Daphne

(35) Confrontation at the deli

Mike saw the two women shake their heads and step slowly backward. He saw that reaction less than two hours before and knew exactly what it meant. He didn't want to face more of his victims. Not now. He prepared to leave.

But not quickly enough. Daphne entered with two others, their faces ashen and looking afraid, they bravely followed their leader nonetheless. They all sat down, nervous. Silent.

"Mike, these are my friends and co-workers Hannah and Roberta..."

Mike: "And... we've all 'met' at Leo's."

The two women looked down at the table.

He continued: "Girls, do you know what the definition of Courage is?" The two glanced up. "It's doing something you have to do even though you're scared silly. You're both scared witless, aren't you?" They nodded meekly. "But here you are, sharing a table with the Devil himself anyway."

"Hannah. Tell me, when was your last time there, at Leo's?"

"S-s-s-Saturday"

"That was you?" Mike recalled Daphne's note in her calendar; this was the new girl! "Hold on – THAT was your first time... ever...?"

She nodded.

"Hannah, would do me a favor?" Mike sat up. "Please, sit up straight and look at me directly... proudly. Look me in the eye."

She sat up and looked in his face, but, as she was visibly shaking, she was not an image of pride. Frankly, Mike hadn't expected even this much.

"Hannah, why were you up on that stage? Surely you had the chance to bail out. You knew what I was going to do – why did you stay?"

"I stayed because I made a promise and others, Daphne and Roberta – and others, they were depending on me."

"OK, I understand loyalty and camaraderie and keeping your word. All are admirable traits and I respect that. And I respect you. Now here's a hard question, the only question that matters: Despite everything that happened, do you regret keeping your promises?"

Hannah was visibly taken aback at first, but then she leaned forward, looking her adversary intensely with laser-beam eyes. "I've never felt pain like what you did to me. You put me in a place where there was nothing in the universe but pain, and nothing in the future but more pain. I don't remember anything about you but searing pain from my toe nails to the ends of my hair. And wishing it would stop."

Mike was grinning. "What's so funny?" Hannah asked.

"I'm reveling in your honesty. A minute ago you were so scared you'd have jumped out of your skin if I'd said 'BOO!' and now you're telling me off! You're genuinely pissed at me. Fantastic!"

"You're not angry at me?"

"No, and I wasn't when I whipped you either. I was just doing my job. But I think you'll feel better after you confront me and get your feelings off your chest."

She sat and looked at Mike. "Yeah..." Not a trace of fear on her face.

"Speaking of which, and I hope you don't mind my saying, I think you've got a really nice chest."

"Really?" She looked down. "'Cuz sometimes I think they're a bit heavy..." She stopped mid-sentence and looked up to see three pairs of eyes looking at her as she augmented her bra's support of her breasts' weight with her hands. "Umm." She blushed and dropped her hands. Her bra resumed battling gravity on its own. She gulped. She cleared her throat. She looked up at Mike. "It's weird, but I don't regret keeping my promises. I learned that I can survive adversity. I used to think that getting raped was the worst thing that could happen to me, but I'm pretty sure if I got assaulted today I'd spit on him and laugh at his limp manhood. And right now I don't know if I should hate you or kiss you."