Chapter Twenty-Six
Carl
I eyed Gwyn as I walked back into the kitchen, my bank account a couple thousand dollars lighter. She hadn’t seemed to be aware of what was being said, her scent going bitter and her breathing growing shallow even before the repairman gave her the price. The way she’d trembled when I wrapped my arm around her had stirred every protective instinct in me, and it was easy to see what her concern would be when more problems had been found than simply a missing door.
My bear was still tearing at my insides for not covering the whole cost of the work, but Gwyn would have noticed something was off if she didn’t remember paying and couldn’t find a charge for it on her account. Her vacant stare when he’d mentioned needing a deposit to schedule the work had given me an opening to do what I could, and paying forty percent instead of the required twenty hopefully left her better able to cover the rest without it leaving her short on the other things the café still needed.
“When are they coming back again?”
I hadn’t been outside long, too worried she’d follow us and catch me in the act, but the break seemed to have given her a chance to find her balance again.
“It’s scheduled for next Thursday. They need the payment by the day before or they’ll cancel the appointment.”
She looked like she was about to ask how much it was since I was sure she had missed that part of the conversation, but she closed her mouth and bit her lips instead, giving me a nod.
“Thanks.”
The short response felt like a jab to my gut, the tension in her curvy body still obvious, but I didn’t take it personally. Money was a touchy subject with a lot of people, especially in Hell, where most of the residents were one slip away from poverty.
“You want to come help me real fast so I can finish up the measurements? I can place an order to have the supplies delivered that way I don’t have to steal David’s truck again.”
Her brows shot up, my attempt to distract her working.
“Steal? I thought you said he let you borrow it?”
Grinning, I lifted one shoulder before turning away from her and making her follow me into the front of the building.
“It’s the same thing, right? Steal, borrow… Either way, it was his, but I was using it.”
The way she narrowed her eyes at me when I glanced back had my cock jumping to attention, the spark I loved obvious in the angle of her brows.
“No, it’s not the same, and you better have asked for permission before taking his truck.”
I could almost hear the young man my mother would have tacked onto the end, and I couldn’t help chuckling. Omega or not, Gwyn shouldn’t have any reason to consider herself weak after raising two alphas. She’d shown her strength more than once, but that feat alone took more than some people had.
“He’d have been over here banging down the door if I hadn’t,” I reassured her. “Although, after keeping it overnight when I was supposed to bring it back, he might deny me from now on.”
I’d used a chalk pencil to mark off where the new wall would be, leaving a generous opening to keep the space from feeling too small. There were also two windows within the soon-to-be reading nook to allow natural light and keep it feeling open if they were utilized correctly.
“So, I’ve drawn out where I think the wall should be, but depending on what you plan on doing on either side, I can still adjust its distance from the outer wall. If I build twelve-inch-deep shelves on both ends and on the inside of this new wall, that will give you this space for seating,” I said, extending my arms to point out the other markings I’d made on the floor. There wasn’t a ton of space, but it would be enough for a few chairs or a couch set.
Gwyn stepped closer, walking through the opening as if the wall was already there and looking around.
“If we started the shelves on the ends a little higher, I could put chairs in the corners, plus have a seating area in the center without it being too crowded.”
I tried to visualize a chair at each end of the space, and while it seemed like it would be a bit cramped to me, I was a big guy, so others might not mind.
“Okay. Do you want the bottom portion to be cabinets then, for extra storage?”
Something I’d learned in my years working on both houses and businesses, there was no such thing as too much storage.
I’d already pulled my notebook out and started erasing the lower shelves I’d drawn on my quick sketch and changing the numbers on the relevant wood. In the end, losing the shelves and putting on cabinet doors instead would equal out about the same.
“That would be great.”
I watched her do another spin before she stepped back over to the dining side of the room. She took a few paces and turned, seeming to measure out the space as she looked around before nodding to herself.
“There’s plenty of room left on this side for the counter and tables, so I think that’s perfect.”
The way she beamed made me want to stalk over and lift her by her plush ass so she’d have to throw her arms around me and be forced to feel what she did to me. Seeing her excited had my bear ready to curl around her and purr for the rest of the afternoon.
“Okay. Are there any other projects you want done this week, so I can order the supplies all at once?”
