Page 34 of Finding Closure

“Who the fuck are you to tell me what is or isn’t my business?” I chuckled darkly.

That was the right chord to strike with him, and he focused on me instead of trying to intimidate her. “I say who can be involved in my business and it’s not you. Now get the fuck out of here and keep your nosy ass out of my shit before you get hurt.”

I snorted. “A guy with a tiny penis like you can’t hurt me.” I smirked at him as steam about came out of his ears. “And I don’t care aboutyourbusiness. I’m involving myself inherbusiness. She said to leave her alone.” I turned my head a bit to see her better. “You want him to talk to you or be here?”

It took her a few tries to make her mouth work, but she did, and that was impressive with all the fear coming off of her. “No, he’s breaking the restraining order.”

“Shut up, cunt,” he snarled and reached for her.

I smacked his arm away before he even saw something was happening. It hit the shelf hard and he hissed in pain, my death in his eyes. “Try to touch her again and you’ll leave here broken, not just in cuffs.”

“How about I touch you and show you how stupid you are for getting involved?” he snapped.

“Then you’ll leave here in a body bag,” I purred.

He was stupid and still came at me, and my security had him restrained and on his knees before he got close.

“Aww, you guys are no fun,” I bitched. “I wanted to see how he’d look as a pretzel.”

“You pay us so you don’t have to do that, Ms. Vale,” Ara reminded me looking like she was losing the battle to not laugh.

The police arrived and we told them everything that happened… Including my biggest complaint about the whole thing.

“Yes, and please make sure it’s noted that the store employees were standing there not doing their jobs and simply watching,” I told the officer, glad when his lips twitched. “Theywere right here at the checkout, all grouped together and watching her be harassed and touched and did nothing.”

“We don’t get paid to be involved in—” the guy I was really pissed at started to interject.

“Your job is to make sure the store is a safe environment for the people in it,” I snapped. “If you don’t think your compensation is enough for your responsibilities, go find another fucking job. Don’t stand there and not do it after saying you will and accepting the money for it. That’s called being a fraud—agreeing to terms you were never going to do.”

He glanced at the other employees and snorted. “Right, but you’re only saying it to me. So because I’m the man here, I have to put myself at risk and—”

“No, because you’re the one with ‘manager’ on their fucking shirt,” I drawled. “Any of you should have announced you were calling the police if he didn’t leave. But you didn’t. You stood there and watched the show like disgusting monsters enjoying him being vile. If the world was actually fair, you’d be getting in as much trouble as he is.”

“We didn’t do anything,” one of the girls drawled.

“No, you chose to do nothing,” I corrected. “You made thechoiceof inaction. You act as if you simply didn’t help yet or your lack of action wasn’t a choice. It was and the wrong one. One that will cost you your jobs. I’ll make sure of it.”

“You don’t have any right—” she started to argue.

“There was a customer not ten feet from you being harassed and touched and you stood there and watched!” I blasted. “Another customer had to step in and help her, my security calling the police. You didn’t even tell him to cut it out. The fact you’re defending what you did is what will make me go for your jobs.”

“Because it means the next customers won’t be safe and you’ve learned nothing,” Ara said, her tone disgusted. “Even ifyou were women scared because the guy was clearly crazy, there are three of you, and he was hurting one woman. What the fuck is wrong with you to just stand there and watch? You didn’t even try to record it to help her later or for proof.”

What else was there really to say?

“Apparently, I really can’t ever just leave things be,” I mumbled as I went back to my shopping wanting my easy afternoon with my dogs even more now.

Ara snorted. “If you ever doubt you’re a fairy, just remember this moment.” She met my gaze when I looked at her. “You’re a fairy through and through, Tamsin. You always have been. We can’t leave it alone, even when we get so much wrong. It’s why we get so much wrong sometimes. We’re all passion and fight.”

“Sometimes we need to be a bit more logical and take a step back to see the full picture,” one of the other guys agreed. “But none of us can ever let it go. I started problems the first time I was on this planet when I was a kid and my parents brought me. I saw something horrid and immediately tried to stop it. When my parents told me that I couldn’t, I never wanted to come back here.”

I frowned. “What could have been that bad? Why wouldn’t they let you help?”

He swallowed loudly and his eyes looked haunted. “Because there would be no way to explain how we saved all of those Jews from being rounded up, and there were so many Nazis with guns that even my two parents couldn’t stop them and protect me.”

My eyes went bug wide. “You witnessed part of the Holocaust?”

He nodded. “News didn’t travel like it does now and—my parents had no idea. It used to take some time to get approval to travel here if you weren’t on the list to do it regularly. My parents are no one, just a cute couple who have a stall at the market andsell for farmers. Dad wanted to take me to Mom’s favorite bakery in Germany. We arrived to find horrors.”

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