El’s protests fall on deaf ears, I step out of the car and make my way to the door she stepped out from. Someone in that supermarket upset my wife. I need to have a conversation with that fucking someone.
The chill air hits first, my hands slide into my pockets for warmth. Haven’t they heard of heaters? I take a tentative step forward, scanning the row of shelves holding groceries and other food items. The inside is smaller than outside, the place is empty except for the lady behind the counter chewing gum like a fool.
Turning on my charm, I walk over to her and smile. Her cheeks pink, I fight the urge to roll my eyes as my hands rest on the flat surface. If she was my staff, she would be fired for her lack of professionalism.
“Hey,” I say, finger tracing a line on the wooden surface.
“Heyyy,” she replies, “what can I do for you today?”
Her tone is suggestive, her accent is similar to mine. It must be why she smiles harder to show a kinship I hope to exploit. I peer into the brown paper bag on the counter and frown at the sanitary pads and bars of chocolate inside. This definitely belongs to El. If that woman will die from anything, it has to be from excess sugar intake.
Is that why she didn’t want me to come with her? So I couldn’t see the pads? I can handle a little pad shopping. Speaking of pads, if they have what she wanted, why did she lie? I level a cool gaze at the black haired Barbie.
“Did you see the lady who purchased this?” I ask in my most patronising tone but there’s really no need for that because Barbie looks ready to do whatever I tell her. Good for both of us. I push the paper bag forward.
She spares a look at her manicured nails and frowns at the pink colour. “The blackie?”
My fingers stop moving, my head snaps to her head. “Excuse me?”
“The woman, yeah? The black one,” she says. “She’s so black she could be related to darkness.”
Her tone is condescending. She shudders. Disgust curls my spine, my back is ramrod straight as my fists clench in my pockets. I picture the girls and El smiling at me. Wyn’s toothy grin, Bren’s smiles and the knots in my joints loosen as their image takes form in my head. I can’t let this thing get to me.
El might not be as light-skinned as the girls but she’s enough. Her dark skin is enough. The cashier’s hands lower to her sides, she flashes me that sickly sweet smile. How can someone this young utter such nonsense?
“I saw her, she even had a black card. Can you imagine?” Oh, I can because I gave her the fucking card. “Jokingly asked if she stole it and she got upset.” The laughter that follows her statement shows she isn’t the least bit remorseful. The sound of her laughter fades when she sees she’s laughing alone. “A blackie with a black card, get it? Come on, that’s funny.” My jaw clenches, I fold my arms on my chest. She should be jobless. This piece of shit isn’t fit to walk the same path as El. How dare she? Jesus. How many people say this to El on a daily basis? “Dude. Why’re you looking at me like that?”
I run my hand over my face and sigh. She's doomed and she doesn’t know it. “Because you are fired and you will be out of a job for a long time.” Her jaw drops, she blinks. Not the reaction I was hoping for but I’ll make do with it. “I am looking at you like that because I feel bad for you. Your entire existence is a mistake. You are not fit to be in the same room as my wife. You are not fit to shine her shoes. That ‘blackie’ will buy this entire building without blinking.” Anger builds up inside me with each word, my body vibrates with rage and I slap a hand over the counter. I want to say more, I want to do more to make this miserable hag pay for talking down on my wife. “How dare you insinuate she might be a thief because of her skin?”
Barbie blinks. I don’t know how I manage to remain composed but I do. I straighten up, she blinks out of her daze. “Haha. Hilarious, Sir.” She waves her hands in the air. “You can’t fire me. You are not my boss.”
A corner of my lips lift in a smirk. How she hasn’t choked on her negativity is beyond me. She is a waste of space. I walk past the counter to a door with manager boldly written on it. Without knocking, I open the door. The round-faced man shoots out of his swivel seat, his short frame dwarfed by my height. I push one hand into my pocket and stalk to his front, motioning for him to sit down. I will do the talking.
“The girl at the cashier,” I say, voice holding no arguments. “Fire her. Immediately.”
His initial shock is replaced by a look of confusion, he lowers himself to his seat. “I can’t do that, Mister.”
“Yes, you can and yes, you will,” I reply, levelling him with a cold glare. His Adam apple bobs, sweat breaks out on his hairless scalp and he tugs on the sleeves of his plaid shirt. “Do you know who I am?”