The loss of her eyes on me was almost a physical blow, and I couldn’t help closing the distance between us. I kept myself from pressing into her space, but only barely.
“I’d really like to get the boards off the windows like you mentioned.”
Two sides of the dining room were solid windows, with a set of double doors facing the street. They’d been covered with plywood for as long as I’d known the place, but somehow one of the panes had a hole in it with cracks radiating to the edges of the glass. I knew how to replace windows in homes, but I wasn’t sure how to go about finding a match for the glass.
“I’ll call a buddy of mine and see if he’s free to come take a look at the broken one tomorrow to get us a replacement. You don’t really want people to be able to see in yet, so we can tape up some paper to block their view while still letting in light.”
Omegas were sensitive to light, and while most preferred dimness in their nest, it had been proven they’d grow ill if they went without sunlight for too long. With the amount of time Gwyn was spending inside the café, getting the windows uncovered would be better for her.
“That sounds good. Once I have the plywood off I can get the siding and trim painted outside, so it’ll finally look like something is coming.”
I hadn’t forgotten the way she’d avoided answering my question about the sign. If I hadn’t known she already had to have a name picked out to file for the business licenses, I’d have thought she hadn’t come up with one yet, so the only other answer I could come up with was that she was embarrassed about something. Either she’d forgotten to order a sign, or it was the name itself.
“The wall shouldn’t take that long. Cutting the pieces and framing it out will take the longest, but hanging drywall is quick and easy. It really shouldn’t take more than a day. Pulling off the plywood will take next to no time, and with this type of window I’m thinking it’s safer for my buddy to do it, so I can either paint the outside, or help with the flooring after that.”
Besides installing everything in the kitchen, the flooring was probably the biggest project left. There was still lots to do, but most of it was going to be smaller tasks, and while I knew she was capable of completing them herself, I didn’t want her to. If she tried to say she wouldn’t need my help anymore before the café was ready to go, I would have to come up with an excuse to stay and help anyway.
“Okay. That should get us through this week, and by the time you come back on Tuesday the kitchen counters will be here.”
I froze for a moment, almost forgetting I had other obligations that would keep me from being by her side every day. My bear rose up, pushing at the surface at the thought of her being alone, where she’d already been cornered when I wasn’t here.
“Don’t you take any days off?”
I tried to ask the question carefully, since I knew how she’d react if she felt like I was trying to tell her what she could or couldn’t do. I did think she should give herself a break, but I was more concerned about the Purists showing up while I was too far away to protect her.
She hesitated to answer, and I watched her emotions playing across her face. She wanted to say no, to insist she didn’t need a break, but she was just as worried as I was.
Reaching out, I placed my fingertips on her arm, wanting to do more but holding myself back.
“I can be here, if you need me. I can get someone else to cover me at the garage.”
The garage didn’t mean as much to me as it did to the others, even if I did like helping them on some of the project cars and bikes that came through, and while I covered two days a week to give Sebastian and Brooke time to themselves, they’d understand if I told them I couldn’t for a while.
But Gwyn was shaking her head even before I finished speaking. Her instinct to not cause ripples with an alpha would keep her from accepting my offer to change my schedule for her.
“No, you have other commitments that came long before me. I should be asking you if you ever take a break. The counters and stuff can wait, or I can finish the flooring myself.”
The look she gave the little section she’d managed to lay made my lips twitch with the urge to grin. Despite buying the kind with a groove that was supposed to be easy to put down, it was still a tedious task that many people didn’t understand until forced to do themselves. As simple as it was meant to be, it could be just as frustrating, and time-consuming.
Pulling myself back to the seriousness of the conversation, I tried to find a way to express my concern without coming off overbearing, since if I pushed too much it would only make her more likely to do the opposite.
“I’m worried by the thought of you being here alone. If one of the people you’re concerned about showed up before David came to work, there would be no one around to notice a woman being forced into a car. Your safety is important.”
I wasn’t trying to scare her any more than I knew she was, but I wasn’t sure my bear could handle knowing she was vulnerable. Last time was bad enough, and that was before knowing there were others who wanted her.
My bear snarled and I had to fight to contain the sound. This woman was driving him feral with her stubbornness, but that didn’t mean I’d take away her freedom and force her to submit the way the alphas she’d described would.
Her brows creased and I held my breath.