King of the Don's

two

Briar-Present day

I was not in the best of moods. First and foremost I was exhausted after a ten hour shift waitressing, and then on top of that, a two and a half hour lecture for a class I didn't even like being in. Math. Even the name gave me a shiver.

Then, I got a call from a friend practically begging me to go out with her, claiming "I never do anything fun", which in her defense, was true. But it wasn't like I really ever had the option to do fun things, whenever I had spare time I tried to work, because I had to put food on the table, which was something Annie never had to do.

"I'm being serious Annie, I don't really want to go in." I told my best friend for the thousandth time, only for her to roll her eyes and huff out a breath, "Come on, last time you came with us you had fun! And that one bouncer who gave us free drinks is here!" She told me, while we were walking into a random bar by my apartment to meet her other friend, Madeline.

I tried again, "I just saw Thomas walk in a few minutes ago, and you know how uncomfortable it makes me to be around him ever since what happened." I admitted, and she rolled her eyes again.

Annie made it known that she didn't care that Thomas, my ex-boyfriend of three months, cheated on me. She thought I should just look past it, and give the relationship another try like he begged me to do so many times. I on the other hand was not feeling the same way, especially because he had proven to be such a grade A jerk off ever since I broke things off with him.

And now that he is at the same bar as us, a place where I have only been once before, I wanted to leave. And Annie thought I was the one acting ridiculous.

"Come on, Briar. You're being a total buzzkill right now, just forget about Thomas. That bouncer that has a boner for you is here-"

"His name is Carter, and he does not have a boner for me. We literally know each other from class, and he just happens to be a bouncer here."

"Whatever," She started again. "He totally has a thing for you, so just get us the free drinks and if you still want to leave later, you can."

I swallowed thickly at her words, and was about to reply, but we finally saw her friend, Madeline, who started waving from across the bar. Annie made a beeline toward her table, and I followed silently behind. Jesus Christ I don't know how I always let her drag me into these things.

Probably because I have no other friends. I should really work on that.

I saw Madeline do a double take when she noticed I was standing behind Annie, and she let out a fake ahw , "Oh Briar," She forced out a small grin, "I didn't know you were coming." She said, giving Annie a look, and I shrugged, "Yeah, Annie insisted."

She didn't respond, only gave me a halfhearted smile before whispering in Annie's ear, which prompted both girls to laugh.

I sat there with them both for a while, while the two girls talked like that hadn't just seen each other the day before. I had almost completely zoned out, but I heard Madeline say my name, "Hey Briar", she ushered me to come forward, "Why don't you try and score us some free drinks again? Isn't that one dude here?" She asked, cranking her head to look around the bar. I was about to tell them I didn't feel comfortable doing that, but Annie stuck out her lip in a pout, "Oh come on Briar, just this once and we won't ask again. Promise."

I bit the inside of my cheek, which was something I did when I was nervous or anxious, and slowly nodded my head. There wouldn't be any harm in asking Carter, right? I mean, we were kinda friends after all. I didn't really know much about him, only we were in the same Concepts of English class. We didn't have any similar classes beyond that, though, as I was an English major, and he was pre-law, which meant he was a total smarty pants who knew what he wanted to do with his life.

And I literally had no clue. Not a single one.

I approached the counter, and stepped up on the long bar underneath to get a better viewpoint of the place. I doubted that Carter would be behind the bar at this time, but I wasn't really searching for him, more or less trying to put on a show so the duo of evil would leave me alone.

I leaned over the counter farther to get a better view, but jolted back when I felt a hand harshly grab my ass, What the literal-

I quickly turned around, and saw the face that I never wanted to see again. Thomas had a dumb, drunk smile on his face while he closer to my ear, "Well who do we have here? Little Briar James finally loosened up enough to enter a bar past 9pm? Never thought I'd see the day." Thomas shook his head with a smirk, and I seriously thought about rearing my hand back to give him a good smack across the face, but then quickly decided against it, "Leave me alone, Thomas." I decided on, and his smile turned into a fake pout, "Oh come on, baby, I miss you." He tried again, and I frowned, then noticed his hand was still near my ass, so I swatted it away, "Seriously Thomas, you lost the privilege to call me that once I saw you banging that girl. I'm over it, and you should be too."

I saw him clench his first, which was a sign he was starting to get angry with me, and I was about to tell him to buzz off, when he spoke again, "Seriously. Don't be such a fuckin' bitch, let's just go." He tried again, and I smelt the stale alcohol on his breath as he grabbed my arm.

I felt my anxiety rear it's head at his ugly words, so I tried to yank my arm out of his tight grasp, but he wouldn't budge, "C'mon Briar, let me have a taste of that pussy you're so protective of." He tried again, but I finally yanked my arm out of his grip, "I'm going to call the cops if you don't leave me alone." I warned, feeling my anxiety coming head on, and he let out a scoff, "You think you're ever to find a man without giving up a piece of that ass? You're a delusional tease who will get what is fucking coming to them." He growled, and I didn't miss the promise in his voice, like he knew something I didn't.

I didn't have the energy to deal with him, so with the best glare I could muster, I brushed past him. I needed to get far away from him, and this stupid bar as I could be.

I quickly debated on going back to Annie and Madeline, but decided it wasn't an option. They would just tell me I needed to calm down, and take the "compliment", and that's not what I needed to hear tonight.

I just needed a minute to myself, to gather the courage to tell them I was leaving, so I followed along the nearest wall, as I felt my anxiety grow even more by the minute, and when I saw a random room off to the side in the back of the bar, I went in.

I opened the wooden door and went inside, relieved to finally have some quiet. I dropped my purse, and took a look around while trying to catch my breath.

It was a spacious area, thank God, which looked pretty similar to a conference room. There wasn't much in there, just a large rectangle table with some rolly chairs, and a door leading to what I assumed was a coat closet.

I felt an anxiety attack rearing its head, and I tried talking myself through my breathing exercises for a few minutes, but it wasn't working. I needed to leave.

It was at times like these that I wished I had more friends, but even more than that, some family. The only friend I had was Annie who was my neighbor growing up, but it was hard for me to make friends. Whenever I tried talking to new people, I always made a fool of myself.

After a few more seconds I decided I had enough tonight, and fully planned to go back to my apartment to eat my weight in cookies, and watch the bachelorette. But when I reached for the door handle, I heard voices right outside the door.

Close, angry voices.

•••

Any thoughts!? Who do you think is on the other side of the door?