Chapter Two
Carl
“H ere, let me.”
I gently pushed Gwyn aside with the back of my hand against her hip before trying the door myself. There were multiple things that could make a door stick, and only testing it myself could give me the clues I needed.
“Does it always do this?”
The darkness around us hid Gwyn’s face in shadows, but her sigh was answer enough.
“Yes.”
The building had sat empty for almost as long as the Knights had been coming to The Hangout, so I wasn’t surprised it had issues. The question was, how bad were they?
The knob turned smoothly, so it wasn’t that the tongue was catching. I pulled with steady pressure, increasing until the door finally released with a crackle and pop. Stiff hinges would have opened slowly with more noise, and the door still hung straight, so the problem was either the frame, or the door itself.
I poked at the inside of the doorway but couldn’t tell much without light.
“With the nights getting colder, the change in temperature can make moisture collect in the cracks between the doorframe and the wall. Water makes the wood swell, which makes the door stick. As long as the wood isn’t rotting yet, some fresh sealant should stop the problem if the door isn’t warped, but to be really secure, this whole frame would need replaced with a metal one built into the wall.”
My eyes dropped to the woman beside me, the flash of headlights passing by showing me her grimace before she smoothed it away and pushed past me.
“Is anyone really going to want to break into a café?”
It was my turn to frown. For the most part, the people of Hell were decent, but anyone pushed to the edge was liable to do stupid things, and the whole area struggled on the verge of poverty.
“That depends on what they think is inside. Desperate people do desperate things.”
A switch clicked and light suddenly flooded the space, my bear grumbling as I turned my head away to let my eyes adjust. If I let the animal part of me have his way, we’d be curled up in our den already, gorging and preparing to hibernate through the winter, but he seemed just as intrigued by the omega as the rest of me.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
I was familiar with people having to make tough choices, and a new door was probably low on her list of priorities if she was trying to renovate this place and get it up and running. It wouldn’t be too hard to seal it and maybe add a little reinforcement to get by until the place made enough to cover wants as well as needs .
Lifting my head, I looked around the space in front of me, my stomach sinking for the woman at my side. Despite just meeting her, I couldn’t help feeling protective, and the amount of work she faced with converting the diner was daunting. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it was going to take a lot of work to get it ready to go considering how empty it looked.
“Walk me through and tell me what you’re wanting done.”
It was better to assess how much she was already aware of before bombarding her with a list of things she’d need to have fixed before the place would pass inspection. I followed behind her as she led me into the dining area, listening to her words with part of my mind while I catalogued the tasks that would need to happen to get her business open. It was obvious she realized she’d been duped when she bought the place, and just as obvious she had no idea what renovating this building was really going to take. It wasn’t as simple as slapping some paint on it.
The slur she’d developed at the bar faded the more she talked, her mind clearing with movement and the focus of showing me around. A small part of me relaxed at the change, happy I’d distracted her from what she’d been doing to herself. It had only taken one breath to know she was human, as well as an omega, which meant it wouldn’t take much for her to get drunk, and despite the slight tinge to her peppermint and pastries scent, my instincts told me she was unbonded. Being drunk with a bunch of alphas, even the ones at The Hangout who were mostly trustworthy, was dangerous.
I couldn’t help looking at her neck again, the scars silvery under the fluorescent lights. There was more than one set, as if she’d been bitten multiple times, marring the clean mark most omegas bore. Bonds were for life, and usually a pair was tied so close that when one died, the other followed, but in rare cases the bereft mate survived the loss.
Her obvious plan to get as drunk as possible made me wonder if it was grief she was trying to drink away, or something else. I wasn’t foolish enough to think all mates were happy together, forced bonding still happened despite the laws and supposed protection for omegas, and there was no way for me to know without asking how long her mate had been gone. She could have just as easily been drinking away the problems facing her with her project, but the glow of excitement on her face as she explained her plans made me think that wasn’t it.
“You’ve got a good grasp of what you want. Do you mind if I ask what the budget is?”
Her flinch was obvious, the joy of talking about her dream fading away as I reminded her of reality. My bear flexed his claws inside me, guilt stirring at being the cause of the change.
