But when I try to step around the person who bumped me, she moves in my way again. That’s when I look up at her curiously.
“Excuse me,” I say politely. “Just trying to get to the napkins.”
But the woman blocks my way once more, and I stare at her with surprise. For the first time, I notice that she has a friend with her, and the two women look eerily alike. They’re both tall, blond, and skinny, and outfitted in skin-tight butter-yellow workout clothes. They look like a nightmare version of a SoulCycle fanatic, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they go to three to four classes a day, burning off their non-existent fat reserves.
But that’s not my business and I scold myself for being so mean, even if it’s just in my head.
“Excuse me,” I repeat again. “Can I get by you please?”
But the two women merely stare at me with hard blue eyes. Are they wearing make-up even though it’s 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning? The one on the right’s eyelashes looked coated in mascara, and sure enough, there’s a subtle streak of rouge on her cheeks.
“I’m Mary and this is Ginny,” she says sibilantly, nodding towards her friend.
“Nice to meet you,” I respond, trying to hide my confusion. “Now, if I could just get by …” But instead, Mary grins, sending a shiver down my spine. Her smile is thin but wide, like a cartoon villain with shiny jagged teeth.
“Don’t you recognize us?”
I furrow my brow. “I’m sorry, but no. Do we know each other?”
The two women look at each other and then back at me. Their cold blue eyes resemble marbles, and I take a step back, wanting to put some distance between us. I don’t like the way these two are sizing me up because it seems like they have some beef to air. But what could it possibly be?
After all, I don’t go around causing trouble. If anything, I’m a people-pleaser who bends over backwards for others. It’s gotten me into trouble more than once because sometimes folks take me for granted. They treat me like a doormat, and they love to take advantage of what they think is a shy personality and an inability to draw boundaries. But I’ve never seen these women in my life before, so what could they possibility want?
One of them tosses a blonde ponytail back in a swishy move while shooting me a scornful look.
“Of course, you wouldn’t know us,” she practically growls. “Why would those assholes tell you anything? Just look at you,” she says with barely contained disgust. “OMG, you’re huge.”
“Excuse me?” I gasp, my mouth dropping open. “What the hell?”
She merely shrugs before pinning me with that icy blue gaze again.
“I’m Vance’s secretary,” she explains. “And Ginny works for Sam.”
“Um okay,” I mumble, not really sure what else there is for me to say. “But lots of people work for Vance Prince and Sam Ryder. Besides, how do you even know I know them? Who are you?”
The two women share another look, their hips jutting to one side as they size me up.
“Of course you wouldn’t know because they don’t want you to know.”
I stare at them again.
“Know what? Again, who are you, and why are you talking to me? You must have the wrong person. I’m sorry, but this has all been a mistake.”
The one on the right sighs then, her pretty features pinching together in a scowl.
“No, it’s you. Jessica Arroyo, right? You’ve been seen around town with Sam and Vance, and let me guess: you work for Burke Carhart.”
“So what if I do?” I reply tersely, beginning to grow angry myself. “What does Mr. Carhart have to do with this? What business of that is yours anyways?”
The women survey Happy Bean quickly, but there are no other customers at the moment. Stacy’s disappeared in the back, leaving the three of us in the main area to spar, and I try not to look intimidated. I make an internal promise that this isn’t going to be a repeat of high school. Instead, I straighten my shoulders and shoot them a glare worthy of a dowager empress. “What’s this about?” I demand again. “I’m going to leave now or call the cops.”
But the two women literally move to block my exit, their stringy bodies overly-toned and orange-skinned from too much self-tanner.
“You’ve been fucking them, right? Vance, Sam and Burke? Those assholes. Good-looking assholes, but assholes just the same.”
“What?” I demand. “Who do you think you are? Shut your mouth, right now.”
Ginny cackles a bit, revealing something stuck to her front tooth.
“Don’t you know girlfriend? Those fuckers are horndogs and like to dip their dicks into as many pussies as possible. They fucked us because they could, and because we’re idiots, we let them. Did you know that Vance, Sam and Burke proposed a gangbang as part of their bag of tricks? Oh yeah. After fucking Ginny and me on separate occasions, they wanted to merge the whole thing and do a bukkake circle jerk gangbang.”