considering the way their veins pop out of every single part of their bodies. Probably not helping with the acne on their backs either, as if their rock hard muscles and inability to walk without waddling because of their overdeveloped leg muscles wasn’t enough of a clue that they’re getting more than a little help on the bench press from just the coffee, and more likely out of a syringe in the backside.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” one of them questions, and out of nowhere, I feel his meaty paw grab me by the waist and jerk my body back toward him.
My entire body freezes as he yanks me onto his lap, my mouth hanging open as I look at Cruella as if she knows what to do in this situation. She just shoots me a wink and mouths, “They’re hot,” which I would totally disagree with, not to mention gropey and completely disrespectful.
I go to stand but
his grip is too tight. “Let go of me,” I protest through gritted teeth, trying not to make a big deal out of this in front of the other customers.
I lean forward again and this time the hand releases and my feet find the floor. I quickly try and add some space between us, when I turn and see exactly why I’ve been let go.
Jake has his thumb pressed into the man’s palm and he’s twisted at the wrist, writhing in pain. “You think you can touch what’s mine, you stupid fuck?” Jake growls in a tone so terrifying you can hear the other chairs in the place scooting back and people moving toward the sides of the room, knowing violence is imminent.
“Let go of me, asshole,” the guy tries to demand, not noticing his friends have quickly deserted him. Considering each of these guys is solid muscle and there are four of them and only one of Jake it’s now proven science that steroids do indeed shrink one’s balls, or so it seems.
“Just let our buddy go, man. We were just messing around.”
“Messing around,” Jake snarls, showing his teeth as he increases his grip on the other guy so hard, leaning into it, that his feet come out from underneath him, the chair slides and his ear finds the floor.
“Yeah, just having some fun.”
“That’s exactly what I’m doing too, so why should I stop?”
The other three guys mouths open but little more than a few “uh’s” and “ut’s” come out. Jake turns his eyes toward me.
“Jewel,” he commands in a steadfast voice. My eyes are locked on him and I jump, not realizing I was practically hypnotized at the scene he’s creating right in front of my face.
“Jake, it’s okay. Just let him—“
“You,” he says, looking at Cruella. “You the manager or something?”
She nods, and I purse my lips that he’s given her even an ounce of attention.
“Make yourself useful for a change and take those keys off your hip and unlock the door to the backroom then.”
“Useful?” she protests.
“I see the way you boss my Jewel around. You think I can’t hear from where I’m sitting?”
My Jewel?
“But I’m the manager. What I say g—“
“What I say goes,” he interrupts causing Cruella to jump. “Now unlock the door, and don’t make me tell you twice.”
She moves quickly toward the door, fumbling with the keys as she tries to get the right one in the lock.
My eyes drift down to the man he’s still got ahold of. He was red before and now he’s practically purple, his eyes bulging and those veins in his arm about ready to pop like a bicycle tire.
“Look, bro. We don’t want any trouble. We’ll just be on our way,” one of the other guys says.
The door to the storage room flies open and Jake’s eyes throw daggers at me. “Little girl you take that wooden thing from the dish rack and you get in the back room now.”
“It’s called a spatula and you can’t just show up here and tell me what to do. Plus, what are you going to do? You’re on camera. You don’t want to go to jail, do you?”
Having no idea where that feistiness came from I steady my feet, not ready to move just because he said so. My mind is hyper alert and I know exactly where those words came from now. I’m trying to calm him down so he doesn’t do something we both regret, and the police takes him from me. I’m still not even sure what he did with those two guys from last night, and I’m not about to let the body count start piling up.
“Little one!” he calls out, causing my back to straighten and I almost jump out of my shoes. “The only thing you need to be worried about calling by the correct name is me…Daddy,” he says for everyone to hear.