Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story


- Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
I've actually had this done for awhile now, so I completely apologize for not putting it up earlier.


Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


6

 

“I’d like to make a toast,” Carson said, getting up from his seat on the floor. “To all our new staffers who, with their help, will make the Brew House the greatest café known this side of the universe. To our fearless leaders, Christian and George, for making this whole thing possible and of course, to me,” he paused dramatically, “for being so damn handsome. Cheers!”

Christian, who was propped up against the coffee bar counter, shook his head and sent his eyes heavenward in a mock plea to the Gods. Then, belying his previous actions, grinned, raised his glass in Carson’s direction and took a swig of his beer.

Three weeks, he thought looking around the room. After all the long nights, the stressful days and the headaches, the dusty old wreck that he’d inherited looked better than he’d imagined.

The ancient hardwood was polished but still maintained it’s character; the walls were painted a warm hue and wooden tables and comfortable chairs were scattered around the room. Paintings graced every wall and a large fireplace was the centerpiece of a large brick wall that gave the room a rustic urbanity that anyone would find comforting. A lawyer and a sculptor could rub shoulders in this room and feel like they both belonged.

He wanted the café to be somewhere where people of all lifestyles could come together and eat, drink and enjoy themselves – just like the countless cafés and coffeehouses he’d been to in his travels. It wouldn’t have the clinical-ness or fake hominess of the chain coffee shops; it’d be a place where a person could grab a coffee after a long day’s work or read a book on a lazy Sunday morning.

He still wasn’t thrilled about having to run the place; he hated that he was being blackmailed and tested by his father but if he had any say in the matter this place would be a success. And he would prove that he could do anything he set his mind to. His father assuredly thought he would fail but Christian was determined to show him that he was completely wrong about him.

He glanced back over at the people congregated around the room. Carson was now part of the management team and together with Christian and George, they’d hired four new employees. Jeffrey Parker a university student,  a chirpy nineteen-year-old named Stacey Leighton, Harry Scott, a jack of all trades, more commonly known as Torque and a stunningly beautiful twenty-something year old named Isabel Vasquez who had just recently returned to the country after an extended European tour.

He, Taylor and the other staff members had put together the finishing touches of the upcoming grand opening and were now having a little impromptu celebration. Music played softly in the background.  Beer, soda and half-empty pizza boxes were spread on the ground, as were most of the staffers who’d decided to forgo the chairs and tables to eat on the spotless floor.

He looked over at George whose face was getting redder and redder as he imbibed more and more German beer. George had been a wealth of information and Christian was secretly glad to have him on board. The only thing that stopped him from being fully trustful of the man was the knowledge that he was probably spying on him for his father.

Then there was the Taylor issue. His eyes fell on Taylor, who was sitting on the floor, leaning on a chair back and laughing at something Carson was saying. Something was up between Taylor and George. George had mentioned that they’d worked together in the past but that hadn’t explained Taylor’s weird behaviour when they’d encountered each other again.

He purposefully brushed the distrust aside. In the past few weeks, he’d been able to see what kind of man Taylor was. And he was a good guy. He didn’t think any job was too small, he never half-assed it and he never complained. It was surprising how hard he was actually working, considering the lack of pay. If Christian were being honest, he’d have to admit that he liked the guy and was feeling guilty about the contract.

When he’d come up with the whole thing, he’d thought that Taylor deserved the punishment but after getting to know the kid, Christian felt otherwise. So after going back and forth with it for days he finally decided to let Taylor off the hook. No assisting, no contract, not even repair payments, Christian was going to let Taylor have his life back – it was the only way his conscience would be completely clear.

Christian’s eyes were still on Taylor when the object of his scrutiny looked up and caught his stare. With a half-surprised look on his face, Taylor tilted his head and raised a curious brow in his direction.

Christian shrugged at him and looked away wondering about the weird habit he’d developed of watching Taylor. He’d be talking to a contractor about the renovations and then Taylor would do something in the corner of the room that would draw his eye to the slim frame. Or after he’d send Taylor to do something, he would find himself watching him until he turned a corner or marched out of the room. It was strange behaviour, bizarre, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

And that was another reason he was ready for Taylor to be out of his life for good. He was already finding himself feeling a little attached to the guy and he didn’t care for it one bit.

Suddenly, he felt a presence near him and he looked around to see that Isabel had joined him by the coffee bar. “The place looks amazing,” she said, her eyes boring into his.

