Two weeks have gone by since I had gotten my bruise, and I'm happy to wake up in the morning and see that it is completely healed. With the picture I had sent yesterday, Panda told me that it looked like I would have been able to come back soon, so I kept that in mind last night when Jon had asked me on another date. Despite going out almost every day the past two weeks and pretty much watching every movie that was playing in the theater at this point, we both wanted to see more of each other. It hurt me having to turn him down, however, after not working for way too long, I've been dying to go back to the club.
So, after doing my morning jog with Ohm, lap dance practice, and spending a few hours talking on the phone with Jonathan, I couldn't wait for four o'clock to hit. The second it did, I practically ran out of my apartment and jumped into my car in a matter of seconds.
By the time I got to work, most of the guys had already arrived. It was close to five, so I already knew that everyone was inside, setting up and getting ready for the night. This was always something we looked forward to, because it gave us the most time to just sit around and talk without having to worry about when we would have to go on stage or worry about any of the customers. Right now was all about setting up, hoping for an easy night, and just getting to talk to each other.
However, when I walk backstage, I instantly hear yelling from the front. Fear shoots through my body and I run into the hall and through the door. What I end up seeing is all of the dancers and waiters gathered around in a half circle, staring at something. I go around the group and gasp at what I see. Marcel and David are on top of Bryce, and Smitty and Mini are hugging Ohm, who is shaking.
"Wh-What's going on," I ask, bringing everyone's attention to me.
Ohm pulling out of Smitty's and Mini's arms and he looks at me, showing me the shattered glass sticking out of his face. Blood and tears are streaming down his face.
"Oh my god, Ohm," I scream before running to him and grabbing his face, being care to not touch the glass. "What happened?!"
"Nothing, it's fine," he says, pushing my hands off of him.
"Bullshit; what happened?!"
"Nothing; it's fine now!"
"Smitty, what happened," I ask, knowing Ohm won't tell me anything now.
"I don't know," he says, shaking his head. "We were setting up and all of a sudden we heard Bryce yelling at Ohm. I was pulling out the boxes of liquor for the night and all of a sudden I hear glass shattering. I put the box down and ran out and saw Ohm on the ground, holding the side of his face and Bryce had grabbed two bottle from behind the bar. He threw that at Ohm, but he was moving away. Then, David and Marcel tackled him, Panda ran to his office, and we've been trying to calm him down. That was ten minutes ago."
"Oh my god, why," I yell, looking over to Bryce in shock. I feel my blood turn cold when I look down to him though. Marcel and David are barely able to stay on top of him and Bryce struggles to push them off of him, and his glare at Ohm is so sharp that it might as well be a sword.
"You should have fucking told me," Bryce yells at Ohm. "You had all fucking day! We live together! Why the fuck didn't you tell me shit?! You should have fucking told me!"
"I'm sorry," Ohm yells back. "I told you, I just forgot! I though Panda told you! I'm sorry!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Bryce says in a mocking tone. "Is that all you fucking know how to say you son of a bitch?!"
"Bryce-"
"Stay the fuck out of this, Evan," he spits at me. When he turns his attention to me, I practically fall back from just seeing the fire burning in his eyes. "This is all your fault anyways! This whole fight wouldn't be fucking happening if it wasn't for you!"
Marcel then grabs a handful of Bryce hair and slams his face into the ground before yelling, "Shut up, Bryce! You're not making this any easier on yourself!"
"Fuck you!"
I can't help but shake my head at all of this. I've never seen Bryce act like this. He's so angry, and I don't understand why, or where this is coming from. I don't understand what's going on.
Ten minutes. This whole thing started ten minutes before I got here. What could have happened?
Bryce continues to yell and struggle for what feels like an eternity, and I can't help but shake in fear as I see this. His behavior... It reminds me of-
We finally hear the front door open before we see three police officers rush in. They run over to Bryce and force his hands behind his back before Marcel and David get off of him. Panda walks out from the back and pulls one of the officers to the side. I have to fight back tears as I watch him get dragged away, kicking and screaming, threatening Ohm. After a minute, Panda and the officer go over to Ohm and he helps Ohm up. He talks to him in a claiming voice before leading him to the bar.