“I got a good price for the place, and I know it’s going to take a bit to get the equipment and stuff I need. I can add to it once I start turning a profit, but I need to get it open as soon as I can without spending too much. I don’t have any other source of income, and my savings can only stretch so far.”
I wasn’t surprised by the evasive answer. Most people didn’t want to discuss money, whether they had it or not. If they did, they thought you’d take advantage of them, and if they didn’t, they didn’t want you to know they might not be able to afford what you were discussing.
“Well, like I said, I can do just about anything besides electrical, and I’ve got connections for that if it’s needed. Sometimes you run into things as you fix others, but hopefully everything will be straight forward. I’ve got another project I’m finishing up this week, and I cover my buddy’s shop every Sunday and Monday, but I can come over after that to start helping, if you want.”
I looked down into chocolate brown eyes, the little furrow between them cuter than it was worrying. I knew she needed the help, and she knew she needed the help, but it was clear she had a distrust of alphas. I didn’t hold it against her, it was a healthy mentality for an omega, especially an unbonded one.
“How much are you going to charge me?”
I had to force my gaze away from her, pretending to look around the empty kitchen area. Whoever had owned it before had stripped it of everything that could be sold, leaving gaping holes in the counters where the sink and ovens should have been. Even the door to the walk-in cooler had been removed, and I had to wonder if it worked at all since there was no way to test it without the door.
I pushed down the urge to tell her I’d do the work for free. A lot of the repairs I did around Hell were done at little to no charge. I had no need for the money, but I knew she’d distrust me more if I didn’t give her an acceptable price. A stranger offering to do something for nothing was unbelievable, and if it wasn’t money I wanted, she’d automatically assume something else.
My focus slipped back to her curvy body, my cock twitching with interest, but luckily she was looking around the room instead of at me. I certainly wouldn’t say no if she offered herself as payment, but something told me she wouldn’t take kindly to that suggestion.
“There are a lot of different projects you need done, and likely more will pop up as we make progress, so an hourly wage is probably the simplest way to go. If you buy the supplies and provide lunch, I can do it for fifteen dollars an hour.”
I thought she’d scoff at the ridiculous price since anyone who’d held a job or hired a contractor would know that was insanely low for what I’d be doing, but she only bit her lip and looked around again. It was clear she was having an internal debate, but she finally sucked in a deep breath and nodded.
“Okay. I can do that for a couple weeks at least, and hopefully by then it’ll be close to finished.”
My instincts weren’t happy about charging her for the work, but I could find ways to put the money back into the café for her. I’d done it before when people insisted on paying me. I had simple tastes, and the one good thing about my time in the Army was that I could live off the stipend I received after being injured.
“It looks like you’ve made a good start to cleaning the place out, so the big construction projects should come before we start the smaller things. Tuesday I can measure out the area where you want the dividing wall in the front and make a list of the supplies I’ll need, and then I’ll get up on the roof to take a look at it since you’ve got a few water spots on the ceiling tiles. If there’s a leak, we need to get it taken care of before fall really sets in and the weather starts getting wetter.”
Her teeth dug into her plush bottom lip again before she nodded, offering me her hand.
“Sounds like a plan. Is there anything you don’t like to eat?”
Her voice faded as I wrapped her small hand in mine, and I couldn’t stop the grin that spread across my face as my mind went straight to the gutter. I wasn’t the only one thinking about the things I could eat since a hint of slick tinted the air between us.
I focused on her lips again, the plump mounds slightly parted. A tremor passed through her into my palm, and I knew she felt the pull between us as well. Alphas were always drawn to omegas, and vice versa, but her thick hips and heavy breasts heaving beneath the simple t-shirt she wore called to me in a way I hadn’t felt in a long time.
“Don’t worry, I’ll eat whatever you put in front of me.”
