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“No. I’m not letting you give them the okay to destroy my shop—”
“I said, give me back to Johnny.” He spoke so loudly that Johnny heard his name and snatched the phone back.
I crossed my arms and stepped back, the broken glass crunching under my feet. Johnny nodded as he spoke, his voice hushed as he turned away. After a few seconds, he signaled with his hand, and Nicky and Steve cleared out.
They didn’t say anything to me during their retreat, leaving me to clean up their mess. Johnny presided over the whole thing like a preacher in his pulpit. Finally, he nodded, hanging up the phone as he stepped toward the door.
“We’ll be back,” he promised, giving me another toothy grin that made my skin crawl.
I stood there in complete shock before turning back to the mess on the floor. It was surreal how they came and went like ghosts.
I resolved to install a security system before this situation became worse than a broken cabinet.
Defeated and exhausted, I found a broom and dustpan. The cabinet would cost around a thousand dollars to replace, which might not seem like much to some, but for me, it was a month without food or gas or heating after months of hardship trying to get this place on its feet.
I finished sweeping up the glass and returned to the door, locking it before flipping the open sign to closed. I ran my hands lovingly down the hand-painted sign before taking a deep breath and returning to my reality. Grabbing my phone, I sat on the floor behind the counter where I was hidden from view and unlocked it.
How did your first day go? XO
It was a text from my best friend. Skipping past the message, I pulled up the internet and did a quick search for a security company. The first one had 4.5-star reviews, which was all the reassurance I needed, and I hit the call button.
“Knox Security.” A man coughed into the phone, making me cringe.
I bit back a comment about his obvious smoking habits. “Hi, um, I’ve just opened a new shop, and I’m interested in getting some cameras installed. Would you be able to come out and give me a quote?”
“Sure. Are you available tomorrow around one?”
“Yeah, that’s great.” I reached behind me, blindly searching for my pen and pad to make a note.
“Alright. Address?”
“1534 W 51st St.” Silence followed on the phone, and after a few seconds, I pulled my phone away from my ear to check we were still connected. “Hello?”
“Sorry, we don’t work in that area.” The line went dead.
I stared at my phone, frowning at the black screen before Googling again. I tried four other businesses, and each gave the same response.
No commercial security company would work in this area.