"Alright everyone," Panda yells out, facing everyone that was still in that little half circle. "I know that this is going to be hard, but I want all of you to put on smiles and get back to work. We can't let this incident keep us from doing our jobs, and you all already know that I've done all I can to keep everyone safe. Ohm will be taken care of, Bryce will be taken care of, and I know that with the support from all of you, you will be taken care of. So, get back to work! We have a busy night!"
After Panda finishes his speech, everyone breaks away and goes back to setting up for tonight, including Mini and Smitty. Panda then walks over to me and gives me his hand.
"Some way to be welcomed back."
"You can say that again," I say, taking his hand. He then pulls me up and pats me on the back. I bite my lip, wanting to know, but knowing myself, I won't be able to stop the question from coming out. "Do you know what happened?"
He sighs and pats me on the back again before turning to the back door. "Let's talk in my office."
I blink in confusion, but follow after him. In about a minute, we end up in his office, and he asks me to go sit on his couch. I do as he asks, and watch him as he walks over to his bar, pouring a drink for himself before he grabs a glass and fills it with coke for me.
After handing me the coke, he walks over to the window and looks out. "I was down stairs when the fight started. I was originally going to speak with Bryce when I saw him here, but before I had the chance, Ohm got to him."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, Bryce wasn't supposed to be here. While your bruise was healing, I had him working the floor. I was planning on giving him the day off today, and I had told Ohm to tell him. Apparently that didn't happen, so when I went to ask Bryce why he was here, Ohm ran up to him and started apologizing to him. Next thing I know, Bryce had slammed his drink into Ohm face."
"Are you serious?"
"Unfortunately," he says before he take a drink. "All week, I heard him talk about how some old friends of his were in town, and he hadn't found the time to see them. He complained about how they had been inviting him out every night, but because he was scheduled to work, he wasn't able to see them. My guess is that Ohm forgot to tell Bryce about the schedule change, and Bryce got mad about missing out on a night with his friends."
My heart drops to my stomach as Bryce's words come back to me. It makes sense now. "This is all my fault."
"What?"
"None of this would have happened if it wasn't for me. If I hadn't gotten hurt. If I didn't come back today. This-"
"Vanoss, no," Panda says loudly, slamming his glass on the bar before he walks over to me. "This happened because Ohm failed to tell Bryce that he wasn't suppose to come to work today. This happened because Bryce has been drinking since he got here. That is something that I know because I saw him hammering down a bottle by himself." He then sits next to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "You did nothing wrong."
I look down to his hand before turning my head away from Panda. Taking a deep breath, I try to let Panda's words sink in, but I can't help but think about Bryce and Ohm. "What's going to happen to Bryce and Ohm now?"
"Nothing."
"What?"
"I talked to the police officers personally. I made a deal with them in order to keep Bryce from going to jail. They're just going to drive him back to the apartments and keep an eye on him until he sobers up. The third officer that's with Ohm right now, is currently pulling the glass out of his face. If we're lucky, he might still be able to work tonight."
"What? How?"
"He's the only guy here that wears a mask for his costume, remember? If the glass is just by his eyes, we can have him cover his scars with the mask."
"But, shouldn't he go to the hospital?"
I look back to him after I had asked that, and feel my blood turn cold when I see his glare. I feel his grip on my shoulder tight, and a stinging pain instantly hits me from where his hand is. After a few seconds however, it loosens, and he stand up. I instantly start massaging my shoulder, hoping that another bruise doesn't form from him.
"Evan," he says, making me worry even more than I already was. Panda never calls me Evan unless it's something serious. "Do you know how much work I had to put into making this call today?"
I gulp and shake my head. "N-no sir."
