Gray Rising

The night air was thick and quiet as I stood in the diner, waiting for closing to come at any moment. My boss Phill had left for the night and when he left so did Jerry. I'm actually grateful I was completely alone because being alone with Jerry made me nervous. He meant well and I knew it was just his personality but he was a man of some pretty vulgar words when it came to women, especially women around my age. Twenty-one being, "Legal, but hasn't lost the youth in their body yet." There was only about half an hour left and I had already had everything ready to close. Even though I knew no one would come in, I stayed open out of courtesy for others.  Just as that thought passes through my head, the door chimes, and I look up to find three tall men I'd never seen before. Chill bumps litter my skin as the cold air creeps up my exposed leg from my uniform.  "Hey, how are y'all?" I ask and they avert their attention from each other to me and give me a once over.  "Good how are you, can we have a booth for four, preferably in the back somewhere?" I nod, grabbing utensils and menus before walking out from behind the counter. "Follow me." I simply say and step aside to let them sit down. " What can I get you to drink?' I ask as I give them their menus and only one of them attempts to look over a menu. "Got anything stronger than a Cheerwine?" He asks with a smile looking up and I chuckle a little and shake my head. "Then 4 things of Cheerwine it is, while I have you here, what is that amazing smell coming from the back?" Out of habit, I point to the counter and smile. "That's my famous cherry pie." I notice out of the corner of my eye, one of the men smirk and the other one chuckle. The man who has been doing most of the talking smiles a suggestive smile as if he knew something I didn't and nods towards the back. "Four slices of that too and we should be set." I nod and gather the menus they didn't even touch and grab their orders just to get them out of here. They just seemed like bad company. I get them their orders and I finally get a response from more than just the one man and they finally all begin to talk as I walk away. I go to the counter and pretend to clean and go about my work. I really just wanted to listen. "Where the hell is Grayson? You told him what time right John?" The man 'leader' says and the man beside him scoff at him. "I'm not an i***t Eric, Grayson is the idiot." The man across from him chuckles as he eats his pie and nods. "You're telling me, no one as young as him should be a leader of a pack. Especially a nomad like him."  I tense up and walk away from that side of the counter and look outside to confirm my suspicions. Outside three motorcycles are lined up neatly and I glance back at the men and let out a shaky breath and calm myself down. They were in a motorcycle gang and they were about to discuss business with another rival gang. I wasn't going to ask them to leave, I would just stay out of the way and everything would be fine.  A new set of lights shine into the diner and I look up to see a tall man stepping off of his bike. He takes off his helmet and stands up and I can feel goosebumps litter my skin. I wasn't scared, I was more so intrigued. This was exciting and had my heart racing. The bell on the door rings and he stepped through the door with a smile on his face. He was a bit scruffy looking but god was he attractive with his dashing smile and chiseled jaw. He steps forward and leans against the counter closely.  "Hey..." He looks down at me and searches for a name tag and raises his brow at the lack of one. "Layla." I simply say and he nods. "Layla darling, has three ugly old dudes come in here? I'm supposed to meet with them here." He says and I gesture my hand towards the table in the back where they all were looking up here. "Ah, Eric, John, Jason, my boys!" He exclaims in a mocking tone and sends me a toothy grin before walking towards them. In a way, he had the same build and features as the other men, but he was far more handsome.  "You're late, any reason why?" Jason asks in a monotoned voice and Grayson sits down next to him and grabs him a napkin. "I had to give you time to pig out on the pie on your upper lip." He says with a humorous tone and I can almost feel the death glare Jason sends him. "Are you done being an i***t Grayson, or would you rather us set up your own stage?" Eric asks giving him a glare and he cuts his eyes in my direction. I quickly play dumb and continue to wipe the counter and duck, pretending to grab something. "No, no, wouldn't want to upstage anyone. Please begin with the meeting."   I stand back up and wipe the hair out of my face as move around the counter and start wiping the barstools. My heart was racing for some reason, my palms were beginning to become clammy and sweaty to the touch. "We want to propose formal leadership over the territory. We don't feel a kid a young as you should be the leader of such a powerful unit as your own. So we want to make it easy on such a newcomer as yourself and take over the joint pack you run." He says leaning back and quirking an eye at Grayson as if challenging him to say something. Jason looks between the men and speaks up to say, "Our entire pack agrees with us and if you don't do it peacefully, all formalities will be set aside."  Graysons nods for a moment and I swear my heart stops at the dead silence in the dinner. He takes a sip of his drink and grabs his fork in his hand smiling. I close my eyes for a moment wincing at what's to come and I hear a satisfactory moan come out of his mouth and I open my eyes in confusion. "Wow Jason, I can see why you pigged out on the pie, this is amazing, Hey Layla, did you make this?" He asks looking over me and I smile, trying to play it cool. "Yes sir, fresh every day." I then turn and walk into the kitchen and sit on the ground quickly. I hold my head in my hands and my legs shake.  "Can you act serious for one god damn moment Grayson?" Eric's voice booms through the diner and I hear yet another silence fall upon the room. I stand up and poke my head around the corner and I can just barely see Grayson. He is sitting there with a poker face and he takes a deep breath. "What would you do differently Eric, please, I'd love to hear." He says with a smile gesturing across the table. His tone was so calm, he wasn't giving in to the other men's anger.  Eric clears his throat, and though I can't see him I know he has to have a cocky grin on by his tone. "Recruitment, initiating new members into the pack. Not just relying on accidental new blood and the occasional nomad pedigree. Our numbers are shrinking by the day and if we have any chance of protecting people against the Vam-" Grayson slams his fist on the table interrupting Eric and I nearly jump out of my skin. His calm, carefree manner was over with and out the window. His eyes were furrowed and I could see the veins on his hand bulge as his fist grips. "What you are talking about is absolute f*****g blasphemy. You even think about initiating this idea, I will not hesitate in killing you." He says through gritted teeth and stands up. "We are done, it's past closing anyway. Leave." He continues, pointing at the door and Eric stands up. He looks at him and gets close holding a finger up at him, shaking his head. "You're going to regret not taking my offer Grayson, mark my words."  He says and storms off. He stops at the door and waits on the others and I step out from behind the kitchen window and I put on my best smile and wave at them goodbye, not caring that they didn't pay. "Have a good night y'all." I say and Eric looks back at me and looks me up and down and gives me a look. I don't know what it meant, but I didn't like it. It made me uncomfortable. "You too ma'am, you too." He says and his two little minions follow after him.  I look over at the booth they were at and Grayson is sitting there looking angry and releasing and pressing his fists together over and over again. I walk around the counter and walk over to the table in silence and grab the dishes from the table and he looks up at me and gives me a light smile. "Oh sorry, let me help." He says standing up and brushes my leg by accident as he stands up. His skin was hot, almost on fire when touched and I can't help but look down at where his hand had touched. "Oh no sir, don't worry about it, I've got it." I say avoiding his eyes and he continues to grabs dishes with me. "No, I insist. Least I can do for causing such a ruckus." He says and I walk to the counter, setting the dishes down, followed by his tan hand following the motion, placing the dishes he had beside mine. "Ruckus, what ruckus?" I ask in feigned ignorance and I walk around the counter. I walk all of the dishes to the kitchen and come back out grabbing a rag.  " I know you heard all of that." He says and all the breath in my body is knocked out of me. I look up at him and he has a raised brow looking down at me. I slip past him to the table and wipe it down quickly and I think of what to say. I turn back around and he is watching me with a furrowed eye. I slip past him yet again and I give him a weak smile, as I feel nausea rise in me,  and I simply say, "I hope you have a good night sir." I feel him walk behind me as I turn around and hear him place something on the counter as he walks to the door. "You have a safe night Layla, thank you for the great service." He says and I hear the door ring and I look back to see him walking out. It had begun to drizzle outside and I watched as he sat on his bike and left with a wave. I grab onto the counter for some support and I feel as though a huge weight had been lifted off of me. I quickly go wash the dishes and finish closing as I hear the rain pick up and the thunder begins to roll in. I do a last check of everything and I go to the register to and grab the cash out of the register to put in the office and notice money beside the register, probably being what Grayson had left. I pick it up and my eyes go wide at the forty dollars and I place it in my pocket and leave the front. I lock up and grab my things as I walk out and job slightly to my car. The parking lot is beginning to flood where my car is parked and I groan as I feel the wetness envelope my feet. The rain made it a bit hard to see as I pull my keys out and they drop into the puddle at my feet. I groan and bend down to look for them and a large bolt of lightning lights up the sky, allowing me to see them. The thunder roars and vibrates the ground as I grab them and just as quickly another bolt lights up the sky and I notice something in the reflection of the water. I turn around and a huge animal is behind me, slowly walking towards me and growling. I tense up slowly and turn to unlock my door. My attempt was failed as the animal lunges at me and scratches down my chest, making me cripple to the ground. I scream in pure agony at the animal's thick long claws and look up at it as it inches towards my face. It was a wolf, a huge one at that. The beast gives a toothy grin as it smiles and I cough a bit and try and sit up. I was bleeding very bad and as I go to stand up, the wolf-beast steps onto me, placing a huge paw on my injured chest. I look up into its eyes with a great deal of difficulty, due to rain, tears, and dizziness, and I notice the animal's eyes glowed an almost yellow gold. That was the last thing I see before it reaches down and bites my shoulder between its powerhouse jaws. The pain, mixed with the utter weakness leaves me weary and I pass out.