Chapter 52: No Tip for you!
"Who are you again?" Rick raised his eyebrow as he looked at Brad with a curious gaze.
"You..." Brad’s face froze, "I just told you... My father is..."
"Yes! Yes! You told me your father’s name," Rick said, still with a plesant smile plastered on his face, "I asked who you are."
"Yesterday I broke your wrist in front of a live stream and you cried in a gutter next to your own car."
"Today you walked in with a cast and a gold card and started barking like nobody taught you what happened."
"That isn’t status."
"That’s a man who still doesn’t know when to give up."
"So if I had to introduce you... I would say..."
"You are just a thick-skinned rich dude with a kink to get humiltaed in front of a crowd."
"That’s who you are."
And the moment Rick dropped those words, the boutique went dead silent. The chat went silent. Brad went silent.
Brad’s mouth opened. Nothing useful came out.
Rick’s smile stayed light.
"A broken dog shouldn’t shout about beating other people. If your father is as high as you say, he should have taught you not to get your ass beat down twice in two days. that’s embarrassing dude."
Brad went red from the neck up.
"You... You dare....!"
"I have been daring since last night..." Rick chuckled as his gaze shifted towards Brad’s cast, "That’s why you are wearing a cast."
He turned back to the counter as if Brad had already stopped existing.
"Those three suits. And suitable accessories for the. How much is the final amount?" Rick asked the girl behind the counter.
"The suits, the cufflings, the shoes, and other accessories all together come out to be... One hundred and eighty-seven thousand and three hundred thirty nine dollars. And with the discount it comes down to..."
"$187,000." The girl replied, stealing glances at the the clerk who was standing in front of Rick.
"Oh! You got me a very generous discount. Thank you!" Rick sarcasticaly smiled as he reached into his jacket pocket.
And the very next second, a thick bundle of hundred-dollar bills hit the glass with a heavy slap. Two hundred notes. Twenty thousand.
The clerk flinched.
Rick pulled out a second bundle and slammed it down beside the first.
Then a third.
A fourth.
By the fifth the entire boutique had gone quiet. Even Brad had stopped sputtering. The chat was aleady going crazy with messages.
[CashStackCounter: THAT’S 100K ALREADY]
[PocketPrinter: WHERE IS HE PULLING THESE FROM? It’s like magic.]
[Boobs_I_Love_Boobs: look at the clerk’s face HAHAHA]
[IAmInvisible: Brad who? this is better than the wrist snap]
[GreenMountain: KEEP GOING KEEP GOING]
[LexiCam: LEXI’S FACE RIGHT NOW]
But the stacks did not stop mounting.
Sixth.
Seventh.
Eighth.
Ninth.
Nine neat stacks of cash now sat on the counter like a small green fortress. The clerk was sweating through his vest. His hands hovered over the money like he was afraid it would vanish if he blinked.
Rick pulled the tenth bundle out slowly, almost lazily, and set it down with the same solid thump.
Two hundred thousand dollars in pure cash.
He rested two fingers on the top stack and looked at the clerk.
"I was going to leave the extra as a tip," he said, cheerful as anything. "Thirteen thousand. For the trouble of pulling the good suits so fast."
The clerk’s eyes lit up. Greed and relief mixed so hard his mouth actually twitched toward a smile.
Rick’s smile widened.
"But since you looked down on me the second I walked in..."
He slid thirteen thousand back out of the tenth stack, note by note, slow enough that everyone in the store and everyone on the stream could count it with him. He folded the bills once and slipped them back into his pocket.
"...you lost the tip."
The clerk’s face went through five different emotions in three seconds and landed on pure, public suffering.
The chat detonated.
[TipDenied: HE TOOK THE TIP BACK]
[MyExFuneral2: that man just watched 13k walk away]
[CashKing: WHO BRINGS 200K IN POCKETS]
[GreedyTears: the smile then the pain LMAOOO]
Rick tapped the remaining stacks.
"One hundred eighty-seven. Count it. Pack the suits."
The store manager, who had appeared somewhere during the tenth stack, shoved the ruined clerk aside and started counting with shaking hands. He didn’t question the cash. He didn’t ask for a card. He just bowed.
