Dante grabbed the box and moved behind the desk. “I’m sorry I didn’t take your cookies right away,” he mumbled. He smashed half a cookie into his mouth and collapsed in the chair behind the desk.
Kellan looked me up and down. “Are you the neighbor welcoming committee? You’re a little late. We’ve been open for six months.”
“Um…no. Welcoming committee I am not. I just came over to talk to you guys for a second.”
Dante pointed at me. “You can talk as long as you bring more cookies.”
I rolled my eyes. “Come to the cafe, and you can buy as many as you want.” I was, after all, running a business. The way Dante was putting away those cookies, I knew I would lose money if he expected me to bring cookies over.
Dante tilted his head. “You have cookies every day?”
“Yes, until they sell out.”
“You run out every day?”
I dumbly nodded.
“I’ll be there at eight.”
Well, this had definitely turned in a direction I didn’t see it heading. Now I was going to have the broody Dante in my cafe. Sage was going to squeal when she saw him. “And I will be there also.” Lame, Molly. Totally lame.
Kellan stepped back and leaned against the front desk. “Are you looking to take some classes?”
I pointed a finger at my chest. “Me?”
“Well, he ain’t talking to me, darlin’. I just kicked his ass on the mat.” Dante grabbed another cookie out of the box. “You look like you could take some of the adult classes.”
I looked down my body and wondered what made him think I was capable of doing karate. Or anything physical. “I’m good, thank you. I just came over wondering if there was a way to keep the noise down.”
“Noise?” Kellan and Dante asked at the same time.
I rubbed my hands on my thighs. “Um, yes. The wall of your studio butts up to the cafe. You are rather loud when you are, you know, doing your kung fu.”
Dante choked on his cookie, and Kellan threw his head back, laughing. “We don’t do kung fu, Cookie.”
Cookie? What was he calling me that for? “Well, whatever it is you do over here.” I waved my hand, dismissing the fact I had no idea about what I was talking about. “Can you do it without screaming so loud that you make my customers complain?”
Kellan folded his arms over his chest. “We do a mix of Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu. We scream so we know we are breathing.”
I pushed my glasses up my nose. ‘That makes absolutely no sense.” Blunt and straight to the point on that one, Molly.
“It makes sense if you know anything about karate.”
Dante snickered but didn’t say anything.
“Well, do you think you can keep your scream-breathing down a bit?”
Kellan unfolded his arms and pushed off the desk. “Probably not.”
“I think you probably can.”
Kellan skirted around me and opened the door “No, we can’t. I’m not changing how I teach so you can serve coffee and listen to your shit chick music.”
“I do not listen to crap music.”
“Okay, you don’t.” Kellan pointed out the door. “Thanks for the cookies.”
I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest. “I came over here to have a conversation with you like adults.”
“And that is exactly what we did. You told me what you wanted, and then I told you it wasn’t possible.” Kellan motioned out the door. “You’re welcome to bring cookies over anytime you want.”
“I brought the cookies to be nice.”
“And to soften us up, which did work in your favor since Dante ate all the cookies, and you had to deal with me.”
I turned to Dante who was reclined back, watching the show between Kellan and me. “Can you please not scream and grunt so loud?”
Dante shook his head. “Sorry, darlin’. It’s all part of karate.”
I sighed and stomped my foot. “You are both being ridiculous.” I moved in front of Kellan. “I don’t want to have to complain to the landlord about you.”
“Then don’t.”
“I won’t if you promise to keep it down.”
“No, Cookie. This is a battle you aren’t going to win.”
I growled and moved out the door. “This isn’t over.”
“Bring it, Cookie.” Kellan shut the door and slid the lock. He folded his arms over his chest.
I stomped my foot again because I was frustrated as hell, and spun around. I stalked around the building and wrenched open the door to the cafe, realizing I had locked the door. I dug the key out of my pocket and twisted the key in the lock.
After I opened the door and closed it behind me, I fumbled with the tie on my apron and tossed it on the floor.
I was pissed. Mad. Infuriated. Ready to wring Kellan’s neck.
Who did he think he was? I wasn’t asking some huge thing. Would it really be that hard for them to grunt quietly?
“Breathing,” I scoffed. I was breathing right now, and I wasn’t screaming.
I slowly raised my head and glared at the back wall. The grunting and screaming had resumed, but it was twice as loud.
My blood boiled, and I knew I was going to have to do more than asking nicely for them to quiet down.
It was about time they got a taste of their own medicine.
I rubbed my hands together menacingly and knew things were about to get very interesting.
**********
Kellan
“You gonna stare out the window the rest of the day, or can we get back to kicking your ass?”
I pushed off the door and turned around to look at Dante. “What was that?”
Dante licked his fingers and dropped the empty cookie box into the garbage. “That was bullshit. That’s what that was. Although, she makes a killer cookie.”
“What does she expect us to do?”
“I’m going to have to get more.”
I scowled. “You think you could not think about your stomach for five minutes?”
Dante stood up and patted his stomach. “You have no idea what I just had in my mouth. It was heaven.”
