By the time Risa emerges, she catches the tail end of events, sighing like she’s more fed up with the entire ordeal than actually upset. We end up reconvening at our table, the three of us in an even more foul mood than we showed up in tonight, and her looking mentally exhausted. That alone has me softening, realizing that our behavior isn’t helping the situation, potentially making it even harder for her to deal with.
Taking a sip of her water bottle, she asks, “He do anything?”
I shake my head, curbing some of the venom in my voice that naturally appears whenever thinking about that asshole. “Nah, simply walked around in the crowd a bit, and then was tossed out.”
She frowns. “Why, though? To show you that he wasn’t afraid of Mason’s threats after all?”
Stryker shrugs, finishing off his beer. “Maybe trying to goad us into reacting?”
Scowling, Mason tips back in his chair. “After I made it clear I’d recorded everything at the apartment, after the initial fear wore off and he convinced himself he imagined the entire send off, I wouldn’t be surprised that he started scheming. Likely he had some plan to get evidence we attacked him so he could go after us for assault, or some shit. Either way, steering clear and gathering our own proof to build a case is still our best option to deal with him for now.”
Risa takes another sip of her water. “At least until we draw my parents out. But if we’re abandoning ship afterward to deal with them anyway, I vote we go for broke and push him in front of a bus on our way out.”
Laughing, I reach for her hand, only to chastise myself and try to cover the slip, despising the fact that I have to act like her brother-in-law in public to keep up appearances. It kills me, knowing that she’s mine and forced to pretend otherwise for the sake of humoring humans’ outdated ideals to keepthemcomfortable. It’s ridiculous that we have to pander to them, so their tiny minds don’t explode from being faced with anything other than what they’ve convinced themselves is the only way they’re allowed to live their lives, that anything different is wrong.
They get upset over everything that doesn’t actually affect them in any way, yet ignore all of the tragedy and issues thatdo, writingthoseoff as normal, simply accepting ‘that’s the way it is’.
It’s astounding they’re considered the top of the food chain when they’re so damn dumb.
Her boss, Mindy, strides towards us with determined steps that have my eyes narrowing, expecting the rant she’s about to dive into. Her long, dark hair sways with every step, bright, brown eyes locked on Risa as she makes a beeline right for her. As soon as she reaches us, she clasps her hands in front of her and gives Risa puppy dog eyes, begging.
“I need your help. And before you say no, remember that I took you back after you disappeared without giving you a hard time about it because I adore you,” she rushes out.
Risa’s suspicious gaze matches all three of ours. “What’d you do?”
Mindy holds her hands up innocently. “Ididn’t do anything. It’s Jessica; she didn’t show up, and I can’t get ahold of her.”
It’s all nonsense to me, but not Risa. She sits up straighter in her seat, face blanching. “Not just no, buthellno.”
Mindy sticks her bottom lip out, pouting, and takes Risa’s hand. “It comes with a bonus.”
Scoffing, Risa objects, “It’s not about the money, and you damn well know it.”
“What’s going on?”
She turns to face me as a blonde chick comes to stand beside Mindy. “Jessica and Crystal are up front today.”
The girl I’m assuming is Crystal joins Mindy in the coercion attempt. “Pretty please? I really need the money it’ll bring in to cover rent, Risa, and it won’t work with one person, you know that!”
Groaning, Risa starts to break in the face of the sob story, and the two vultures see it too, grinning as victory comes within their grasp. “Can’t you get Sara or Lucy to do it?” she begs, but by the resignation in her voice, she already knows.
Mindy tucks a lock of her ebony hair behind her ear. “They don’t know the routine like you do. You’ve watched Crystal and Jessica practice more than any of them, and you’re better at improvising.”
Crystal waggles her eyebrows. “You get half of the tips.” She glances between all three of us with a knowing smirk, but settles on Mason when she adds, “Besides, I’m sure you’d kill to see her in action up there, wouldn’t you?”
Risa glares at Mason to get her out of this so she can blame him as a cop out, but he raises an eyebrow, intrigued. “They’re making some good points, babe.” Stryker and I attempt to smother our smiles at her annoyed face, but by the triumphant gleam in Crystal’s eye, we didn’t pull it off discreetly.
“Motherfucking traitors,” Risa mutters, getting to her feet with a scowl. “You can fight over the chores tomorrow then, because I’m taking the week off for this.”
Grinning, Mason quickly shouts, “Nose goes,” and touches his pointer to the tip of his nose, Stryker a fraction of a second behind him.
“You fuckers!”
Laughs surround me as Risa leaves with Mindy and Crystal towards the changing rooms to get ready, but the tension leaves her shoulders a bit as she chuckles right alongside my brothers. By the time they’re at the hallway, walking past the bouncer stationed at the entrance, she’s more animated, like she’s starting to get excited by the prospect despite all of her protests.
“We might die, but what a way to go out,” Stryker declares, looking a bit better himself.
Mason’s smile is still strained, Blake’s presence casting a cloud over the evening, but he’s trying. And really, that’s all any of us can do right now; our best. It may not be much, or nearly enough, but we’ve faced impossible odds before and made it out the other side. All I can hope for is this to be a blip in our lives that we look back on in a decade, shaking our heads at how much we tortured ourselves for no reason.
