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“YEAH, I GOT YOU SWEETS. That’s a large cappa, two regs, a double shot, a skinny and sweet, two carrots, a tiramisu, and a cherry cheese. Anything else?” I was on a roll, hopping from table to table, taking orders and just skipping along. Since I told all my orders to the phone to relay to George at the counter I was able to flirt with Siegfried most of the day. Knowing he was on his way had me double timing it so I could break out early and just leave, rather than finish the shift.
When I got to the counter my orders were already coming up. I loved the way this placed worked. The walkie-talkie apps on the phones were fucking awesome, we were all glad that Henry discovered them. Henry was one of the counter guys, a nice kid, only seventeen, so we didn’t usually see him during the week, but he busted hump on the weekends. George was the store manager. All dreadlocks and tie-dye. He looked like a 1960’s throwback you’d see in a history book. He was good people though as people went. Hired me, knowing what I was and didn’t bat an eyelash the first time broke a dish and went all scales. He just offered me a joint and said, “Relax pretty mama, you can do this.”
Like I said, good people.
“Hey Aella?” Tommy, the other fella behind the counter, called out to me as I grabbed up my order, making my head spin in his direction.
“Yeah?” I shuffled the order around to carry better.
“When you are done there, could you gimmie a hand with the crates?”
I rolled my eyes. “Gimmie a hand,” was his code for standing there while I unloaded the truck. Little shit was such a weakling, if he wasn’t the big boss’s son, I think we all would have smacked the shit out of him by now. His appearance also meant my leaving early was a moot conversation. The bastard just had to show up today.
“Yeah, just as soon as I finish up with this next table, Tommy.” I looked down to see three men crammed into the booth at the window. Two broken noses and one arm in a sling, all with eyes that blazed at me.
“Um...” I cleared my throat quietly, looking back to George and the rest of the room quickly. I could feel the danger in the air.
I heard a thud on the table as I stepped back, catching me off balance, a gun was pointed at me from its height. “Easy there, bitch,” one of them slurred, alcohol tinged his breath. So he was not only a coward, but a drunken one at that.
“I don’t want any trouble.” I froze, I didn’t want to see anyone get hurt, but I kept my finger on my phone, opening the line so the kitchen could hear what was going on. I wasn’t stupid.
“That’s good, we are gonna walk right out of here, the four of us, and have a little party. Got it?”
The two with him were laughing as they looked me up and down. No fucking way they were touching me, but I would do what I had to do to get them out of the Groove Brew.
“I can’t just walk out, but I can take my break. Will that satisfy you for now?”
They agreed with Neanderthal grunts.
“George, I’m gonna take that break!” I called out over the shop. The sound echoed and these guys noticed when the talkie backfired. Then George came, trying to be my savior with a baseball bat. The guy with the gun pulled the trigger, and I jumped right out in front of it, knocking George to the ground. The men gasped as I coughed, wiping at the smoke and bit of fire on my clothes from the close range hit.
“Don’t you know anything about Dragons?” I scoffed, smacking the guy so hard he slammed through the display window.