“You’ve said that about other things too.”
Dante smirked. “Those cookies rival the likes of Jill and Diane.”
“Can we focus on the chick who was just in here, and not the ones who have been in your pants?”
Dante rubbed his chin. “I might let her in my pants too.”
“Jesus Christ.” I grabbed my sparring gloves and shoved my hands into them. “You really are a dick, aren’t you?”
Dante bounced on the balls of his feet, and hit his hands together. “The ladies usually don’t think so.”
“Yeah, until you dump them.”
He lifted his shoulders dismissively. “They know the score before they fall into bed with me. I’m not looking for that happily ever after shit.”
I marched to the edge of the mat, bowed, and walked over to the speaker on the podium in the corner. “I’m just going to forget about that chick.” We weren’t that loud over here. I didn’t know what she was talking about. When we had signed the lease for the studio, the landlord hadn’t mentioned anything about a noise ordinance. I was only going to start worrying if the landlord showed up on our doorstep.
“Probably for the best. She seemed pretty feisty when you opened the door for her.”
I turned on the music and cranked it a little louder than it had been. If Molly thought we were loud before, I planned on showing her just what loud was.
**********
Molly
I put the phone to my ear and waited for Sage’s perky hello. “You were wrong. So, so wrong.”
“Molly?”
I rolled my eyes and flopped down on my couch. “Were there other people you gave bad advice to today?”
“What are you talking about?”
Mr. Mittens, my calico cat, climbed into my lap, ready for his daily petting. “I went over there.”
“
Oh, you went over there. Did you take pictures for me?”
Mr. Mittens nudged my hand in my lap. “Yes and no. It was awful. They were asses.” I scratched Mr. Mittens behind his ear and sighed.
“Did you bring them cookies? It really is true that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not looking to get to their hearts, I just want them to shut up, which isn’t going to happen.”
Sage sighed. “I doubt it’s really as bad as you’re saying. I just put Sam to bed, so I’m free to listen without my Mom Tourette’s surfacing.” It was a running joke because whenever I would talk to Sage on the phone when Sam was awake, every tenth word she was saying something about a toy or telling Sam not to put that in his mouth. “Plus, I’m three glasses into my bottle of wine.”
Oh Lord. I could only imagine what kind of responses I was going to get from Sage now. “I stood at their door looking like a girl scout trying to sell cookies, Sage. I looked like a fool before I even opened my mouth.”
“I think you need a glass of wine, too, hon.”
I looked over at the half-empty bottle on the end table. “We’re both three glasses in, except mine isn’t having the same effect on me that yours is.”
“Well, drink another one and tell me what else happened.”
I stopped petting Mr. Mittens and grabbed my glass. “Well,” I mumbled into my glass and took a sip. “Dante asked if he could eat my cookies.”
Sage sputtered. “Holy crap, woman. I just spit out my wine. You need to warn me before you tell me a hot, sexy man offered to eat your cookies.”
I rolled my eyes and downed the rest of my wine. I hadn’t imagined Dante ever wanting to see my cookies either, but there it was. “That was the highlight of the whole conversation. After I had asked them to try and keep it down, the conversation was over quick. I was out the door in a minute tops and back to the cafe listening to the music cranked even louder, and I swear they were grunting just to piss me off.”
Sage laughed. “So, what are you going to do now?”
I sighed. “I have absolutely no idea, but I know I can’t let them think they won.”
“Why don’t you take it to the business owner committee?”
I set my glass down and shot up. “Why the hell didn’t I think of that?” Duh. How did I forget about the committee? Hell, I was the damn vice president of the thing.
“Probably because you guys don’t have meetings anymore because you never had any issues. You used to complain about going each month until you made the motion to end the meetings unless there was an emergency.”
I smirked and tapped my finger against my chin. “I do believe we have an emergency, Sage.”
Sage laughed. “Lord help those poor, sexy men.”
Lord help them was right. They didn’t know what was about to hit them.
**********
Kellan
“Hey, what is this?”
I grabbed my half-empty energy drink and walked out of the office. “What is what?”
Tate held up a piece of paper. “This? Who is Molly Rey, and who peed in her Cheerios?”
I grabbed the paper out of his hand. My eyes skimmed over the brief, but to the point, letter. “This is bullshit.”
“What does it even mean?”
“It means that chick I told you about who came over last weekend has bigger balls than I thought she did. She's going to the business owners committee about us being too loud.” I balled up the paper and tossed it in the trash.
Tate laughed. “No shit.”
Roman walked out of the bathroom pulling his shirt on over his head. “What are you laughing about?”
Tate smirked. “Kellan and the coffee chick are about to go around.”
“Oh, yeah? She came over and gave him hell about the yelling again?”
Tate shook his head. “Even better, man. She went to the damn committee about us.”
I slammed my drink down and sat in the chair behind the front desk. “She isn’t going to get anywhere with this.”
“I don’t know, man. Maybe she’s got this committee in her pocket.” Roman grabbed his bag off the floor and slung it over his shoulder.
