Link Dane

FOURTEEN

| dedication: wolffgang - for that dope ass cover |

FOURTEEN

There wasn't much I could do since my knowledge of putting together counter tops and kitchen applications were limited. Versa tried to hide her lack of knowledge behind her chatter whilst simultaneously reading the instruction handout. Thomas came back, glanced at all of the work, across the back room and just threw it out there that he was useless. Ryan, along with Versa, was acting like he knew what he was doing as well but quite frankly, he kept messing things up.

I stood at the door, watching Cain and Link work hard on putting everything together. Unlike my friends, those two seemed like they knew what they were doing and had their minds too occupied to even participate in most of the conversations. My eyelids kept dropping down and I was trying immensely hard to not fall asleep standing. Versa was sitting crossed legged on the floor, her hands in her lap as she gazed up at Ryan, who was looming over her with a foolish grin across his face.

"When did he start having it bad for her?" A voice asked from behind me. I flipped around and saw Thomas studying Versa and Ryan with a questioning gaze.

"I have no idea." I admitted, shifting on my feet to let Thomas through. He shook his head at my opening, taking a step back.

"I'm heading home," he declared. Palmer was at the front, locking away a few things when she heard Thomas calling it a day.

He sounded as though he pushed mountains today when he only parked himself at the front stool and chatted away with Palmer. I slapped back the retort hanging down my tongue and closed my mouth.

"Do you need a lift?" She asked him sweetly.

Thomas looked over his shoulder then back at me. I shrugged at him.

"Sure," he nodded at Palmer who held up a small finger at him.

"I'll tell my boys at the back to lock up." She ambled past me, patting me on my arm and peeked inside the back room.

"Boys! You should lock up soon and get some rest," she stated, the message loud and clear. She wanted everyone out and get some rest pronto.

Cain was the only one that lifted up his head and gave Palmer a short curt nod. Palmer went back to the front and fished for her keys in the drawer. She gestured at Thomas and went out the door, Thomas trailing right behind her.

My focused averted back to everyone else. Cain pushed up to his feet and grabbed his jacket that hung off a chair. "I have to get back to Serena," he muttered, shrugging on his navy blue coat.

Cain didn't speak much. He kept to himself, was busy with the work at hand and only spoke when someone addressed him directly. Even then he'd just point at stuff, deeming it unworthy to string a few sentence together. With anyone else, I'd wonder how big headed they thought of themselves, but with Cain, it seemed like his whole persona was moulded in that way.

I once caught him shifting his gaze on me before he muttered something low under his breath causing Link to throw his head back and let out a rumble of laughter. It was clear to anyone who paid attention that he had a comment about me and thought to share it with Link, who found it equally hilarious. I hid my discomfort and scurried to the front to Palmer and kept myself busy by helping her out with the customers.

Cain knocked Link on the shoulder before starting to walk towards the door. I took a massive step back, nearly pressing myself against the wall to give him a wide berth for him to pass. His sharp gaze cut to me when he was close enough to touch me. I held my breath at his icy glare and wondered what his issue was which was suddenly directed on me.