moan for uncle 5 (10 page)

While replacing the milk bag in the milk machine, Lily's heart filled with dread. She was one of the two women at the coffee shop working the overnight shift and from what she could gather from her co-worker, who was currently in a heated argument on the telephone with her
husband,
she may be the only one for the remainder of the night. It wouldn't have been so bad if the dining room were closed, the front doors locked and it was only the drive-thru window open, but that wasn't the case. Any lunatic could stroll on in.

The sound of sobbing came from the kitchen and Lily sighed.

"Fine, you son-of-a-bitch!"
Her co-worker screamed into the phone between sobs before slamming the receiver down. Lily was tempted to go out back and into the kitchen to check on Angie, but what could she say? Was it any of her business?
Really?
Lily was fairly new at the coffee shop and was just getting to know Angie, so she simply didn't feel comfortable consoling her when she had no idea what was going on.

There was a rustling of clothing, which Lily knew to be the sound of Angie throwing on her jacket.
Damn it.

Several minutes went by before Angie, who had already removed her headset, brown visor and hairnet emerged from the kitchen, her dark eyes swollen and puffy from crying.

Lily opened her mouth to say something, anything, but was at a loss so snapped it shut again and waited for her co-worker to tell her she was leaving.

"I've
gotta
go home," Angie raised a hand, as though to silence any rebuttal Lily may make. "But I'll be back; give me an hour, tops. I swear I won't be long."

Giving the middle-aged dark-haired woman a weak smile, Lily nodded. "Take all the time you need. I'll be fine." She took a deep breath in and exhaled. "Honest. I'll be fine. The baker will be here in a couple of hours. I'm sure I can handle the one or two cabbies that come though until then."

Angie strode over to Lily and pulled her into a quick embrace. "Oh, thank you Lily, I owe you one." She sniffed as she released the surprised Lily and rushed to the front door. "Less than an hour I promise," Angie yelled over her shoulder as she pushed open the door of the coffee shop and rushed out into the parking lot.

Lily watched through the plate glass window that spanned the front of the restaurant as Angie scurried across the parking lot heading towards her older model Ford Focus. As she watched Angie leave, she removed her visor and hairnet. If she was going to work alone then she'd be damned if she was going to keep that horrid visor on her head.

Once the visor and hairnet were off she shook out her long golden blonde silken hair, before resettling the headset atop her head. She then undid the restrictive top two buttons of her matching brown uniform shirt and breathed a sigh of relief; she might be alone but at least now she now felt comfortable.

Taking one more look into the parking lot to satisfy
herself
that there were no potential customers heading her way, she rushed to the kitchen, into the large walk-in cooler and grabbed several stacks of cream cheese so she could top up the supplies in the front breakfast counter, for the morning bagels.

With her stacks of cream cheese in her arms she scampered across the kitchen and back out to the front of the store. She made it to the breakfast counter just as a customer strolled in the front entrance.

Normally she'd have been annoyed at the disturbance considering she now had the work of two people to accomplish before morning by herself, but she took one look at the sexy man strolling across the dining room towards the front counter and decided to make an exception.

He was tall - perhaps six foot or so - with short close-cut brown hair, broad shoulders, and a lean torso. His eyes were a dark seductive shade of green and his features, hard and chiselled. If she had to wager a guess she'd say he was twenty-eight, close to ten years her senior. He was - without a doubt - the hottest man she'd ever seen and she found her pulse begin to race as she looked him over.

"Now what did you do to be stuck working the graveyard shift?" he asked as he approached the front counter and flashed a sinfully sexy smile at her.

Lily could feel her face flush slightly as she shrugged. "Just lucky I guess." Depositing the cream cheese on the breakfast counter she made her way over to the register, to take his order. "What can I get for you?"

He clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth as his eyes surveyed the short menu.

Lily groaned inwardly, hot or not, she hated customers like him. She had work to do, and standing there waiting for him to decide all he wanted was a coffee was a waste of her time. She needed this job, so everything had to be perfect when the day shift arrived in the morning otherwise it was
her
ass they’d be after. They wouldn't give a rat’s ass that Angie had abandoned her partway through the shift.

