The Other Side Of Fear[1]

Chapter 9

The weekend finally came and I spent my Saturday morning working at the shop with Jack. He did a little more training with me and after a few hours, he finally let me serve at the counter on my own. I was loving the independence and started to get more and more comfortable in the role as I conversed with the customers who asked me where I'd moved from, had I made many friends, did I like the town? I answered in the way that I knew they would be satisfied with; that I loved their perfect little town. Lies. Although I had to admit, my new friends and spending time with Archie had already made it a thousand times better.

Speaking of Archie, he had literally text me like twenty times since I bailed on him the night before. He obviously didn't have a clue why I suddenly reacted so crazily and I had been ignoring him all shift because I was a little embarrassed.

Eventually, I took my break and sat in the back room with my salad and finally texted Archie back. I apologised for the delay and for the night before. He said it was okay and that he just wanted to make sure I was alright and that he wanted to see me. I agreed to meet him in town at the end of my shift.

I finished up my salad, feeling a little happier that everything was okay between Archie and I and especially happier that I was seeing him after work. I washed my Tupperware and went to the bathroom, straightening up my appearance. It wasn't exactly a glam job, but there was the odd hottie that came in here every so often and it didn't hurt to look cute.

I paced slowly back through the back of the shop and moved to step out the door that led to behind the counter. I caught sight of an unsettling figure standing at the counter and jumped back, hiding behind the wall. I instantly felt my heart pounding as I listened to Jack apologise again to Cal for not providing his change and the lack of response from Cal was just typical. I waited to hear him leave and really hated myself for feeling so afraid. I had never been afraid of anyone. Heck, in New York, I lived in the nicest neighbourhood, went to the nicest school, hung out at the nicest places. I wasn't used to his kind of town where people feared the sound of a particular family name.

I had told him last night that I wasn't scared of him, but I clearly was scared of something or I wouldn't have been hiding from him. That's when I told myself something. People like Cal Lakey probably got off on others being afraid of him and letting him walk all over them. I didn't want to be one of those scared people like Jack. I had already told two little mini Lakeys off on my first day here for starting fires and I had almost went full thrown bitch fight with that April girl. I wasn't going to let this Lakey try and intimidate me too.

I stepped out from behind the door and approached the counter casually, a gentle smile on my face like I had not care in the world. Cal's eyes locked on me and narrowed before turning back to the items Jack was bagging up and I hovered behind Jack, waiting for them to finish the transaction.

On this day, I had decided to wear a sweater. I had woken up early for the shift after racing to bed the night before after my ordeal with Cal and it had seemed cold out so I had quickly thrown on a sweater over my vest and left before I was late for my first real shift. Now, standing here in this tiny store with Cal in front of me, I was starting to sweat. The weather had turned nice and luckily I had put on a vest top underneath.

I moved back through the counter door and quickly removed my sweater before stepping back into the store. Cal's eyes glanced at me again quickly before moving away again – then he did a double take. His usual mean glare and angry eyes and stern mouth completely vanished. His eyebrows softened, his eyes seemed to go big and his mouth opened slightly. He looked...caught off guard. His gaze on me immediately made me feel awkward. Was he staring at my breasts? It was a tight top. Jack caught sight of Cal's expression and turned curiously to glance at what his eyes were on. He looked at me confusedly, before his eyes turned soft too and he frowned. What the hell were they looking at?