Chapter Thirty
Carl
I ’d glanced at my phone at least a million times before the text came through that Gwyn had arrived at the café. My bear loosened his grip on me, but he still didn’t relax. That part of me couldn’t understand why I was at the shop instead of with our omega, no matter if Sebastian was pack or not.
She was more precious.
Asking Jackson to keep an eye on her hadn’t been enough to ease my worry, so I’d ended up sending Knox too, under the excuse that the two of them would get the painting done faster. Really, it was because I knew the Purists never traveled alone, and with Jackson’s problems with his wolf, I couldn’t convince my bear he was enough to protect Gwyn on his own if something happened. Sebastian could win a fight against multiple human alphas, but Jackson wasn’t as strong or experienced, even if he managed to shift.
Knox was another young wolf, and between the two of them they should be able to hold off a few humans long enough for more help to arrive. I’d already warned the guys riding patrol to keep close to The Hangout and watch for unknown alphas.
Popping another anxiety pill, I glanced at the clock, growling under my breath when it showed it was still morning. With how late I’d been getting to bed I should have still been sleeping, but now even my bear was working to keep me awake as many hours as possible. He used to be the one to push me to sleep more, but he’d become the part I had to fight to fall asleep, his stress over being separated from Gwyn adding to the worry I always carried.
Answering phones and handling invoices when people arrived to drop off or pick up their vehicles kept me distracted for a while, but by the time the guys headed out for lunch, I couldn’t stop myself from dialing Jackson. When he didn’t answer I couldn’t even try Knox, tapping Gwyn’s name as my heart pounded.
“Hello?”
The sigh that escaped stole my breath, leaving me to give off stalkerish vibes as I remained silent on the line. It didn’t matter that I really was stalking Gwyn, hanging out between two overgrown bushes a couple houses down from hers during the hours between when I slipped away from the other Knights and when dawn threatened. I didn’t want to freak her out.
“Hello? Carl?”
Shaking my head, I pulled myself out of the funk that had taken over.
“Hey, sorry, how’s it going?”
“Umm, fine. I got the first coat on the new wall, and I think the guys are about halfway through outside too.”
My bear wanted to growl over other alphas being near her with the way her scent had changed over the last few days, but I swallowed it down.
“That’s good.”
I desperately tried to think of something else to say to keep her on the phone, but my brain was drawing a blank on anything that would make sense.
“I’d actually forgot you wouldn’t be here today, and I’d wanted to talk to you.”
My whole body lit up at her words, a smile pulling at my lips.
“Oh, yeah?”
I couldn’t stop the way my tone dropped, the suggestion in those two words obvious for anyone to hear. My shaft was already digging into my zipper as if she’d said she wanted to do more than talk to me.
“Yeah, but, not over the phone.”
If anyone saw me grinning at the wall across from the desk I sat at I’d look like a fool, but I didn’t care. Some guys would have taken that line as something ominous, but I couldn’t believe Gwyn would be cutting ties with me yet. While there hadn’t been a chance for us to get physical again over the past few days, she’d still been relaxed around me, smiling when I teased her, and glowing with accomplishment when we stopped for the night and she could see how far the café had come since I’d started helping.
“We could always meet up at The Hangout once I’m done here. The shop closes at seven.”
Her pause brought my grin down a few notches, and suddenly those worries I’d thought I didn’t have surfaced.
“How about you come to my place instead? I can make dinner for us.”
My cock damn near punched through my jeans, the surge of blood leaving me lightheaded as I slammed a door on the worries.
“Sounds perfect, but I can bring something if you don’t want to cook. You’re already spending the day working.”
I could almost see the way she’d pull her lower lip between her teeth to chew on it as she debated my offer. I knew she liked to cook, but I’d also seen how exhausted she usually was by the end of the day, and who wanted to stand over a stove after doing physically demanding work for ten to twelve hours?
“I’ll even grab a bottle of wine or something if you let me pick up dinner.”
Her quiet laugh had warmth spreading in my chest, and my bear finally settled for the first time since I’d left her street little more than a handful of hours ago.
“Careful, or I might start thinking you don’t like my cooking.”
