AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I caught another voice, the din of the café blurring the conversation.
“…out of here, Richard,” someone growled, drawing me out of my haze.
My gaze shifted toward the table where the Silverpiece babes had been seated, and the black-haired, blue-eyed god stood, facing off with a complete stranger who must have come in when I had lost myself in the rush. The newcomer’s face was crimson, agitated.
Lincoln and his blond partner remained seated casually, but the nameless Silverpiece executive appeared very tense with this Richard’s presence.
“Screw you, Paxton! You have no right!” Richard yelled, his face flushing more, fists closed at his side. I was starting to worry about his health.
The plastic order cup in my hand found its way to the counter as I sensed a problem unfolding. I set it down, the drink order forsaken for the moment as I tried to get a handle on what was happening. Patrons stopped talking to watch the fight growing more heated, and my manager, Drew, backed toward the storeroom. I stared after him in disbelief.
Seriously? He’s just going to let this play out?
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Drew had never been very good with conflict.
“Don’t tell me what to do!” Richard continued. “This is a public fucking place. I can do whatever I want.”
Uh, no, you can’t,I thought, starting around the counter.
“Woah!” Zander grabbed my arm. “What the hell are you doing?”
I glanced at him, shaking my head.
“Stopping this shit,” I grumbled, shaking him off.
“You can’t put yourself in the middle of that!” Zander breathed nervously. “It’s probably some Fortune 500 brawl. You’ll end up all over social media.”
I rolled my eyes and stormed around the counter, shoving my way through the small crowd forming, Richard’s voice raising and getting more obnoxious. Maybe the guys were too chickenshit to stop this, but I wasn’t going to let them disrupt my workday anymore.
“Seriously, fuck all of you!” Richard went on, waving his hand theatrically. “You have no idea who you’re fucking with.”
“Sit down, Richard,” one of the Silverpiece guys muttered, but I didn’t see who as I made my way through, although I thought it might have been Lincoln’s voice.
“You sit down, you goddamn—”
“Sir!” I snapped, interrupting as I finally materialized at the table.
Startled, all eyes turned to me, their argument abruptly ending. The black-haired man in the Silverpiece group frowned to see me.
But before anyone could say a word, I went on, “You’re going to need to calm down.”
Lincoln snorted and smothered his laugh with his hand, but either my order or the man’s snicker incensed the enraged Richard more.
He turned his wrath on me. “Fuck off, lady,” he barked at me, stepping subtly closer. “This doesn’t concern you.”
Great. Another egomaniacal asshole who thought big, scary words would get me to scamper off with my tail between my legs.
Nonplussed by his tone or his words, I stepped between him and the black-haired man, jutting my chin out. He definitely judged me wrong if he thought that would scare me off.
“Sir, I really need you to take a step back now.”
Richard bared his teeth at me like he was going to bite me. “Go back to work, bitch.”
“Don’t talk to her that way, Richard,” Lincoln growled.
“Don’t tell me how to talk to anyone, Lincoln,” Richard spat, but I didn’t need Lincoln or anyone else fighting my battles for me.
I smirked, unperturbed. “I’d love to get back to work,” I replied, my heart rate not even rising. This didn’t even take the top twenty most alarming situations I’d seen in my life. “Except some obnoxious prick is screaming like a toddler who needs a diaper change in my place of work. It’s very distracting.”
