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The two women stared, not quite subtly, as Benny performed his standard routine. He was the only man that came into the gym that could take Liz away from her studies, and it wasn’t just because of his size and implied strength. She, along with everyone else at the gym, knew he was involved in the mob, but that didn’t put her off the way it should have.
There was something else that made him seem intriguing. He was like a drop of chaos added to the quiet serenity of her routine life.
She imagined his hands on her, pushing her against a wall and forcing her legs to wrap around him. She thought of him as someone who would tease her, shoot a hand between her legs, and rub at her aching need just before pushing what she would assume was a delicious and sizable cock inside her.
Everyone thought Liz was always so proper and refined. She, like most women she knew, sometimes just wanted to go wild, let go of control, and get royally fucked.
Eventually, she would move her eyes back to doing her job, talking to customers, watching Christina flirt, and focusing on her studies. Benny was always in her peripheral vision, and the thought of him taking her body to infinity teased her back to grab another look at him.
He usually worked out for about an hour, hit the showers, then returned to his club. At around the half-hour mark, another man came in, who also ignored Christina’s request for an ID. He had long, stringy, copper hair pulled back in a ponytail, worn so tight that it pulled at his facial features.
“I need to talk to my boss,” he sneered, then jetted over to Benny.
“These friggin’ mobsters,” Christina scoffed. “They think they can do whatever the hell they want.”
Liz was still seated, her textbook open under her forearms, as she watched the stranger stomp over to Benny. He was also rather large, and she wondered if that was a requirement to work at the club.
They both watched as the stranger interrupted Benny’s routine, sweat glistening off his chest like dew upon a rose. Liz tried to make out what they were saying, but she accidentally caught the sharp glare of Benny’s green infernos during her attempt.
The stranger was flailing his arms while Benny narrowed his eyes at her. She felt flustered, shooting her eyes back down to her textbook while Christina dealt with her incoming customers. Surely, he knew that they were looking at him. He had to be used to women losing themselves in his presence.
But Liz was still somewhat embarrassed, so she kept her head down after the stranger left, and eventually, Benny showered and departed. He gave Christina a nod, apparently, which completely made her week.
Liz was left alone in the gym for a few hours at the end of the night, responsible for cleaning the machines and locking the doors. She’d managed to put Benny out of her mind, albeit with difficulty, replacing it with the thought of how she was going to pay for the classes needed to get her law degree.
She had finished her duties and was taking out the garbage after locking up. She had tossed the two bags into the dumpster and was digging in her purse for her keys when she heard a loud crash.
“Did you really think you were going to get away with this?”
Instinctually, Liz ran behind the dumpster to hide. Her heart was suddenly racing with fear. She watched as the man who had spoken to Benny earlier shoved another gym member against a car door, smashing his torso and leaving a large indent.
“No, Vito, please, please!” The man cowered, leaning up against the car door as he sat on the concrete. “I can get you your money, please. I just need a few more days!”
The stranger, who Liz now knew was Vito, let out a cackle of laughter. He then grabbed the man by the scruff of his neck, dragged him to the hood of the car, and slammed him against it, stomach first. The man let out a shriek that was barely human.
“This is not a fucking loan agency,” Vito snarled. “You’ll be sure to remember everything soon, I promise.”
Vito laid the man’s arms out across the hood of the car. The man cried out with pathetic pleas as he wept. Liz remained ducked behind the dumpster, unsure what to do as dread filled her heart. She knew what mobsters did to those who didn’t pay up.
She watched helplessly as Vito wrapped a hand around the man’s right thumb, then bent it back until his thumb made a horrifying cracking sound. Liz covered her mouth in terror as the stranger yelped in agony, hearing the left-hand thumb emit the same vile snapping sound, like someone stepping on glass.
The man cried out, a grotesque noise that made her stomach twist.
The parking lot was completely empty other than the gym member’s car, Liz’s, and a handful belonging to the shop owners remaining open in the plaza. There were likely a few cameras around, but Vito didn’t care. They were a part of the mob, and the mob rarely suffered the same consequences as the average civilian.
Vito tapped the man’s head as he whimpered in agony, staring down at his thumbs as they flapped against him like a wet rag.
“Next time, I will break your neck. Take this as a warning, motherfucker.”
Vito then pulled out his phone from his pocket, took a tasteless photo of the man screaming in pain, then yanked him upward, again pinning him up against the car.
“Get yourself to the fucking hospital. Tell them you’re a useless fuck and broke your thumbs playing hockey. Or whatever else. Get creative.”
Liz saw the man nod as his face coursed with tears. She hated that she wasn’t brave enough to at least call him out, tell him the police were coming, anything. But she had to be smart about it. She couldn’t risk getting her own thumbs broken.
Or worse ...
Liz remained crouched behind the dumpster, trembling with fear, her heart nearly reaching her throat. She wanted to wait until Vito left, and then maybe she could help the man. Or she could at least wait until his cab showed up, or an ambulance ... anything.
