Page 32 of All Night Long

“And you’re the common denominator. Wonder what that says?”

Grunting, Gray turned away. “I’m trying.”

“Try harder.”

Ignoring Key, because the fucker was right, Gray got back to work. He had a son to find and a weakness to exploit.

Chapter Fourteen

Thank fuck he was at work. At least he could keep busy and not think about a certain vampire who annoyed him more than anyone else ever had. He’d really thought Gray had changed. The night before had been good until the restaurant. It had all gone downhill from there and Henry had seen how much his mate detested humans.

The way he watched them, monitored their movements, glared at them and the poor waiter. Sighing heavily, Henry checked the stock on a shelf, then moved farther down the aisle to check another item. He heard a grunt, but didn’t think much of it. He’d seen and heard plenty of things, so he’d learned to ignore certain sounds.

Crouching, he froze when the cold muzzle of a gun touched his temple. He swallowed hard and waited. He was at the mercy of whoever held the gun.

“Stand,” the deep voice ordered.

Henry slowly stood and faced the man. The man stepped back, the gun held steady in his hand. Henry couldn’t see his facedue to the hoodie and scarf covering it, but it didn’t matter. He wanted to live, so he was doing what the man asked.

“Empty the tills.”

Henry walked down the aisle and shook his head when Jasmine, a staff member, gasped. The last thing he wanted was for her to be injured. He needed to keep the man’s attention on him. “I’ll empty both tills.”

He staggered forward from the blow to his head, the pain causing him to bend over. The push in the back kept him moving, and he ignored the warm trickle down his neck. He reached the till, and as soon as he opened it, he was pushed aside.

They’d been robbed before. This wasn’t new, so Henry took several calming breaths and waited for the man to empty both of them. He kept his eyes on his staff and the few customers who had wisely disappeared and waited. He knew as soon as the tills were empty, the man would leave.

It only took a minute or so for the man to have everything he wanted, then he turned and ran out. Henry sagged in relief, then picked up the phone to call the police. Not that they would do much, but at least the crime will have been logged for insurance purposes.

Putting the phone down, he began to usher the customers outside, apologizing as he did so. Some took it fine, but others shouted and screamed at him. Those he ignored as he continued to work. The staff were fine as most had dealt with these situations as well.

The number of times they had been robbed was well into double figures, but if it carried on, the shop would eventually close. No matter how much money a business made, if it continued to make losses through theft, then the owners would close up shop.

This was a business, at the end of the day, and it wasn’t the people who continued to rob it who felt the consequences. It was those who were employed there and the local community who shopped there. Employees lost their jobs, and the community lost a place to go when they needed food. Henry liked working there, but having a gun shoved in his face was getting old, and he was close to quitting.

Just as he was about to shut the front doors, the same man who had robbed them came back in and shoved Henry to the floor. He waved his gun around, then ran behind the counter to grab cigarettes and some of the alcohol they kept there.

Henry stayed where he was and waited for the man to leave again. He’d had people do this as well. Leave then come back. The man ran back out from behind the counter, stared Henry in the eyes, raised his gun, then shot him.

Henry heard the sound and felt a punch to his chest, throwing him backwards. He hit the floor and grunted. A second later, a burning, intense pain flooded his chest. It felt like he’d been hit by a burning sledge hammer. He lay on the floor, trying to breathe, but his lungs didn’t want to work.

“Ambulance is on its way.”

Henry tried to swallow to answer, but he couldn’t speak. He cried out when Jasmine applied pressure to the wound, then gritted his teeth.

Henry

Fuck off

You’re in pain

No shit Sherlock

Why?

Why do you care?Why the fuck was he arguing with Gray now? Now wasn’t the time. And of all the times to reach out to him it had to be now when he was writhing in pain.We wererobbed and I’ve been shot. Ambulance is on its way now.

Fuck! I’ll be there in a minute.Henry closed his eyes and sighed, then winced.Where do you work?

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