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“Lena, what happened?” I question, rushing over to her.
“Those two guys came back, Dee.” She replies with a shaky voice, standing.
I hug her. “I’m so sorry, Lena. What did they say?”
“They came in asking for you and when I told them you weren’t here, they started throwing books on the floor. One of them said to give you a message that they will be back soon and if you didn’t fall in line with what their boss was offering, then things were going to get worse. Dee, I think it’s time to get the police involved. It doesn’t seem like they’re going to stop.”
I hug her tighter as I close my eyes. This shit has to end soon because there’s no way I’m paying any asshole for their kind ofprotectionor giving over a part of my business. The last thing I want to do is get the police involved, especially since I don’t have a name to give them.
Grabbing Lena’s shoulders, I tell her, “Lena, listen to me. I’m going to take care of this. Go ahead and take the rest of the day off. I’ll take it from here. Go ahead and take tomorrow off too.”
“Are you sure?” she asks, sniffling.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” Looking around the store to see only a few customers, I tell her, “Once they leave, I’m going to close the store. Go grab your stuff and I’ll lock the door behind you so no other customers can come in. They’ll just have to come back tomorrow.”
Lena lays the books on one of the tables before going behind the counter, then disappears into the stockroom.
“Shit,” I breathe out, rubbing my forehead. I need to figure something out. I can’t have those bastards coming in here scaring my employees. The next time they show up, I’m going to put a stop their threats once and for all.
Once Lena was okay and I took care of the last customer, I went ahead a closed the bookstore two hours before the normal closing time. Needing time to sort shit out, I shut off the lights, not bothering to straighten the store or count down the register. After setting the alarm, with my bag from Signature and my purse, I went upstairs to my apartment.
As soon as I sit the bags on the kitchen table, my cellphone starts to ring.
“Hello,” I answer dryly, putting it on speaker, then laying it on the table while I put the Styrofoam container in the refrigerator.
“Good evening, Deanna,” Yiorgos baritone voice greets. “Is everything alright? Did I catch you at a bad time?”
Delighted that he called, I say, “Hi, Yiorgos. No, you didn’t. I just made it home and was putting my gyro away.”
“Are you sure because I can call you back tomorrow? I don’t want to disturb your.”
I giggle. “Yiorgos, I’m sure. So, how was the rest of your day?”
Talking with him is just what I need to take my mind off the bullshit in my life right now. If he asks how the rest of my day went, I’ll leave out the two thugs that came by and tell him I had a productive day. I don’t want to lay my problems on him. They were mine to take care of.
Chapter 7
