Choosing Happy

Chapter Three

Rachel has a few hours to kill after I get there so she hangs around to do inventory. She's a single mom and likes to pick up extra hours on the days her ex-husband has their daughter. She chatty so I can only work with her a few hours per week. She's too cheery for my current state of mind. And by state of mind, I mean my constant state of sexual frustration.

I try to arrive when I know she has to leave but today her incessant chatter is a nice distraction. It rained most of the day so business has been slow since the lunch crowd cleared out. If I wasn't waiting for six ten to roll around, I'd have closed up by four.

"You need to be somewhere?" she asks.

Not sure what she means, I just stare and wait for her to explain.

"You keep checking your watch. You got something important to do tonight? A big date?" She's smiling but I know she hopes she's right. I've been in a crabby mood for a month and my almost encounter with little duck has put me in a weird headspace. I'm anxious and I don't like it.

"Not really." I glance at my watch again. Six o'clock on the dot. Ten more minutes. "Just tired and want to get out of here."

"I'll lock up, Steve." She steps into the window and starts to pull the shutters down.

"No!" I don't mean to shout but her shocked expression and the step she takes away from me is a reminder of the temper I need to keep at bay. "Sorry, Rach. I didn't mean to startle you. I'm just waiting for a friend that said he might stop by. I'm fine for a few more minutes. You can head out whenever you want."

I smile and watch her tense shoulders relax. "Okay, I'm almost done here anyway." She goes back to the laptop and enters the rest of her counts.

At six ten, I'm perched in the window as if my favorite movie is about to start. In some ways, it is. The short film of my little duck and his prick on their evening stroll to utopia. Or what I would imagine the world to be like with a guy like that.

For the first time ever, the prick is staring hard when he approaches my window. I force my hands to flatten on the counter from the fists they naturally curl into when I see him. He's daring me to say something but I know the game. I'm not going to break first. They stop but my ducky doesn't look up. He's staring at the ground a few feet in front of him.

When I look back at the prick, he's got an evil snarl on his face. "Tell him." He smacks the kid on the arm hard enough that he stumbles but quickly recovers. Without meeting my eyes, he looks toward me and says, "We're not interested." The black eye he's sporting is enough to make me see red.

If the fucking window was bigger, I'd dive through it and beat the fuck out of the prick but my shoulders are blocked when I get right in his face and say, "I see a mark on him again and I'll be paying you a visit."

The kid looks up at me in shock, terrified by my action and my words. I want to drag him away and keep him safe but I can't. I don't even know his name.

"You let me know if he lays a hand on you again," I say directly to my little duck as the prick drags him away.

FUCK!

I'll probably never see the kid again because I couldn't follow my own fucking rules.

"What the hell was that about?" Rachel has her phone in hand and is ready to dial 911 when I finally get my heart calm enough to turn around and look at her.

"It's fine. Just someone I know." I look at her pile of papers. "I'm gonna let you close up after all. I've got to be somewhere."

I don't mean to do it and I know it's a mistake—a huge mistake—but I find myself taking brisk strides down the long road the two men always take. I don't know if they've turned or entered a building but I keep walking straight ahead. I would have missed them completely if I didn't hear the squeak of his voice as my sweet ducky was yanked into the elevator of a building with an arcade on the ground floor and several floors of apartments above it.

Not even thinking about the assault charges I'm walking toward, I yank open the glass door and head toward the elevator. A behemoth of a security guard steps in front of me as I'm watching the numbers change on the display above the doors.

"Can I help you, sir?" I'm a big guy at six three and two thirty but this guy makes me feel like a lightweight.

The lights stop on eight. They're going to the eighth floor. The penthouse. Good to know. "I'm just here to visit a friend."

I reach for the up arrow behind him.

"I'm sorry, sir, but all guests have to be announced. Who are you here to see?" He pulls up a tablet and waits for me to respond.

The prick on eight.

"Actually, I can't remember his name. We just met but he left his phone in my office. I'll just run it up to the eighth floor."

Pushing a few buttons on his tablet, the guard holds out his hand. "I'll see that it gets to its owner."

"Thanks but I'll be seeing him tomorrow so I'll just wait."

I turn tail and walk out. That kid better not have another fucking bruise when I see him next.