A Bad Fucking Day

(Mason)

I was left to jerk off in the shower before I had to go to the shop. I didn’t do that kind of shit. A woman should have been in the shower with me. I needed to fix that situation as soon as possible. I owed Violet nothing. I didn’t need to save myself for her just like she didn’t need to save herself for me. If anything, a little old fashioned jealousy might wake her ass up a little. If not, then it was back to square one. Women screaming my name, pounding against the wall, driving Violet crazy.

That was fun.

She made it serious.

Yeah, I shouldn’t have pushed at her about her ex. That information… whatever. And asking questions about me? My past? My heart? That was a vault that would remain shut. Nothing could change that.

I rode my motorcycle to the shop to find a nice mess waiting.

Andy and Thorn were standing with a motorcycle. There was a big guy standing at the motorcycle, a black SUV parked right behind him. I saw Hunter coming out of the main office with a pissed off scowl on his face. He was followed by Dicky, who looked ready to throw a punch.

“Ah, fuck,” I whispered as I walked my motorcycle backward into its parking spot.

I climbed off and prepped myself for whatever waited.

It was rare for us to have a pissed off client. And even if there was a problem, I usually settled it in my office or at a bar.

When the big guy turned and looked at me, I recognized who he was.

A guy named Leo that we had worked with last month. He had been a pain in the ass, right to the point of holding the motorcycle hostage while he gave us a hard time when it came time to pay his bill.

“What do we have here?” I asked.

“You,” Leo bellowed. “Where have you been?”

“I don’t answer to you,” I said. “I don’t answer to anyone.”

“Like hell you do. I want my money back.”

“For what?”

“For this cheap work.”

“We don’t do cheap work,” Andy said. “Come on, Leo, let’s go sit…”

“Fuck off, pencil neck,” Leo growled.

“Hey,” Hunter snapped. “I have the damn contract right here. What you wanted. What you signed for. And what you paid for.”

“Fuck what I paid for,” Leo said. “I was bullied by you all.”

“Excuse me?” I asked. “What is the actual problem here, Leo?”

“The ride,” he said and pointed. “I don’t like it.”

I looked at the motorcycle. “Seems fine to me.”

“I hate it.”

“It runs?” Hunter asked.

“I fucking rode it here,” Leo said.

“The design you wanted is there,” Dicky said.

“It’s shit work,” Leo said.

I saw Dicky step forward. I put a hand out to stop things from escalating.

“Okay,” I said. “First off, Dicky does top notch work. He’s been with me since day one. Nobody calls his work shit. Ever. You sat with him, Hunter, myself. You told us what you wanted. We drafted some designs. You said you liked them. You saw the ride, you paid for it…”

“I didn’t want to pay for it,” Leo said.

“Granted, you did.”

“You strong armed me.”

“How?”

“You stole my ride.”

I laughed. “Leo. I have better things to do in my life than deal with this. We both can agree on that.”

“Look at this mess…” he pointed to the seat.

Leo walked to the custom leather seat. He wanted a skull smoking a cigar. I had to have the seat custom made from someone I knew in Southern Cali. Took me two weeks to get it all worked out. Custom leather with custom stitching even. I ended up eating a little money on it because when I give a quote to a client I kept to it.

The problem, truthfully, was that Leo’s giant ass was squashing the leather.

That wasn’t my problem. That was the cheeseburgers he pounded for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

“I can’t control physics,” I said, sort of tongue in cheek.

“What does that mean?” Leo asked.

“Let’s keep this simple,” Hunter said. “You paid for the work we did. You liked the work. Now you’re pissed about something else.”

Leo was a degenerate gambler too. He probably had a bad weekend at the tables and needed cash.

“What am I pissed about then?” Leo yelled at Hunter.

I saw someone getting out of the black SUV. It was another big dude, more fat than muscle, just like Leo.

“Who is this?” I asked.

“My cousin,” Leo said. “We aren’t leaving without a refund.”

“Is that a threat?” I asked.

“I’ll call the cops,” Dicky said. “Fuck this.”

“Pussy,” Leo said. “Can’t settle it like a man?”

“This isn’t a boxing match, asshole,” Dicky said.

“Hey,” Hunter yelled and grabbed for Dicky. He pushed him toward the garage. “Go get a coffee.”

“And put some of that pussy flavored creamer in it,” Leo called out.

“That’s enough,” I said. “This is done. Get out of here, Leo. You need some cash? I got a hundred bucks in my pocket. You can have it. You and I know the work we did was exactly what you wanted. You gave me a hard time about paying the balance owed. That’s why I held your ride. And while it was in my garage, it was covered and untouched. Whatever you’re going through, it’s not my fault. And it’s not my guys’ fault. Go.”

“Make me,” Leo said. He turned and faced me.

“Mason, let me call the cops,” Hunter said. “Don’t even bother anymore.”

“What the fuck are you going to do?” Leo asked. “Huh?”