"Sir. Three executive cuts, oxfords, priority tailoring. Immediately."
Brad finally found his voice again.
"That’s... that’s impossible! Where does a street rat get that kind of cash?! It’s stolen! Call the police!"
The manager didn’t even glance at him.
"Security. Remove this man. He is disturbing a VIP client."
"Do you know who my father is?!"
Two mall guards did not care who his father was. They grabbed Brad by the arms, dragged him through the boutique, and threw him face-first onto the pavement outside while Lexi’s thousands of viewers watched every second.
The chat kept screaming.
[GutterRoyalty: Brad belongs in the trash]
[CashMountain: I can’t breathe]
[ClerkStillCrying: that tip will haunt him]
Meanwhile, Riclk took Lexi’s wrist and walked her toward the mirrored VIP fitting rooms at the back.
"Rick...?"
He steered her inside, closed the door, and locked it with a soft click.
Lexi fumbled the phone and killed the stream just in time. The little red light died. She had no idea what he was going to do to her, but she can’t let the chat see that.
A staff member knocked once and passed three garment bags through the half-open door before disappearing again.
Rick took them, hung the first suit on the hook, and turned to Lexi with that same easy, teasing look.
"You are the one who wanted to dress me properly," he said. "Help me."
Lexi’s cheeks were already warm. She stepped closer, unzipped the first bag, and lifted out the Naples cut.
The fabric was heavy and perfect. Rick shrugged out of his leather jacket and black t-shirt without any hurry, leaving him in just the dark jeans. Lexi’s eyes flicked down once before she forced them back up.
She held the shirt open for him. When he slid his arms through, her fingers brushed his shoulders longer than necessary. Rick didn’t comment. He only tilted his head slightly so his breath touched her ear.
"Careful, Judge. You are staring for more than three mississippis."
"I am not," she muttered, voice thinner than usual.
She buttoned the shirt from the bottom up. Her knuckles skimmed his stomach. Rick watched her face the whole time, clearly enjoying every tiny reaction.
When she reached the top button he leaned in and pressed a slow kiss to the side of her neck.
Lexi shivered.
"Rick..."
"Hmm?"
He moved to her cheek next, a light brush of lips, then spoke against her skin, "Your smell, it’s distracting."
She finished the buttons with slightly unsteady hands and helped him into the jacket. The fit was sharp. Rick turned toward the full-length mirror, then glanced at her reflection over his shoulder.
"How do I look?"
Lexi swallowed. She wanted to say, handsome, but she held herself back, not wanting to make him gloat even more, "Expensive."
"Good." He turned back to face her, close enough that the mirror almost disappeared. "Now the charcoal."
She helped him change again. This time when she smoothed the lapels her palms stayed on his chest a second too long.
Rick caught her wrists gently, just holding, and blew a soft stream of air along the shell of her ear.
Lexi’s breath hitched.
"You are doing that on purpose," she whispered.
"Of course I am." His voice stayed warm and playful. "You dragged me into a boutique, put me on a live stream, and made half the internet watch me drop cash on a counter. The least I can do is make your heart race a little while you dress me."
He released her wrists and kissed the other side of her neck, just below the ear, then pulled back before it could become anything more.
"Last one. Milan."
By the time the third suit was on, Lexi’s face was flushed and she kept having to remind herself to breathe normally.
Rick adjusted the cuffs himself, then stepped in close one more time. He didn’t touch her waist. He didn’t pin her. He simply stood near enough that she could feel the heat of him and spoke low.
"You did well, Miss Judge."
"But next time you want to take me shopping, try not to look so wrecked when I put a jacket on."
Lexi glared at him, but there was no anger, only embarrassment.
"You are impossible."
"I know."
He unlocked the door, held it open, and offered his arm like a gentleman who had not just spent ten minutes turning a fitting room into a quiet battlefield of almosts.
"After you, Judge. The rest of the store is still watching."
Lexi stepped out first, chin high, yellow sundress perfect, only the colour in her cheeks giving anything away.
Behind them the staff finished packing the garment bags.
Outside, Brad was still arguing with security on the pavement.
And Lexi’s phone, still off, had already missed several thousand new messages asking where the stream went.