“I’d say so. Before Kellan threw it away, I saw vice president next to her name.” Tate laughed and took a bite out of his apple.
This shit was not going to happen. “I need to talk to her again.”
Roman laughed. “Because that worked so well for you last time.”
“Dante and his comments about her cookies didn’t really help.” Dante was still talking about those damn cookies.
Tate pointed at me. “You should totally go over there to talk to her, and come back with some cookies so Roman and I can try them.”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed the crumpled paper out of the garbage can. “You’re just as bad as Dante.”
Roman leaned against the counter and looked at the paper. “So, what are you going to do about it?”
I grabbed my keys off the desk. “I’m pretty sure that should be what are we going to do about it.”
Roman shook his head. “I got shit to do.”
Tate agreed. “Yeah, I got some shit to do, too.”
I pointed my finger at them. “You’re both pussies.” I was going to have to take care of this shit on my own, just like I took care of everything else that had to do with Powerhouse.
“Hey, Dante said you weren’t coming in to help clean tomorrow, so you can deal with the coffee chick today.” Tate tipped his head at the paper in my hand. “Just turn on the charm, man, and she’ll be putty in your hands.”
Roman laughed. “Maybe you can find out what her cookies taste like.”
I shook my head and pushed open the front door. “Lock up when you leave, and I’ll see you assholes Monday.”
Roman and Tate mumbled their byes, and I made my way around the building and stood in front of the cafe.
Well, for one, she was right about the name. It was Java Spot, not hut. I wasn’t much of a coffee fan, so I never actually took notice of what the name of the place was. Four tables with large umbrellas spanned the front of the store, and four chairs sat scattered around each table. The front of the building was brick like the rest of the businesses in the strip mall, but with one striking difference. Molly had randomly painted bricks bright red. It was odd, but it somehow worked and seemed fitting for a coffee shop.
The windows were painted with swirly shit all over them, and the door had a huge coffee cup, with the words Java Spot scrawled on it. She had a prime place in the strip mall and even had a drive-thru on the side of the building.
Powerhouse also had a corner spot, but we were on the back side of the building, opposite from the main entrance. Two of the tables out front were occupied, and from all of the cars parked in front, I knew they were busy.
The instant I opened the door, the warm, robust smell of coffee hit me, and a little bell above the door chimed. To the left and right were small, round tables, half-full with people drinking coffee, and straight ahead was the main counter. There were shelves full of little knick knacky shit that women loved to buy, and even the pictures on the wall seemed to be for sale. I couldn’t figure out if I was in a coffee shop or a small flea market.
“Hey, hon.” A small, pixie-like woman was flitting around with a pot of coffee in her hand filling up cups as she waved to me. “Molly can help you up front.”
Perfect, just what I needed. Directions to the woman making my life hell at the moment. I headed to the front counter and looked for the pain in my ass.
“I’ll be right there,” she called from somewhere.
I turned around, and leaned on the counter. The coffee shop was the same size as Powerhouse, just laid out a bit differently. The seating area was in the shape of a U, with the counter and bathrooms in the center. She had the coffee shop vibe definitely going for her.
“How can I help you?”
A grin spread across my lips. She had no idea
who I was. I slowly turned, and looked her up and down.
“Shit.”
“Got your letter, Cookie.”
She growled. “My name is Molly.”
“I know, Cookie.”
“You think you could not call me that? I am, after all, the vice president of the Business Owners Committee.”
I grabbed the letter out of my pocket and unfolded it. “So, it says on the bottom of this letter.”
“Damn, the post office is quick. I dropped that in the mail yesterday.” She wiped her hands on her apron and nervously looked around. “The meeting isn’t for another month, though. You’re a bit early.”
I chuckled and set the note on the counter. “Cancel it.”
She looked at me, bewildered. “What?”
“Cancel it. This is bullshit.”
She blustered and shook her head. “It’s not bullshit. You’re disrupting my business with all of your cavemen yelling.”
“Look, Cookie. I’m going to have to explain this to you again, aren’t I?”
She rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. “This about you being unable to breath with your mouth shut and scream at the same time? You might want to check out the yoga place three doors down. She can help with your breathing problems.”
I growled. “I know how to breathe.”
“Are you sure about that? Kennedy, the owner, breathes all of the time, and I never hear her doing it.”
I took a deep breath, put my hands on the counter, and leaned in. “Stop this nonsense before you regret it.”
Molly put her hands next to mine. “And why should I have to stop? If you would just be reasonable, and keep it down, none of this would be necessary.”
“I really don’t think you should be talking about something you know absolutely nothing about. Breathing and yells are an important part of karate. The fact that you want me to teach people in a sub-par manner blows my mind and shows that you only care about yourself.”
She leaned in. “I am one of the most selfless people you will ever meet, but when pushed, I can’t help but push back. I’m not asking you to change whatever it is you’re teaching, just to not yell so loud that you rattle the coffee cups.”
Dropkick My Heart: Powerhouse M.A. Series Page 4