The dishwater blonde didn’t say a thing—she just kept her head down and continued pulling items out of the buggy and putting them on the conveyer belt.
The blonde might be mute, but Christine had something to say.
“Hey, that’s enough,” she said sharply. “You can’t talk to her that way!”
Mike Fenster whirled around to glare at her. But when he saw who it was, his glare turned into that crazy grin that exposed his rotten teeth.
“Well, well—if it isn’t my next-door neighbor,” he snarled. “The nosey old cunt who’s always complaining about my dogs! What do you care if I flirt with this sweet piece of ass? You jealous?”
“You leave Jenny alone,” Christine told him, lifting her chin. “She’s not old enough to have anything to do with you—not that she’d want to. So unless you want someone calling the Sheriff about you harassing a minor, you’d better steer clear of her.”
Mike Fenster barked an ugly laugh.
“You think I’m scared of the fucking police around here? Sheriff Wainright couldn’t even find his dick with both hands and a flashlight—he’s not gonna bother me and my brothers.”
“You might be surprised,” Christine said evenly. “Jenny is Sheriff Wainright’s goddaughter—he won’t take it lightly if he hears you’ve been talking dirty to her.”
Which was a complete fabrication, but she had to say something to try and put the fear of God into this asshole!
“Is that true, sweetie?” Fenster asked Jenny, who had her head down and was focusing on getting the rest of the items checked. “Is the Sheriff your fucking godfather? Maybe he wants to save your sweet little cunt all for himself.”
“That’s it!” Christine left her buggy and marched to the manager’s office, which was located at the front of the store, across from the checking aisles. She rapped smartly on the door and after a moment, it opened and Bud Thompson stuck his head out.
Bud was six foot five and built like the linebacker he’d been in college. Christine saw him often at Whiskers and Tails because he had two Dobermans he doted on named Zeus and Apollo. The dogs were extremely well-behaved because he had trained them well.
He was also an ex-Marine and didn’t suffer fools gladly.
“Oh hey, Christine—what can I do for you?” he asked, raising his eyebrows in apparent surprise.
“What you can do is come tell these people they can’t talk nasty to your employees,” Christine told him, pointing to where Jenny was still ringing up Mike Fenster’s order. She had her head down, refusing to make eye contact, but he was still talking to her, probably saying the same disgusting things he’d been saying before.
“What?” Bud’s eyebrows slanted down and a scowl came over his face. “What’s going on here?” He didn’t wait for an answer but walked over to the checkout lane with Christine right behind him. As they walked up, they heard Fenster saying,
“…gonna stretch that sweet little cunt of yours out real nice on my dick. You’d like that, wouldn’t you, baby?”
“Hey!” Bud grabbed Fenster by the collar of his stained t-shirt and yanked him around to glare into his face. “What do you think you’re doing? Nobody talks that way to my employees!”
“What are you getting all upset for?” Fenster got a sullen look on his face. “I was just flirting with the little bitch—that’s all. What’s wrong with that?”
Bud looked like he was about to explode for a moment, but then Christine saw him take a deep breath, as though he was trying to calm himself down.
“Boy, there’s more wrong with you than I can fix, but there’s one thing I can do and that’s throw you out on your ass!”
“Fine,” Fenster snarled. He looked at the dishwater blonde with him. “Sheryl, pay the bitch! We’re leaving.”
“Oh no—we won’t be selling you any of these items.” Bud shook his head firmly. “In fact, we won’t be selling you anything ever again because I am going to ban you from these premises. From now on, you are not welcome in this Food Lion. Do you understand?”
“What?” Fenster demanded. “What the fuck am I supposed to for fucking groceries then? This is the only goddamned grocery store in this fucking little town!”
“Not my problem,” Bud told him. “You should’ve thought of that before you came in here and shot off your foul mouth.” He let go of Fenster’s shirt and pointed at the sliding glass doors at the front of the store. “Now get out before I throw you out. And don’t come back!”
“You fucking asshole! Don’t need your fucking rotten groceries anyway!” Fenster snarled. He stormed out of the store with the blonde girl following him at a safe distance. But before he left, he shot a malevolent glance over his shoulder at Christine that made her blood run cold. “This is your fault, bitch,” he told her, pointing one tattooed finger. “You’re gonna be sorry.”