I am never one to throw out my name but a disrespect to my wife is a disrespect to me. How dare that brat? I try to stay out of the media but if you are familiar with the internet, you can’t miss my name and sadly, my face. I cock my head, giving the manager a chance to inspect my face so he knows who he will be up against if he disagrees. His eyes widen in recognition, his head jerks furiously in a nod.
“Fire her or I will put you out of business.” His beady eyes almost bulge out of their sockets, I offer him a tight smile that comes off as a grimace. I hate this fucking place. “Tell your friends too, if any of them employ her, they will be out of business.” He gulps audibly. “You will be out of business. Do we have an understanding?”
His head bobs. “Yes. Yes, Sir.”
I am one step from leaving when I stop. The manager shrivels. “The girl, what’s her name?”
“Sa... Sabrina Yamani.”
On my way out, I pause at the door. “Next time, employ less racists.” He nods. “Have a great day.”
The door shuts behind me, I lean on the wall for support and my fingers sink into my scalp. El is nothing like darkness, she’s the light of my life. But people like Sabrina will never see past her skin colour. It’s not enough that she will be out of a job. I am still pissed. I bring out my phone to see missed calls from El and I smile for a fleeting second. Skipping her calls, I dial my assistant and start walking back to the car.
Ed picks on the first ring. “Sabrina Yamani.” His confusion echoes from the other end, I chuckle, feeling light-hearted. Feels good to have him back. “She is blacklisted. Make sure she never has a job in this city.” If it is up to me, she will never have a job in this country, maybe earth but I am most influential in this city. Ed’s silence has me pulling the phone from my ear to stare at the screen. “Do you understand?”
“Yes. Yes, Sir. May I–”
I end the call while he’s still talking, a bit wary as I approach the black car. Why did she feel the need to lie? El purses her lips as I join her in the backseat, I manage to relax. She folds her hands on her legs, refusing to look at me.
“Come here.” I can’t be mad at the love of my life. I want her to be able to tell me everything instead. I pat my laps, she offers me a jittery smile as she bridges the gap. “Elna. Why didn’t you say something?”
She shrugs. “I’m used to it.” She laughs at my reaction, I close my mouth and just stare at her. “It doesn’t happen a lot. My period made me a bit emotional and I lost my cool.” I place a hand over hers to stop her from wringing the life out of them. She leans close to me, her lips brush mine. “It’s not a big deal.”
“It is, Elna,” I whisper against her lips and she sucks in a small breath. “It’s a very big deal.”
That careless shrug is the only response I get and my heart clenches. My baby. I kiss her gently and a genuine smile takes over her lips when we separate. I might never understand how it feels to be treated differently because of the colour of my skin, I never get jokes like that. But God forbid, I sit back and let anyone treat my wife any less differently than they do me because of her beautiful melanin skin.
“What did you do?”
I slip my hands inside her blouse, she grins as my hand moves over her chest area to the breasts I love so much. El once asked me if I was an ass or boobs man. I didn’t answer but it’s boobs all the way, I can lay on them all day. I unclasp her bra to get more access to her lovely twins. “I got her manager to fire her.”
A gasp echoes, she slaps my hand exploring her chest. “Baby, you can’t go around firing everybody.”
Ah. She still remembers I fired Ed. I shrug. If everybody annoys her, then I’ll fire them and make sure they never have a job. I pinch her nipples. She hisses and I muster an apologetic smile. Periods make breasts sensitive. I forgot. “I can and I just did.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“Did she hurt your feelings?”
Guilt I didn’t feel rushes to her face, my hand slides to the back of her neck. She blinks back tears and my heart starts a pitiful dance. We don’t like it when she cries. It’s the cashier who should be in tears, not El.
“Yes,” she whispers.
The car stops moving but none of us notices. “Then she’s still fired.”
I am not the one who has to listen to people make silly jokes about my skin colour but El’s willingness to overlook this grates on my nerves more than Sabrina’s existence. El brings my hand to her mouth, taking turns to suck on my fingers. I forget what I want to say to her and relax. Damn this woman, whatever she’s doing is working. She grinds against me and my cock reacts with a violent twitch. Again.
“There are other ways to go about it,” she says, I shake my head. The only way is my way. Sabrina needs to be punished and she has. “Baby, please do something.” I already did, she’s fired. “Baby, please. Baby.”
El blinks those innocent eyes at me and sniffs. Shit. It’s unfair of her to use her charms against me. “Okay,” I say, more to appease her and she grins. “One day, your kindness will land you in big trouble.”
“Maybe.” She pecks me. “But I have you, you will save me.”