Page 5 of Knight With Benefits

Carl

“Here, 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 coverwantsas well asneeds.

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, andsheknew 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?”

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