The Doyennes' Worldly Convergence

Chapter 3 - Salt and Pepper

Cordelia

"I can't believe she talked me into this," I whispered to my reflection in the window of the building I had just exited. What was I thinking ....

During breakfast, Harlee received a call to set up a job interview. How the hell that woman got an interview mere hours after quitting the studio is beyond me, but she did. As soon as we were done with breakfast, she convinced me to get my hair colored while she was at, get this, the mortuary. I can't make this sh.it up.

I kept staring at the bright colors. Maybe this is similar to what they call breakup hair, like, fired hair?

"Cordee!" Harlee's voice called my name from behind me, her face lighting up as soon as I turned around and she saw my hair.

"Why do I listen to you?!" I asked her as I pointed to my hair.

"Because it's beautiful!"

I gave Harlee a deadpan look. "It's blue, green, and purple ....."

Harlee rolled her eyes and bumped my elbow with her own as she walked by me, turning me so that we could start walking back home. "And it's only a slight peekaboo. It's not like it's your whole friggin' head, Dee. Plus, the colors really make your blue eyes pop, and it looks super nice with your beige skin tone."

I sighed as I rolled my eyes again, this time as my way of admitting that she was right without actually admitting it aloud, which only made Harlee's smile widen even more.

"So, how did the interview ....."

"Ladies! It looks like the two of you are enjoying your first day being unemployed?" Allen's annoying voice was like nails on a chalkboard. Ok, so, maybe it was more like a train whistle coming from directly behind Harlee and I. Either way, it was excessive.

"You've got to be fu.cking kidding me," Harlee mumbled through clenched teeth.

I let out a breath of air to try to control myself before I turned around to face him. "What do you want, Allen?"

Allen shrugged an arrogant shoulder. "I just came out to pick up some lunch and saw the two of you. I figured I'd see how the job search was going. Nice hair by the way, Dee. Really professional."

"Well, not that you care, but I already have another job," Harlee responded with a matter of fact tone.

"What ..." Allen's tone was one of anger, shock, disbelief .... oh how I wish we had our cameras out to take a picture.

"Yeah, and my clients? They're to die for!"

Allen simply stared at Harlee, his eyes wide, mouth slightly ajar, and face growing red.

I chewed on my cheeks to hide my smile the best that I could. "What's the matter, Allen? Women like her are a dime a dozen, right? I'm sure you already have someone lined up to make your Sophi ......"

Before I could finish my sentence, someone, or something, ran past us so fast that it created a breeze before it collided with Allen, pushing him into the nearby alley.

Harlee and I turned to look at each other in shock, neither of us having the slightest clue to what had just happened, only looking towards the alley when we heard a loud thud echo from where Allen had been forced.

We both quickly ran towards the alley, stopping once we saw a handsome, fair-skinned man with dark brown hair holding Allen against the outside wall of one of the buildings by his neck.

"What the f***k?!?" Allen asked as he tried in vain to remove the man's hand from his neck, fear written across his face.

"Listen here, you piece of sh.it human. I'm only going to say this once. Keep your fu.cking dirty hands off of my sister ...." the strange man hissed out as he held Allen in place.

"Who the f***k is that?!" l asked out loud, not really expecting an answer, but Harlee always seemed to have one.

"Obviously Sophia's brother, right?"

"I don't know what the f***k you're talking about," the panic on Allen's face intensified. I had never seen him like this before, and it oddly brought me pleasure.

Allen has to weigh somewhere around 200 lbs, but you wouldn't think so with how the man easily lifted him off the ground by his neck. "The f***k you don't know what I'm talking about ...."

"Should we do something?" I asked Harlee as we watched in shock and confusion.

"Only if that something involves grabbing his ...."

"If I so happen as to even catch the slightest whiff of your disgusting scent on her, I'll drain you, do you understand?" the man's voice was serious, but his words didn't make any sense at all.

My brain couldn't make sense of the words that I was hearing, but enough was enough. "I think he's got your point, why don't you just let him go."

The stranger turned his head to look at me, but I couldn't see his eyes thanks to his dark sunglasses. "Stay out of this little girl, this doesn't concern you ..."

"Little girl?! We're obviously about the same age!"

Harlee took a step forward, trying to take control over the situation. "Dude, I've had a great day so far. Please don't ruin this by making me save that poor excuse for a man ...."

But the stranger continued to hold Allen by his neck, and as he looked Harlee up and down a coy smile formed on his face. "So you know this creature is completely worthless? And yet you defend him?"

"I'm not defending him! You're going to make me be the bigger person here, aren't you? And I don't mean my size, either."

The man tilted his head sideways, looking at Harlee with confusion and curiosity, his handsome coy smile still on his face. As he opened his mouth to say something, Harlee swung her purse back and landed a blow to the side of his head.

He immediately threw Allen down the alley and touched the point of impact, then looked at the blood on his fingertips. "What the f***k do you have in that, a brick?!" he yelled his question as he grabbed the purse from Harlee's hands as she went for a second swing, throwing it behind us.

"A book, not that you would know the difference," Harlee answered as she slowly reached into the pocket of her pants.

The man hesitated long enough to smile at Harlee again, giving me the perfect opportunity to spray him with pepper spray.

"Do I fu.cking look like eggs to you?! What's next, salt?!"

Jokes. He had jokes as he took his sunglasses off and tossed them into a nearby trash bin, revealing his green eyes. He acted like the pepper spray was nothing more than water. Meanwhile, I started gagging from the strong smell.

As he was distracted, Harlee rushed him with her pocket taser. I heard the electricity snapping and popping as she held it against his muscular torso, yet all he did was grab her wrist and remove the taser from her hand, smashing it on the pavement.

"Are the two of you trying to turn me on or something? Because I'm not a three-way type of guy."

What kind of drugs was he on?!

"Hey! Get out of here!" a strange male voice yelled from the other end of the alley, and as the crazed man curled his upper lip in irritation, I swear it looked like his canine tooth was long and pointy.

Harlee and I turned to see who the new voice belonged to, and saw a policeman quickly making his way towards us, holding a .... silver cross? What in the absolute .... When I turned my head back around, the man who attacked Allen was gone, having disappeared even faster than he had arrived.

Before I knew what was happening, the officer was pouring water on my hands from a bottle and gave me a small hand towel before he walked towards Allen's limp body, checking him for a pulse.

"He's alive. Who is he? What happened?" the officer asked as he was kneeling down by Allen's side.

"Um, he's, his name is Allen Anderson. He's our ex-boss. That other man attacked him. We tried to stop it, but ... we couldn't. You ... what did you do?"

I hadn't realized that the officer was talking on his radio as I was answering his questions and asking my own, and he only spoke to me when he was done. "An ambulance will be here shortly. You two just didn't have the right weapons, that's all."

Harlee and I shared a brief look before a siren got our attention at the end of the alley. The ambulance came to a stop, and we watched quietly as the officer helped the paramedics load an unconscious Allen into the back. Afterward, the officer removed his hat and sunglasses before he wiped his forehead with his arm. That's when I noticed just how attractive he was. So tall, dark, handsome ..... I quickly glanced at his name tag. M. MacIntyre. Mmm .....

Harlee cleared her throat, getting my attention back to the real world. "Is he going to be ok?"

Mmm nodded his head. "He should be fine."

"Well, that's unfortunate. So, what did you mean when you said we didn't have the right weapons?"