“Coffee” She mumbles, and I push the mug her way. She murmurs a ‘fuck you’ under her breath, annoyed more with the fact that she is still alive than with me.
I love you too, Rachel.
Leo
It’s around 11 a.m. when I finally drag myself out of bed. I hate mornings. I push myself to walk to the kitchen. One foot after the other, I pass the living room. “Good morning, Kai.” I mumble as I head for the kitchen, but as I am about to enter the room, I stop dead in my tracks. “Kai?” I yell, but there’s no reply again. And now I am completely awake.Where the fuck is he? Not again! I just rescued you from your last mistake only a few hours ago. Give me a fucking break, dude.
I walk to the living room and find it empty, then I walk to his bedroom and guess what?It’s empty, too.This man will give me high blood pressure. I will die before I am officially thirty, and it will be his damn fault. I go to my room, approach my bed, and try to locate my phone, which, as always, is missing. I have this bad habit of sleeping with it. Some people like sleeping with an extra pillow or a stuffed animal. Me? I like to cuddle my electronics in bed. By morning it’s lost among the covers, and that’s the good-case scenario. On nights when I have been drinking, I can also find it with open messages, half-finished conversations I don’t remember having. If I am lucky it’s just stupid memes and silly little chats, but most times it’s drunk texts to random hookups because my horny ass thought he could get some while he couldn’t even put one foot in front of the other. Who needs to talk if their dick works, though, right? Jesus Christ, I need to find new friends. Kai has made me an image of himself. This is not a way to live life, jumping from one random bed to another. Could be worse, though. I could be gettingkidnapped by random women. Although it didn’t seem like a bad time. Kai was way too happy to be kidnapped.
I find my phone and open Kai’s contact, press call, and put it on speaker. On the third ring he picks up, and I don’t wait for him to speak.
“Hey, where the fuck are you?” I yell through the phone, and at this point, I am pretty sure he can hear me without it from wherever the fuck he is.
I walk to the kitchen as I wait for his answer. A long pause follows, and I have enough time to reach for my coffee mug.
“Hey, buddy, I am at Rachel’s.” Kai’s voice is in this high-pitched tone. He only uses it when he hides something.
The mug slips from my hand, and there it goes right on the floor. The moment it hits, I see it shatter into two pieces, and I curse under my breath.This was my favorite one.Kai’s little kidnapping adventure has now cost me my favorite mug. If he continues this way, I am going to report his fucking ass to the cops for stalking the girl. That will teach him.Great ideas you have there, buddy, stalk the girl who kidnapped you. Why don’t you invite her to the bar for a drink too? How about the house? We need another crazy version of yourself with a vagina around here.
“I am going to pretend I didn’t hear that.” I say as I lean over the broken mug and pick up the two pieces and a small one that broke from it. I throw them in the bin and open the cabinet to find another mug.Fuck. Everything is dirty. We really need to start cleaning more around the house.
“Sure, sure that’s cool with me.” Kai’s voice fills the room along with a buzzing sound.What the fuck?
“Kai, what was that?” I ask as I wash one of the dirty mugs that have piled in the sink. I don’t bother drying it.
I go straight for the coffee pot, and at least the asshole has left me some coffee. It’s not hot anymore since the coffee maker hasbeen turned off automatically at least an hour ago, but luckily for me, the weather is still warm enough that the coffee is not too cold. It will have to do for now. Once I am at the bar, I will order coffee and breakfast from my favorite coffee shop.
It’s kind of weird to order coffee from another business, but it’s better than barking at customers, or like yesterday, punching the regulars. I make a mental note to apologize to the asshole I punched yesterday. The assholes in my life are piling up. First my best friend, now the customers.What’s next?Am I going to fucking date one? Well, okay, the last one isn’t even a possible problem since I’m not dating. And right now I am more into women anyway.
“The little criminal’s vibrating boyfriend.” Kai speaks, and I realize I was lost in my own thoughts. The buzzing sound has now stopped.
“Kai, what the hell are you doing?” I ask, but he ignores my question; instead, he changes the subject.
“Anyway, do you remember the number of the company we used for the cameras at the bar and the house?” I am pretty sure I don’t want to know why he needs that, but I ask anyway.
“Sure, I will send it to you, but why do you need it?” I need to learn how to fucking shut up one of these days. Clearly today is not the one. Why did I even ask that? I know exactly why he wants it. This asshole is about to go full on stalker mode. I walk to the drawer we keep all the important papers we might need, and pick up the little post it with our lawyer’s number. I walk to the fridge and secure it with a magnet because we are going to fucking need this soon enough. What if this one reports him like his ex? Can they declare you as a creep or a sex offender if you keep stalking women? I mean he hasn’t hurt any of them yet. I doubt he would, but stalking should be a damn red flag. Dude needs therapy.
“Trust me when I say you don’t want to know.” With that I agree, my friend. I do not want to know.Even if I am pretty sure I already do.In fact I would like to forget all about the past twenty-four hours and make sure I am not called to testify as a witness when this woman disappears.
I love my best friend. He is great. Most of the time, sometimes he is also a little insane. Those times are the ones I like him less. Those times are also the ones that land him restraining orders from the exes he stalked. “Message me the number. I’ll see you at the bar.” He says, and before I can reply, he ends the call.
Goodbyeto you, too, asshole.
Chapter 4
Leo
Ihave been at work all day, almost. The afternoon rush came and went, and now the bar is finally silent. Kai is cleaning his section of the bar, and Melanie is pretending to wipe a table, but in reality she is dissociating hard, and with a good reason.
I am arguing with Logan, the guy I punched the night before, about the fact that he doesn’t need another beer. The guy is hammered. He can barely stand straight. I might hate him a little, but not enough to want him to die from alcohol poisoning. Besides, it’s bad business to go around killing customers that keep us open. He might be everything that is wrong with the world, and then some, but he is a good customer. He always pays without any complaints. Always tips well without hesitation. And if it wasn’t for his tendency to hit on my waitress, I might even like him. He is not too bad when he is not drunk out of his mind. He can hold conversation, he is polite, and he has some crazy stories to share. I will admit he is a pretty decent dude once you get past all of the creepy things about him.
“Listen, man, I get it. You want a beer.” I say, and he gives me a smile, thinking I am finally giving in.Sorry to break it to you, buddy, but you are not getting another one tonight.
“Exactly. Now crack one open and give it to me.” He says with confidence, and right as I am about to say something, Melanie approaches.
She looks at him with an affectionate, caring expression in her eyes and gently leans over, stroking his bicep. It’s not exactlyflirty. It’s more like a familiarity, and actual interest in his well-being. That’s the type of woman she is. Even when she is keeping to herself, and avoids opening up to anyone, you can tell this woman cares.
“Darlin’, you have had enough. How about we get you some water instead?” She asks him with that sweet southern accent of hers, and I can see this man go from a furious Doberman to a golden retriever puppy in a matter of seconds. He softens towards her. But in his eyes, there’s a look of lust, and that makes my blood boil. She is too young for him, for fuck’s sake.