My voice had dropped, a rumble in the words I couldn’t help, and Gwyn shivered again before giving her head a shake and pulling her hand away. I didn’t want to let her go, the silky feel of her skin something I wanted to explore, but I wouldn’t take advantage of her either. She’d been drinking, and even if she seemed more sober than she’d been at the bar, I wouldn’t let there be any chance of something influencing her decision if we became more than our current agreement of boss and employee.
“Oh, okay then. I guess I should get back to my drink, and I’ll see you Tuesday.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Her cheeks flushed brighter before she turned away. I followed her from the building, waiting as she shouldered the door back into place and locked up, but the walk over to The Hangout was more strained than the previous had been. I held the door to the bar for her and she scurried past with her head down, rushing to the seat she’d left. It was tempting to return to my spot beside her, but it was obvious she wanted space, and Jason calling my name pulled my focus to the table of Knights sitting in the corner.
Spying Jackson at the table reminded me of the reason I’d come to the bar earlier than usual to begin with, the young alpha avoiding my gaze as I made my way over. The only open seat was across from him, which meant I wouldn’t get a chance to talk to him unless the others left, or if I waited and followed him out when he tried to escape.
I settled in to wait him out, accepting the beer Jason poured for me and listening to the men discuss the vintage car they were working on at the shop. The familiar scents and voices were soothing to the part of me that was always on alert, but concern for the omega sitting alone at the bar kept me from relaxing, and I shifted in my seat until I could keep an eye on her without it being obvious.
Usually chatting with the guys helped me prepare for the night, but the longer I sat there with my attention torn between Gwyn, Jackson, and the conversation at the table, the more agitated I grew. Instead of calming my bear, it had him pacing inside me, letting out a steady low growl that was hard to keep buried in my chest.
“You okay, Carl?” Blake asked from beside me, his silver beard catching the light as he polished off the last of the beer in his glass. He’d kept his voice low so the others wouldn’t notice, but it made me realize I was drumming a tattoo on the table with the tips of the black claws extending from my fingers.
I released a slow breath, doing the exercise I’d been taught to calm myself, and the claws retreated.
“Yeah. I took on a new project and I’m just trying to figure out the best way to tackle it.”
My eyes slid to Gwyn’s short frame perched on the barstool, the curve of her hips making my palms itch to take hold of them. She was the perfect size to have something to hang onto while still being able to manhandle her and fold her into all sorts of positions.
“Let me tell you, those kinds of projects turn into long-term ones, that then become annoying little side-projects that talk back and make you want to put your duct tape to other uses.”
Blake had followed my gaze but turned back to me as he shook his head, and I couldn’t help laughing.
“Kids still giving you trouble?”
One bushy brow arched.
“You looking to adopt? I’ll sell them cheap. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking, mating so late and having kids at my age. I’m too old for this shit.”
I chuckled again as he looked morosely into his empty glass. I’d met his mate and their teens on a few occasions, and I knew he was crazy about them, but he also claimed they were the cause of all his grey hair.
“I’m good, buddy, but if you don’t get your butt home, Cindy’s gonna have a new bear-skin rug to beat.”
He jerked his head toward the clock, his chair scrapping across the floor as he muttered a curse.
“If you don’t see me tomorrow, you better make sure she buries my bike with me, or I’ll come back and haunt all of you.”
Smiling into my glass, I finished off the rest of my beer just as Jackson stood to follow Blake.
“I should be going, too.”
“Aww, it’s past Jackass’s bedtime. Do you need someone to tuck you in?”
A glass was flying across the table before Jason got the last word out, Jackson smirking as Jason cussed when he fumbled it. David would kick us all out if we broke another of his glasses, but that didn’t stop the younger alphas from using them as weapons.
“Asshole!” Jason shouted as Jackson headed for the door, carefully setting the glass down in the center of the table.
I stood and stretched, trying not to make it too obvious that I was following the young wolf, but not wanting to give him the chance to ride off before I caught up to him either.
“I’m old, and it’s past my bedtime too. You gonna come tuck me in, Jason?”
I puckered my lips, blowing a kiss toward the alpha lion as he made gagging noises.
“Sorry, I don’t do diapers, and you’re definitely old enough to need them.”
Flipping him the bird as I laughed, I headed for the door.