He gave her an easy smile. “Thanks to your hard work. All of you.” He nodded to the other staff members around the room.

“It’s our pleasure. Really,” she said breathily. She shifted closer to him. “So, are you having fun?”

He gave her a lopsided smile. “I am now.”

As soon as the words flew out of his mouth, he regretted them. He hadn’t meant to flirt with her, or any employee for that matter – it was completely inappropriate – but when a beautiful woman flirted with him, he couldn’t help but play along even though it was completely meaningless to him. This back and forth was as natural to him as breathing.

“I am having fun too. I’m so glad we’ll be working closely together,” Isabel replied, her eyes shining.

Crap. Christian knew that look.

It meant trouble.

Taylor watched Stacey stroll up her walkway and waved goodbye when the girl slipped into her house. Facing forward, she shifted awkwardly in the car seat as Christian pulled out of Stacey’s driveway and into the road.


This was the first time that he'd given her a lift home. She always used public transportation to go to the café and did the same when heading home. He’d made a general call at the end of the party, asking who needed a ride home. It just so happened that the only two people that hadn’t had a ride was Stacey and herself.

Isabel, who had driven her car that day, had not been pleased by this turn of events and had sent Stacey quite the death glare. Thankfully, Taylor had come out of it entirely unscathed. Other than George, no one knew she was a girl, so Isabel had no reason to try to intimidate her.

Taylor found the whole thing amusing and sad all at the same time. Isabel’s crush on Christian wasn’t heading anywhere if Christian’s complete avoidance of the girl was any indication. Not that his behaviour had deterred her; she’d spent half of the night following him around and the other half watching him with moon calf eyes across the room.

Sure, Christian was an attractive guy. Incredible looking actually, Taylor would be blind to claim otherwise, but he was just a guy. A demanding, cocky and … well, kind of an okay guy.

In parts, he was your typical rich boy: audacious, arrogant, too good looking for his own good but there was more to him than that. She knew he visited his grandmother often, spending hours with her while she recuperated. He was good with the workers too. He bought them meals when the day had gone overlong and she often saw him laughing and cracking jokes with them as if they were all great friends.

As for their relationship – well, she didn’t really know what their relationship was. While they were a step above acquaintances, she knew enough about his life for it to be otherwise, there was a distance between them that didn’t allow the same easiness that he had with the other workers.

It was probably due to the contract. It was hard to be completely at ease with someone when your debt to them was the basis of your association. They could never be friends with the contract between them. Not really. And, for a moment, Taylor wondered why that bothered her.

“Taylor.” She looked across at Christian when he called her name.

He looked uncomfortable and more unsure than she’d ever seen him. Christian was many things but lacking confidence wasn’t one of them.

“It’s about the contract,” he continued after clearing his throat.

“What about it?” she asked, her brows rising in inquiry.

He glanced over at her before looking back through the windshield. “I’m cancelling it,” he stated brusquely.

At the words, her heart began to thud against her chest. Had she heard right? Did he mean it?

“Why?” was the question that fell out of her mouth.

“Up this road, right?” he asked ignoring the question and pointing to the street where she lived.

“Yeah,” she mumbled, “just up ahead.”

They sat in silence until he glided to a stop in front of her complex. He turned off the ignition and turned around to face her, looking calm and confident again. If he was still feeling uneasy, he was hiding it very well.

“Look, Taylor, I was out of line. You’re a good guy and now that I know that, I don’t feel right putting you up to this. So let’s,” he ran his hand through this hair, “let’s just call it even. I’ve covered the cost of the damage anyway so don’t bother about the estimate. We can end our association here.” He turned to face the front and restarted his car. “Thank you for your hard work and good luck with … just good luck.”

Taylor blinked at his profile as she felt her stomach drop. Too many feelings were running through her. While she was happy that she didn’t owe him the money, the responsible part of her didn’t know if she could accept it. She’d caused the accident and she was responsible for fixing it. Then there was another part of her, a small part of her, that couldn’t quite believe that he was about to swoop out of her life just as quickly as he’d swooped into it.

She glanced over at him as he continued to stare up ahead. He was waiting for her to get out of the car and she unbuckled her seatbelt intending to do so.

So this was it? This was the end of their acquaintance? It was weird. They weren’t close, they weren’t friends, they weren’t much of anything really and yet her stomach sank as if she was about to lose something of great importance. She shook her head to clear the thoughts from her mind. She was being foolish. She should be happy, relieved - grateful that this experience was over.