I felt a fire flicker inside me. Goddammit, everything was suddenly rushing through my body. The phone call that fucked up my childhood. The one person who tried to save it… and me. The only person I ever loved. All that rage, sitting and building. Festering. Then fucking Violet. Crashing into my life. She was a storm and the damn thing kept coming back. It wouldn’t just pass.

“He’s just staring,” Leo said. “What are you doing, Mason? You going to man up and do the right thing here? Just issue a check. Give me the refund and I’m gone. You know I’m right. Just do it.”

“No,” I said. “I won’t do that.” I was fighting to stay calm. “You paid for work we did. You have a problem you can take it up somewhere else. You’re not going to push me around, Leo. And any other business you have, take it elsewhere. I promise you, you won’t find another place like this.”

“Bunch of cock licking pussies,” he said. “That’s what you are. Fucking guy can’t even draw a straight line. And this fucking pussy” - he pointed to Hunter - “chasing me around with paperwork. Fuck your paperwork. And you” - Leo pointed at me with a small, fat, crooked finger - “you fucking just take it up the ass, I bet. From all of them.”

That’s when I lost it.

A man has limits. I had been trying to control my limits because of Violet. That was a big mistake. I needed my releases in life.

My fist flew forward as Hunter screamed my name. Before he could finish, I connected to Leo’s pudgy jaw. His arms flew back and he stumbled back, right into the motorcycle. He knocked the damn thing over and toppled on top of it. He grabbed his face and rolled to his side, yelling in pain.

Everyone from the shop came out to see the finale of the commotion.

I pointed to Leo’s cousin. “Get him out of here. You too.”

“You scratched it!” Leo yelled. He wrestled to get to his feet. “You scratched my ride!”

“And we’ll gladly buff that out for you,” Hunter said. “We’ll even give you a returning customer discount.”

“You’re fucked,” Leo said. “I’ll bury you. Assholes.”

I made a fist and showed it to Leo. “The next time I hit you, Leo, you’ll wake up five years from now.”

I’d never seen a big man move so quick in my life. He and his cousin lifted the motorcycle off the ground and they took off, Leo leading, his cousin peeling out in the black SUV.

“That’s going to be a problem,” Hunter said.

“Fuck him,” I said. “Nobody gets to do that to anyone in my business.”

I walked away from Hunter and went to find Dicky. He was in the break room, staring at a picture of a woman holding wrenches at her tits. It was the only thing blocking her nipples from being seen.

“Dicky,” I said.

He turned. “Mason.”

“You’re good at what you do. Don’t let anyone deny it.”

“You hit him, didn’t you?”

“Just a warning tap.”

“Jesus, Mason. You can’t hit customers.”

“Too late now.”

I knocked on the door and went to my office.

All day long I took calls, talked to the guys, had two meetings with new clients, but my mind wasn’t there. All that mattered was that we were open, doing business, and life was moving forward.

Hunter opened my office door. “End of the day.”

“End of another week,” I said.

“Want the bad news now or Monday?”

“What bad news?”

“Our situation from before,” Hunter said.

“What about?”

“He’s pursuing us,” Hunter said. “Talking to people. Word is getting around.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“Mason…”

“Hunter…”

“You should get ahead of it. Post a video. Apologize.”

“That I won’t do,” I said. I stood up. “I’m going home.”

“Thought we were going out for a drink?”

“I’m going the fuck home,” I said.

Hunter showed me his hands. “Sorry.”

That was the end of my fucked day.

Or so I fucking thought.

* * *

Picture this.

After I walked up the steps and opened the door to the hallway, the last thing I thought I would see was a guy standing at Violet’s door.

Some skinny little dude holding a single red flower.

Not even a fucking rose.

I kept walking, and when I got close enough, he looked at me and nodded.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” I said.

I stopped at my door. I looked at the dude. “You, uh, got big plans?”

“Date,” he said. “Your neighbor.”

“Right,” I said.

A fucking date?

“Hey,” he said. “Got any tips for me?”

“No,” I said. “Good luck. Maybe next time bring a real flower. Not something that you swiped from the front landscaping.”

The door opened and Violet stepped out. “Hey. You must be Charlie.”

Charlie?

I did all I could not to laugh.

This guy looked like he’d break into a sweat lifting a pencil. He looked like he hadn’t…

I broke my thoughts.

Was I really judging this dude?

I didn’t need to ask why. I knew why.

Fuck me, I knew why.

“Ready to go?” Violet asked.

“Yeah,” Charlie said. “This is for you.”

She took the flower. “Aw, that’s so sweet.”

I felt my teeth grind.

Violet looked at me, but made no expression.

She hooked her hand through Charlie’s arm. They walked away.

They were the same height. This dude was short. He couldn’t protect her. He couldn’t defend her.

I stood there long after they were gone.

Violet had done it… she’d made me jealous.

“Well played,” I whispered.

But she wasn’t going to win this. No fucking way.

I was going to be awake and waiting for her when she got back from her date.