"I had to call these men on their personal cell phones to make sure that they came without alerting their office about it. Ohm's injury isn't something we can write off as an accident. By taking him to the hospital, we would be forced to make a report to these officers' office. Questions will come up as to why I didn't call 911. Bryce will be arrested, these officers will lose their job, and the club will be in trouble for not reporting it when it happened. The damage from all of that can damage the club." He then looks back to me. "Not to mention, they will start looking into everyone here. Including you. Your age will come out, and since you are a run away, not only will the club be shut down, but you will be taken away. Taken back to your home."
My breathing starts to become shaky as my mind starts to run a million miles per hour. My heart starts to beat much harder in my chest, and my grip on my shoulder starts to tighten. I have to rip my hand off of me to keep myself from gripping onto my shoulder too tightly before I grab my soda. I can see my hand shaking at this point, but I try to calm myself down enough in order to down the glass without spilling the soda all over me.
"I'm sorry I had to scare you by telling you all of this," he says before taking a sip of his own drink. "But you needed to understand why I can't take Ohm to the hospital. I wish I knew a doctor we could call, but for now, we just have to hope that officer Daniel knows what he's doing. Hope that Ohm's injuries aren't too bad."
He then looks back to the club. "I've worked too hard on this club to lose it all, and I know that you see the people here like family, because I do as well. I want this club to continue on after I'm done working; so, I have to do a few things that I'm not proud of in order to make sure that happens. Something you'll have to learn to get use to."
"Y-yes sir."
"It's almost time to open. Why don't you go change."
"Yes sir."
I quickly stand up and walk out of the office, going down the stairs and through the door to get backstage. I open my locker on the back wall and start to pull out my uniform. Just as I start to pull off my shirt, I look to the door of my locker and see the picture I had taped up. The picture of me and my parents before they fell into their own little piece of darkness.
I run my fingers along the picture and let out a sigh. Would they be happy if they saw where I am now? ... Would they even care?
"Evan," I hear from behind me. I look over my shoulder and see Ohm walking over. When he comes up to me, he wraps his arms around me and hugs me tightly. "I'm sorry you had to see all of this."
I take a deep breath and shake my head. "I can't believe all of this... It's hard to swallow, and I don't get why Bryce did that."
"He got drunk."
"But I've seen him drunk before, and he never acted like that."
"People act differently when they're drunk, Evan. Most of the time he got drunk off of rum or whiskey, which made him sleepy or loud and fun. However, today he drank tequila, which made him extremely angry and violent."
"I... I didn't know that."
"Most of the customers who come here know how things effect them and will make sure to avoid them. Now, why don't you change-"
"Wait," I say loudly, turning to face him. I hold my uniform close to my body and look up to him. "How do you feel? You're hurt, you had glass in your face, and you can't even go to the hospital."
"I know," he says, looking down to his feet. "All of us know that if we get hurt, none of us can go get help. And we're fine with that."
"How could you though?"
He looks back up to me and smiles at me. "Because, I love you so much, Evan. I don't care what happens to me, as long as you're safe, I'm happy."
I frown and look down, trying so hard not to cry. "But, I don't want you guys to get hurt."
"I know. And when we get back to the apartments and I see Bryce when he's sober, I'll talk to him about this. I'm sure he'll be more willing to stay away from certain things after this."
"But-" Before I can say anything else, Ohm wraps his arms around me again and pulls me close to him.
"It's okay. I know, you hate that we're doing this. You wish we would go get help and not worry about the club and what happens to us. I know how you feel, believe me, I do. But I want you to know that we're fine with this. It's an unspoken agreement. A unofficial rule. If I wanted to, I would go to the hospital right now; but I don't. I want you to be safe, Evan. I care too much about you to see you get hurt."
I fight back the tears that are building up, and I hug him tightly, dropping my uniform on the ground in between us.
An unspoken agreement... An unofficial rule... All for me... Did everyone agree to this?