Page 16 of Kiss Me Ever After
I swallowed hard, trying to stem the nausea threatening to fill my throat.
“Four. Beers.” He repeated.
He pushed the tip of the knife into my stomach, and I flinched. I’d seen enough soap operas to know what could happen in this situation. Stepping backwards towards the refrigerator by the till, I fumbled with the door.
His eyes fell on the till. “Been a good day, has it?”
“What do you…?” I began to ask.
“Busy, yeah? Lots of customers? This place has been smashing it since the day it opened. Gotta be raking in the cash.”
“Um, mostly card payments,” I managed. “There’s not much cash.”
“Show me.” He prodded me again.
Behind me, in the kitchen, I could hear pots and pans being thrown around, glasses shattering, and other sounds I couldn’t even begin to identify. God only knew what they were doing in there.
Bryony was going to kill me.
That’s if the crazy teenager with the knife didn’t do it first.
“Open. The. Till.” Three words laced with underlying threat, each one emphasised with another jab of the knife as he turned me towards the counter.
My heart hammered in my chest as I tried to do what he asked. My brain had turned to mush, and I couldn’t remember the correct sequence to press the buttons to get the drawer open without putting a transaction through. My fingers fumbled across the keys, causing the machine to beep loudly each time I got it wrong.
“For fuck’s sake, do you even work here?” he hissed in my ear. “Shouldn’t be this hard.” He shoved me out of the way and randomly pressed a few keys, only to get the same result.
Seeing a fleeting opportunity of escape, I tried to bolt past him, but one of the other boys blocked my path, gripping my upper arms before turning me back to the ringleader. For a kid, he was surprisingly strong.
“I want what’s in that till. Even if I have to take the whole fucking thing with me.” The boy pushed his face right into mine. I felt a bubble of spit landing on my cheek as he glowered at me. He drew back and picked up the machine, lifting it high above his head and bringing it crashing down onto the floor between us.
I closed my eyes and screamed.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” A familiar male voice roared from the door.
7
Justin
After work,I had a sudden craving for a cappuccino. Maybe one from the Blue Goose.
Ha, who the fuck was I kidding?
I had a sudden craving to see Lennon Cole again.
I hadn’t seen her since the night she’d dumped beer on me. Despite popping around to see Alex a few times in the vain hope she would be there visiting Amber, I was beginning to think I might have imagined her being back.
Getting a cup of coffee after work was a perfectly natural thing to do, I told myself.
It was close to five. I’d be cutting it fine before the cafe closed.
The sign on the door was turned to closed and I was about to walk away, when I spotted Lennon wasn’t alone. At first, I thought she was chatting with the customers, but then I noticed one of them was holding her arms and another one was yelling in her face.
Without another thought, I burst through the door.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I yelled as I crunched across the floor towards them.
The boy released Lennon and turned to flee, pushing past me before I could stop him. Two others were on his heel. Another one was scrabbling on the floor, grabbing at coins and notes which were scattered around.
