No Room for Disrespect

Chapter Six

Naomi could barely breathe.

Was this the same man she had been mouthing off to?

At the clinic, she had definitely said worse things to him than Miss Cobr.. umm.. Tania over here, but she hadn’t gotten this kind of reaction.

Maybe he had been in a good mood then. But a few minutes ago, he had not appeared to be in a terrible mood either.

So what in the hell was this sudden switch up?

He certainly seemed like a different person and she did not want to be on his bad side. But in spite of all this aggression rolling off him, she did not feel like she was in danger.

The initial step back had been a reflex action but she was reassessing the situation now and he did not seem like a threat; at least not to her.

Naomi supposed Tania wouldn’t feel the same way because she was obviously the target of his annoyance.

She wondered what would happen if Tania did something else that got on his nerves and they were alone.

Would he have done more than verbally lash out at her? Did douchebag really have that sort of violence in him?

Animals were one thing, but women too?

A voice in Naomi’s head told her that Day didn’t seem like the type to hurt women and for some reason, she believed that.

Girl, maybe he’s not the type to leave animals bleeding to death by the side of the road either.

Woah woah woah, they were totally going off topic.

Last night had been a totally different situation and wasn’t the voice supposed to be on her side? After all, it was living rent free in her head.

Umm, doesn’t always being on your side defeat the purpose of me being called a conscience? You can’t always be right Naomi and I’m here to remind you of that.

Oh shut up!

This wasn’t the time to get distracted and argue with herself. She obviously couldn’t just walk away now.

Ugh!

She had to stay and try to diffuse the situation; even though none of it was her fault. But she had gotten roped into it and Day was waiting for Tania to give her an apology she really wasn’t interested in.

Naomi didn’t think Tania was being stubborn. She just seemed too petrified to do what Day wanted. The first “I’m sorry,” had really taken a lot from her.

Naomi heaved an internal sigh. How did she get herself into situations like this?

It was just a being at the right place at the wrong time kinda thing going on. Maybe at the wrong place too.

This could be a sign that the gym life was not meant for her.

Sureeeee Naomi, keep telling yourself that. Whatever makes you sleep better at nig…

Shhhh!

Well, here goes nothing.

“Umm, there’s really no need for that. I don’t need an apology so let’s just forget about the whole thing.” Naomi said in a calm tone.

It was the tone she used to calm and reassure spooked animals. It was also how she spoke to aggressive animals to try and win their trust; it worked most of the time.

Daykan’s gaze had been fixated on Tania, waiting for her to get on with the apology. He swung his gaze to Naomi and she smiled with a little wave.

She had gotten his attention; it was time to wrap things up.

“I appreciate you for trying to stand up for me.” Naomi continued in that soothing tone. “But it’s really not necessa..”

“I will not allow anyone disrespect you; not in my gym.” Daykan’s tone was softer when he spoke to the vet. But he was still firm and left no room for argument.

He was proud of himself for tacking on that last part about being in his gym.

He had managed to make it sound like it wasn’t an afterthought and the main issue was not being able to tolerate any form of insults in his establishment.

It was easier to stick with that than the truth because apparently, the truth didn’t seem very rational.

The main issue was that he wasn’t going to allow anyone disrespect his vet. Period.

It didn’t matter if it was at his gym, an amusement park or even on the moon.

No one was going to speak to her rudely and get away with it; not when he was around.

He couldn’t even understand why he was so angry. But hearing the mocking delight in Tania’s voice had gotten him all riled up.

What the hell had she meant by his vet looking like boiled noodles?

She looked perfect!

Yes, she could get on his nerves but that took nothing away from how beautiful she was.

He wasn’t sure what he was going to do to Tania if she didn’t apologize. Probably discontinue her membership and ban her from the gym forever.

Tania was lucky that she was a woman because he certainly couldn’t hit her.

If it was a guy that had spoken to and about his vet in that tone, his hands would have been wrapped around the blabbermouth’s throat a long time ago.

It didn’t matter how angry he was, he couldn’t raise his hand against a woman. Certainly not while he was in his human form because he still had a fairly decent amount of control.

But he couldn’t speak so confidently about his restraint if he was in his werewolf form; he would have advised Tania to get as far away from him as she could.

Not his vet though. He would never hurt her; in any form or situation. Not even if he had rabies.

He was trying not to dwell on the fact that he was referring to her as his again.

Wellllllll, she was technically his vet. If he ever got a pet that would totally solidify the term.

Maybe it was time to get a furry partner so he could have seemingly innocent reasons to turn up at the clinic and catch a glimpse of her.

He didn’t know why he was acting this way. The woman got on his nerves and both attempts at a conversation with her had failed.

Although, he wasn’t exactly innocent with the way he had started the second conversation.

He had deliberately goaded her but it was because he had hoped that she had remembered him.

What better way to do that than to remind her of how she had vehemently accused him of animal cruelty?

Heck all these illogical feelings for practically a stranger and he didn’t even know her name.

“What’s your name?” Daykan asked breathlessly out of the blue.

He was eagerly waiting on her answer like it was the most important news ever and he didn’t want to miss it.

Naomi blinked once and then a couple more times in surprise at the unexpected question. But she answered anyway, “Naomi Peters.”

Naomi.

This wasn’t the first Daykan had heard the name. After all, it wasn’t a rare once in a century kinda name.

But it felt like all choices he had made through his life had led him to this moment.

That this was meant to be and his existence had been incomplete until this strange woman had mentioned her name.

“Naomi..” Daykan uttered her name like a passionate prayer.

He quickly cleared his throat and had another go at the speaking thing. “Tania, I’m waiting for you to apologize to Naomi. This is the last time I’m going to ask you.”

Tania could not understand how all in one breath, Daykan could sound so mean to her and so nice to Naomi.

She was still frozen in shock and fear by his behavior. Now, she could see that he was done being patient.

She had been hoping that this was some kind of joke but he was dead serious.

“Naomi, I’m.. I’m sor.. sorry.” Tania said shakily and bowed her head in shame.

“For?” Daykan pressed on.

“For bei.. being ru… ru.. rude and the in.. insults.”

“Do you accept her apology or you want me to send her away?” Daykan looked at Naomi with a raised brow.

Tania gasped and whipped her head up to watch Naomi reply.

“There’s really no need to send her away. I accept her apology and everything is okay.” Naomi said hurriedly.

“Good. Tania, you can leave us now.” Daykan instructed without looking in Tania’s direction.

“Thank you,” Tania whispered and scurried away.

She wasn’t quite sure what had happened but she was never getting on Daykan’s bad side again.

In fact, it was best to avoid him. She really liked using his gym because it was the best one around.

They were relatively alone again and staring at each.

Naomi decided to break the awkward silence.

“Soooooo, thank you for that. But there was really no need. I’m used to ignoring people like that because they have no effect on me. I’ll just be on my way now.”

Naomi turned around to leave but Daykan reached out and held her left wrist.

“Please don’t leave me.”