Chuckling, I leaned forward to wake the computer before me. If she was going to let me bring her dinner for once, I wanted to make it good.
“I love your cooking, but there’s no reason to go through that effort after a long day. Let me take care of it.”
I almost slipped and said let me take care of you , but I saved it at the last second. Gwyn had relaxed a lot from the wary omega I met the first night at The Hangout, but I still wasn’t sure how she’d take a comment like that.
“Okay, but don’t waste your money on wine. That crap is disgusting.”
Laughing, I agreed with her, promising to be at her place by seven thirty. I’d have to break a few traffic laws to make it to her little duplex in that amount of time, but I wasn’t worried about it. I’d do more than a little speeding for Gwyn, and if the night went the way I was hoping, I couldn’t wait to get it started.
And if it went the complete opposite, then I’d need more time to let my bear go mourn in the forest before I was needed back at the shop.
The rest of the afternoon passed faster than the morning had, until the last hour before the shop closed. I looked at the clock at least six times, sure that it had to be seven already, only to see maybe five minutes had passed since the last time I’d checked. My stomach was flopping around inside me, and I almost couldn’t catch my breath as I splashed water on my face and washed my hands in the bathroom sink when there was only fifteen minutes left.
“Hey Carl, do you mind hanging late tonight so I can get started on this next part?”
Claws burst from my fingers before I could stop them, the snarl I let out making Tom’s brows shoot up as he took a step back.
“Whoa, never mind. It can wait for tomorrow.”
Curling the claws into my palms, I focused on the prick of pain to help make them recede as I sucked in a breath and forced myself to relax.
“Sorry. Not tonight.”
Any other and I wouldn’t have cared if someone wanted to hang around an extra hour, but I had two orders waiting for me to pick up before I drove across almost half the city, and I wasn’t going to keep Gwyn waiting.
Tom muttered something under his breath as he disappeared back into the shop. I wasn’t one to let things like that get to me, but Tom wasn’t well liked, and he was lucky to still have a job after how much Brooke despised him. He’d apparently made a comment to her the first time she’d showed up at the original shop that had put him on the bad side of both her and Sebastian, but the boss was too good of a guy to fire the man for it.
Nothing else happened to mess up my plans, and five minutes before seven I was already switching off the office lights and locking up. The guys in the garage gave me odd looks as I stood at the door, rushing them out, but either Tom had said something, or they could feel my bear’s anxious energy, so they kept their mouths shut. I was on my bike and roaring down the street before half of them had taken their seats.
It had taken a bit of searching online to find a restaurant I thought was good enough for Gwyn, and while I’d have preferred to be able to offer it to her fresh at the restaurant, she clearly wanted privacy for whatever she wanted to talk about. Every time a bubble of hope tried to rise I popped it, but it was hard not to think that perhaps she felt the way I did and wanted to talk about us becoming more than the sorta-boss-and-employee, sorta-friends-with-benefits situation we had going on.
I had the food safely tucked in my saddle bag by ten after, but I was still running behind to make it to her place by seven-thirty. Opening up the throttle, my beard lashed my neck as I tore out of the parking lot and off to my next stop. I knew there were going to be questions, but they would have to wait.
I pulled into the parking lot of The Hangout with only five minutes to spare. It was early enough on a Sunday night that there was only one person inside, but I barely gave them a glance as I rushed to the counter. David’s concerned frown would have been amusing any other time, but I didn’t have the breath to spare to tease him.
“Is it ready?”
“What?”
His brow bunched, the look he gave me clearly stating I was insane.
“The pickle juice and whatever for Gwyn’s drinks. I texted you about it earlier. Is it vodka? I asked you to have it ready. Just add it to my tab.”
Forehead crinkling as he continued to stare at me like I was losing it, he reached below the counter to pull out a jar of green liquid with Gwyn’s name on it. Once he set the cheap bottle of vodka off the back wall on the counter beside it, I snatched them up and turned to sprint for the door.
“What’s going on? I thought you meant she was coming here?”
I didn’t have the time or breath to answer, but I heard Blake cackle as I brushed past him and a few other Knights coming in.
“Old Carl’s been whipped!”