"I guess I'll just have a large coffee, black." He nodded, pleased with his selection and shifted his eyes to meet hers.

Lily felt a shiver run down her spine as his eyes locked onto hers which immediately ignited a pulsing between her legs. After the span of several beats she broke eye contact and set to work on his coffee as he leaned over, rested his elbows on the counter, laced his fingers in front of him and watched her intently.

"Have you worked here long?"

Setting the coffee pot back onto the burner she snapped the plastic cover onto the paper cup and passed it to him.
"A couple of months."

Straightening up he reached into the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out a handful of change. As he sorted through the various coins, a quarter slipped from his fingers and he bent to retrieve it.

At the same moment that he bent over, something warm and fast whizzed by Lily's face, grazing her cheek and seconds later the glass door of the microwave behind her imploded.

Mouth agape, Lily jumped at the sound of the microwave's glass door shattering, not even paying any notice to the wound across her cheek. Her eyes whipped back to the front of the store to see a small hole in the glass, which was now cracked, but had yet to actually break.

"Get down!"

Everything seemed to happen so fast. Lily had no idea what was happening, but briefly glimpsed the customer as he leapt over the counter towards her with the grace and speed of a panther, and tackled her to the floor.

She grunted as she hit the ceramic floor - hard, with his large, heavy frame covering her tiny one. The sound of glass shattering came from the front of the store, followed by a light thumping sound as something embedded itself in the wall above the back counter.

"Come on!" The man was already off her and onto his feet, crouching behind the counter.

As her eyes focused on him, they immediately noticed the gun he now held in his hand. She gasped and attempted to stand to run.

"Holy fuck woman, do you want to die? Stay down and follow me," he ordered in a hushed, but firm tone.

Lily gulped down the lump which was rapidly forming in her throat and nodded. Her heart was racing so quickly, she could actually
feel
it throbbing within her chest.

Standing, the customer fired the pistol several times out into the parking lot, each shot felt like a major explosion in her ears leaving her head reeling from the unexpected sound. Reaching down, he grabbed her hand and pulled the dazed and confused Lily to her feet and into the back kitchen with him.

"
Wh
…what's going on?" Slightly disoriented, she started to walk towards the doorway which led to the front of the store, but he grasped her forearm tightly, jerking her back to him. He grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around so she was facing him.

"We don't have much time, so you need to listen to me." His voice was eerily calm, as though whatever was going on was an everyday occurrence to him.

Lily nodded, but her eyes seemed to want to look back out into the dining room.

He gave her a light shake and she snapped her eyes back to meet his. "Do you have a car?"

Lily nodded. "It's out back. Why? What's…?"

"Good. Give me the keys. Hurry up."

She hesitated for a moment and then rushed over to her purse sitting on the small round plastic staff table. Digging into her black handbag, she produced the keys to her ancient Dodge Neon and deposited them into his outstretched hand.

He gave her a friendly smile, which just slightly helped calm her frazzled nerves. "Okay, you need to listen carefully."

Lily nodded.

"There are some very bad men out there and they're going to come in here after us, so we need to leave.
Now!"

Lily shook her head and took a step back from him. "No, I can't leave. Who are you? What's going on?" So many questions were racing through her head that she was having a difficult time thinking clearly. Was she in shock? She gave her head a slight shake trying to clear the fuzziness.

"I'll explain later, come on." He gave her hand a tug, but she remained rooted to the spot.

"Are you a cop or something?" He certainly didn't
look
like a cop, but that didn't mean he wasn't one.

He ran a nervous hand through his dark hair, gave her a lopsided grin and nodded.
"Or something.
Come on." He gave her hand another tug, but again she remained where she was.

"What does that mean,
or something
?"

The man huffed and rolled his eyes at her. "Listen, maybe I didn't make myself clear a moment ago. We need to go now... if we don't then those bad men will come in here and kill you
and
me."

When she didn't respond.
He shrugged. "Suit yourself." Dropping her hand from his he raced toward the back door his three quarter length black leather jacket flapping out behind him as he ran.

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