As I’m stacking a case of straws in the back room, I hear the tinkle of the diner’s front door, and raucous laughter fills the room. It sends a chill up my spine.
Where do I know that laughter from?
Where have I heard it start before?
“Henderson!” Carlos shouts. “I need you up here now!”
Of course, Carlos has the worst timing, and he doesn’t know about what happened at the club, but I can’t help but feel betrayed as I step out and see the group of men who harassed me last night. Not that Carlos is ever really on my side anyway.
The men are seated at one of my tables. There’s already a mess on the wooden surface from where they put their dirty feet up and made it their own. They’re red-eyed, sallow-faced, and obviously viciously hungover from the night before.
“Hey sweetheart, let me get some…, the man from last night begins, and I’m frozen to the spot. “Well, hell, fate just keeps dropping you in my lap, huh? We were just thinking about you, weren’t we boys?”
My heart is in my throat. “What can I get you? Maybe some coffee?”
I think if I just keep my tone cordial and dull, the men in front of me will get the message and leave me be. Of course, I never usually get the base case scenario.
“Yeah, hell, why not?” he answers with a big, shit-eating grin. His friends laugh as if he’s the funniest man in the world. “And now that I’ve got you here alone, why don’t you come on over here and sit down on my lap? Your man isn’t here now, is he?”
By his tone, I know that he obviously knows Eddie isn’t here. They had come to my job, and obviously, I’m alone. I must have the worst luck in the world.
Though someone calling Eddie my man does make me feel stupidly giddy inside.
“I’ll just give you a minute to decide what you want then,” I tell them, turning quickly on my heel to leave.
“Now wait a minute,” the man says indignantly, and his hand snakes out to grab my arm in a hard grip. “You’re not going anywhere now, are you?”
I turn, ready to yank my arm from his hand, but my heart drops. I can see the gun tucked into the waistband of his pants. He notices when I see it.
“Let me go now,” I grit out, squeezing my eyes shut for a moment.
I don’t need this shit. I need to work and help my family, andI don’t need this.
“Alright now, don’t be a bitch,” he snarls, yanking me to him. “You owe me an apology for last night. Now come on, sweetheart, show me how sorry you are.”
He tries to move my hand to his pants, but I scream, throwing my body away from him. I nearly hit the table behind me, and the man looks livid as he pushes up from his seat, throwing it behind him so that it tumbles to the floor. The busboy, who is probably only sixteen, helps me up from the floor and stays behind me.
“You need to leave the diner,” Tyler says in a trembling voice, and the stack of plates that he puts down on the table are clanking together with his shaking. “Leave her alone and get out of here. You heard me, didn’t you?”
Tyler’s bravery is heartwarming. He reminds me of my little brother.
“What the hell is going on here?” Carlos asked, disgruntled as he steps out from behind the door to the kitchen. He looks annoyed that we’re even bothering him.
“You know what?” the red-eyed man snaps, lunging toward me as I reach back for something to protect myself. “If I can’t get what I want, I’ll just take it.”
Today really just isn’t my day, is it?
Somehow, I hear the front door tinkling in the back of my mind, even as I fall backward from the man’s reaching fingers.
Finally, I hear myself let out a scream, and I tumble into a warm chest. Someone who smells of leather catches me, and when I look up, Eddie looks as if he wants to tear the men harassing me to pieces.
“Are you alright?” he asks me gently, holding my arms.
I want to cry from relief, but all I can do is nod. Eddie kisses my forehead, and he storms around me, shoving the man to the ground. Fear floods through me.
“He has a gun, Eddie!” I cry, and Tyler scrambles up beside me, hiding there.
Eddie doesn’t show an ounce of fear, and even the family in the back corner of table five has gone silent. The man at Eddie’s feet jumps up, breathing hard.