HER (COMPLETED)

Chapter Three

India POV

By the time I reached my job I had already taken my jacket off from how hot I got from speed walking. I got there at exactly 7am and as I walked towards the entrance doors i could see the manager unlocking the front door of the store. I worked at Belgi' a local franchise that had 6 other locations in the local area and was continuing to grow. Everyone knew if you wanted the freshest produce, meat and seafood, Belgi's was the place to be. I've been working here 3 years now and I finally got a $1.25 raise at the beginning of the new year. So unlike my other coworkers I was making $12.25hr.

The store manager Mrs. Calloway gave me a mean mug as I walked up to her.

" Good morning Mrs.Calloway" she just gave me a head nod while proceeding to open the door holding it as she waved for me to walk in. I walked heading towards he back of the store where our break room and locker rooms were connected. We didn't opened the doors for customers until 8:30, so that gave us an 1 hour and 30minutes to prepare for the day. I walked into the locker room throwing my jacket and wallet in my locker before pining my name tag on my shirt and throwing my apron around my neck, tying it tight on my back. I gave myself a little pep talk before closing and locking my locker then walking out onto the store floor.

7 hours later

As I'm restocking cans of vegetables on the shelves, I hear an announcement over the PA system asking that first shift stockers come to the front end of the store. That's usually a sign that we're extremely busy and they need extra checkout lines open to get customers out the store faster. I walk to the front end of the store and I'm greeted by Mrs. Calloway. "Hey India, I need you to open up aisle 12, until the rush slows down" I nod towards her before grabbing a till of money from accounting and flicking my aisle light on.

The minute my light comes on theres a rush of people running to beat other shoppers to check out. The first customer walks up with a grin on his face " Hey honey, how you doing beautiful?" I give him a soft small and tell him"good, thank you" but he doesn't stop there " what yo sexy ass doing working here, you to beautiful to be working here"

I can already feel the heat rising up my neck " Well sir, I like this job they're very flexible with my hours so it just works for me" it was a lie but I really didn't want to talk to him.

He looked from my chest to my hips, before saying "I'm pretty sure your flexible huh babygirl?" Not responding I sped up bagging his groceries.

"I can promise you won't need a job if you fucking with a nigga like me. All you gotta do is make sure that pussy stay tight and wet whenever I call and I'll have you set up with the best of everything " At that point I just couldn't come up with a response to say to him. I felt my eyes beginning to water and before a tear could drop I heard a deep voice "What you just say to lil mama?" I looked up and  standing before me stood one of the most handsome guys I had ever seen in my entire life. When I say sexy I mean panty dropping sexy.

The customer kept his menacing stare towards me before he angrily says " listen here nigga I don't know wh-"  he paused once he fully turned around. I could see a look of fear instantly flash over his face. Was this guy really scared right now? His eye got as big as a fish and I could see regret all over his face

"Listen here King I'm sorry man I didn't realize it was you" the guy I'm assuming name is King looked ..... calm, like scary calm, it made a shiver run down my back.

King looked at him, his voice smooth, calm and emotionless and said one word "Apologize." And I'm pretty sure he wasn't asking.

He turned to me instantly with pleading eyes " I'm sorry Lil mama, I didn't mean any disrespect towards you in any way, my bad shawty" he looked back at King as if looking for approval.

King shook his head. " Nah i don't think that was sincere, how about you say it a little louder, and make sure everyone in here can hear you when you do" I looked back at the guy standing in front of me waiting to see what he does.

He looked at me before clearing his throat "Excuse me, can i have everyone's attention please" he raised his voice but not loud enough to grab anyone's attention. He looked towards King looking for approval, at his half ass attempt and King just looked at him. He cleared his throat again before yelling "Excuse me can I have everyone's attention please" before I knew it the entire store went silent. He took a deep breath while looking at me with pleading " I just want to apologize to this young lady right here, I said some very inappropriate things to her, and I just wanted her to know I how sincerely sorry I am." He looked up at King waiting for his approval while everyone in the store looked at our aisle like we had 3 heads.

I could here people whispering saying "Is that King?" , "I think thats King." " That's King over there at line 12".

I don't know who this man was but he must've been someone dangerous and well known because he had the entire store shook. I looked up towards my manager to see her glaring at me blaming me with her eyes for the commotion happening in my aisle. I knew I would get written up for this but I didn't want to make things worse so I turned to the man King and quietly whispered "Hey it's okay, everything's all good, no harm no foul"

The man looked at me thankful before King looked at me and nodded signaling to me to continue to check him out. As I resumed scanning his order I package everything quickly before reading his total which he had already had his payment ready. I handed him his receipt which he snatched and ran out of the store.

I turned towards the man King and thanked him silently before I began scanning his order and bagging it. It was a small order with just a slab of salt pork and a sandwich meal from our deli. I turned towards him and watched as he just looked at me.

"Okay sir your order total is $23.27"

"What's your name?"

I looked at him wide eyed before quiet saying " India" while pointing at my name tag

He pulled a wad of cash from his pocket and counted out 20 crisp $100 bills and handed it towards me. I reached over with my pointer and thumb fingers to pick out one of them to pay for his order. He shook his head no.

"Take it sweet heart, it's for the trouble that boy just caused you"

"Oh no I can't, I appreciate the gesture but you speaking up when you did was enough for me sir , thank you"

" No seriously, take it"

"Again sir, thank you but I can't" I glanced over at my manager as she watched the conversation unfold. As much as I needed that money I couldn't take it. One being my pride and two because I knew I would be fired the minute this man walked out the store.

He watched as I glanced over at my manger before I quickly turned my attention back to him.He smiled at before handing me a $100 bill. As I turned to give him his change I could feel him reach over me and grab his two bags off of my conveyer belt bag holder. I grabbed his change, counted it out for him before giving him his receipt.

"Thanks again for your help back there and for shopping at Belgi's Food Market, have a good day sir"

"No thank you beautiful" and before I could say anything else he walked away out the store. Leaving me wondering who he was to have that much influence on a market full of strangers.