Page 32 of By Rude Strength

“I, I’m sorry, sir!” Anna’s eyes widened and she typed frantically. “We, we don’t do refunds or, or exchanges—”

“You do today.”

“There, there’s also a storage fee of fifty-six dollars—”

“A fuckingwhat?” LA’s head throbbed and he shifted his weight, trying to ease the sudden stab of pain in his lower back.

Anna whimpered.

Cass hopped off and grew back to his normal size. He stood behind LA, gently massaging his shoulders. “Deep breaths.”

LA inhaled and tried again, asking calmly, “What storage fee?”

“The st-storage fee?” Anna squeaked, typing more erratically. “Because we, we had to keep the vehicle overnight—”

“Yeah, because no one fucking called me.” LA’s temper bubbled up again, and the pain in his back was relentless. He wanted to sit but there was nowhere to fucking sit. “I had to call you guys to find out what the hell was going on with my car!”

“Sir, we did call you.” Anna gulped. “The, the phone number ending in five-six-oh-one?”

“No. Five-six-eight-one.”

“We used the information provided by the roadside assistance company and, and—”

“For the love offuck, get me a fucking manager,” LA barked. “Your supervisor. Your boss. Whoever is above you or anyone else who might actually understand how to do your job. Right the fuck now.”

“Oh!” Anna’s eyes filled with tears. “Sir, please, I’m so sorry. Please!”

“You’re sorry? You’resorry? I’m—” LA squeaked indignantly as Cass slid the very wet end of his tail behind his ear. At least, LA hoped it was his tail. Oh God—

He whirled around to scream at Cass, no care given to how absolutely intense he would look, but there was nothing there.

The fuck?

He turned back to the counter and Cass was right there, small once more—about the size of a labrador—and perched on the edge.

Anna wasn’t moving.

She was frozen.

LA looked around, quickly realizing that everything was stuck as if time itself had been brought to a stop. He stared at Cass. “Did you just—”

“Hey, listen to me,” Cass said gently. “This is not something you can control. It is completely out of your power, all right? It’snot your fault and while you have every right to be upset about it, be cautious of how much energy you invest in a situation you cannot directly affect by screaming at it.”

“I…” LA blinked.

“There is a solution. The problem is being solved. It’s not what you want, but still.” Cass squeezed LA’s shoulders. “Big breath, relax, and say… F it.”

“F it?”

“Yes.” Cass nodded firmly. “Also, be aware of your actions. Those have consequences.”

LA scoffed. “Yeah, no shit. You think I—”

Cass grabbed LA’s cheeks and turned his head to look at Anna. “Do you see how you’re hurting her?”

LA frowned, taking a long moment to study Anna.

She was sobbing, tears frozen in place on her cheeks, and her shoulders were hunched. She was cowering—because of LA.