The New Rival

12

Chris

    This is where she works?

    The place was practically empty considering it was barely noon. The only few people inside were the staff getting ready for the night.

    The second we walked in the door, one of the girls came running up to her and shook her by the shoulders.

    "Thank god!" The girl pleaded as she hugged Ally. "You weren't home last night and you haven't answered any of my texts. What the fuck is going on?"

    Must be her roommate.

    I thought Ally might freeze up and not know what to say. It also occurred to me she might say she had been kidnapped and make a run for the bathroom until the cops show up.

    But instead, she just shook her head with a fake smile. "I'm alright, I was staying with a friend."

    The girls eyes fell on me. She looked me up and down with the most judgmental face I had ever seen on someone, and that's saying something.

    Ally looked back at me quickly and then cleared her throat. "This is Ian, my cousin."

    She thought of that lie quickly.

    The roommates eyebrows narrowed. I don't think she was buying the story.

    "Anyways," Ally continued, "I'm just here to let Max know I'll be out for a while. I'm going on vacation with Ian and his parents."

    "Hold up, since when do you have a cousin and go on vacation?"

    Ally laughed it off like it was a joke and walked towards the back before more suspicion could be raised.

    I followed her until she put turned around and told me not to come into her bosses office with her. I wanted to follow her in, thinking there was a chance she was faking this whole thing and was going to turn us in the minute she was out of my sight, but she hadn't proven to be disloyal yet.

    She stepped inside the office and I very quickly realized how thin the doors were because I could hear everything they were saying.

    She told him, Max I assume, the same thing she told her roommate. It didn't take long for him to start raising his voice.

    "What?" Was the first thing he said that really pissed me off. He said it like he wanted her to change whatever she had said or just pretend she didn't say it at all.

    Ally didn't sound loud back. She stayed calm and quiet as Max got angrier.

    "You can't do that," I heard along with the sound of a chair moving as he stood up from wherever he was sitting.

    I found myself listening more intensely. I don't know enough about Ally to care about her, but I do know if he lays a hand on a woman he's dead.

    I heard him walk across the room towards her voice as he told her again she couldn't leave.

    I don't know how she was staying so calm when she spoke even though he was definitely yelling in her face at that point.

    "Ally," he was practically screaming now, "you're my best server and if you leave now there will be consequences!"

    Is this man really her boss? Who the fuck let that happen?

    I don't know exactly what happened next, but the moment I heard a thud hit the ground I pushed the door open and saw Ally on the floor holding her face, Max standing over her with a red mark on the inside of his open palm.

    Did he just slap her? For taking time off?

    Some sort of instinct took over me and before I knew it I was holding him against the wall with my arm across this throat.

    He wasn't particularly weak or short, but he was taken by enough surprise by me that it was almost easy to hold him there.

    "What the fuck!" he spat in my face.

    "What the hell is wrong with you? Hitting a woman?" I didn't even realize I was turning red until I heard Ally call my name.

    "Let's go," she said calmly as she grabbed my arm and started pulling me out of the room and towards the entrance.

    Once we were outside, she stopped and hit me lightly on the chest. "What the fuck was that?" She seemed angry. Why is she mad at me? I didn't hit her. "I don't need you to defend me!"

    "That guy was being a dick!"

    "Yeah well that dick is my boss. You can't just screw up my life because I'm trapped with you for the time being. I still have to work here once I leave."

    I stopped when I looked at her face. It was red still, a light outline of his hand glowing on her cheek.

    She paused when she saw me staring and turned away. "It's fine," she scoffed, "doesn't even hurt."

    "Regardless if you're staying with us or not, a guy shouldn't talk that way to a woman, let alone pull shit like that." I pointed at her face and she turned away again.

    "What's done is done. Can we just go get my things from my apartment now please?"

    I nodded, followed by a heavy sigh, and let her lead me back to her appartement.

Once we got there, she packed enough clothes for a week or two in a black suitcase as I walked around her kitchen looking for something cold to put on her face for the mark.

No one was home, thankfully, and it didn't take her long to be ready. I found an ice pack in the freezer by the time we were leaving and I told her to hold it on her face as I drove us back.

It was the afternoon by then. No one was home besides Scar and Teo who were training in the gym, to the surprise of no one.

They didn't say anything when Ally and I walked past to get to her room, though Scarlet definitely saw her bags when we passed them.

"How's you face?" I asked as we walked into her room. It's her room now, rather she likes it or not.

"It's fine."

I knew it still hurt, he hit her hard enough to knock her off her feet. But I wasn't gonna try to tell her she was lying.

"Unpack," I told her once she sat down on her bed, "I have to go talk to Scarlet about something, find me when you're ready."

She nodded and watched as I left and shut her door behind me.