She turned to say goodbye to him when she caught a movement outside from the corner of her eye. “What the—” she blurted out, pushed opened the door and ran over to the scene that was occurring right in front of her house.

 

Christian felt Taylor jump out of his seat before he heard the car door slam. He looked over and saw that Taylor was already halfway across the snowy walkway to his place. His eyes followed Taylor as he headed over to the people gathered in front of his home. There was a woman clutching a young boy in front of her while a husky man waved at them in a belligerent manner.

He watched Taylor stop in front of the group and ask something and the man marched up to him and started gesticulating wildly, alternating between jabbing a finger in the woman’s direction and pointing menacingly at Taylor. Christian looked down at his hands and realized that he'd clenched them into fists.

He turned off the ignition and unbuckled his seat belt before he could tell himself that the situation was none of his business. He was out of the car before he could tell himself to continue on his way. He walked up to the group before he could warn himself that if he didn’t turn back now, there would be no going back. But it was too late for all that.

Taylor was saying something to the boy, who on closer inspection had to be his brother and by the looks of the pretty woman beside him, she was Taylor's mother.

“Joshua, go inside,” Taylor said firmly, when he’d walked up to the group.

The boy shook his head, looking at the man hostilely.

“Get inside. Now.” There was a firm authority to Taylor’s voice that Christian had never heard before and it was enough to send Joshua on his way, but not before sending one last glare in the man’s direction.

The man didn’t notice the glare. He was too busy eying Christian warily. Taylor followed his gaze and saw him standing just a few feet from the scene. Taylor looked surprised and … embarrassed and Christian could have kicked himself when he saw the expression on Taylor’s face. 

Taylor’s father didn’t seem to be in the picture making Taylor the man of the house. He was likely very conscious of his role and probably wouldn't want someone like Christian to get involved. But what could he do? He’d already been noticed. It was too late to slink off into the darkness.

Taylor looked away from him and stepped closer to the man as if to block Christian out of the conversation. “Mr. Wrick,” he said in a conciliatory tone, “you can’t do this. We have the rent ready for this month.”

The man turned to Taylor and folded his arms over his chest. “Not my concern. I got people who want the place. Reliable people.”

“I promise you. The rent won’t be late again.”

“I don’t care. Be out by the end of the month.” He was turning away but Taylor grabbed his arm.

“Don’t do this, please. It’s the middle of winter. At least give us a month to find another place. Five days isn’t enough time.”

The man shook Taylor’s hand off him. “Too bad. You better be out by then or I’ll call the police.”

He turned away again but another hand grabbed his arm. He whirled around, eyes ablaze until he realized that the hand was attached to Christian’s long frame.

Christian gripped the man’s forearm more firmly and pulled him up closer to him. “What’s the problem here?” he asked with a calmness that belied the anger he was feeling.

“None of your business,” the man sputtered as he tried to pull himself out of Christian’s grasp and failed.

Christian knew instantly that the man wasn’t going to listen to reason. No, there were only two ways to deal with a man like him. One would lead to swollen knuckles and while it would satisfy his need to connect the man’s face to his fist, it would probably get Taylor and his family kicked out of their home that very night. The other ... well, the other was nothing at all.

“How much?” he asked, releasing the man and shoving him away.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Taylor’s eyes widen but he ignored the reaction.

A mercenary gleam entered the man’s eyes. “Well…” he rattled off an amount and Christian took his wallet out of his pocket.

“Don’t.” Taylor was beside him now. “I don’t want you do this.”

“That’s too bad,” he said, taking a cheque out of a compartment in his wallet and filling it out,”because I’m doing it anyway.”

He held the cheque up so the landlord could see the amount written on it. “This should be good for three months.” The man reached for the money and Christian held it out of his reach. “You write a clause in their lease about this, send it to this address,” he took out a business card and handed it over to him. “As soon as I get a copy, the cheque is yours. You’ll do that now.” The man didn’t have to be told twice, he rushed away to get the papers in order.

Taylor’s mother was eying him with a mixture of inquisitiveness and fascination. “Taylor, who’s this?”

“Mom,” he said turning to his mother, “not right now, ok? I need to talk to him. In private.” 

His mother looked like she didn’t want to leave but after giving Christian one last once over, she nodded and walked into the house.

They both watched her leave but as soon as the door closed behind her, Taylor turned angrily to Christian. “What the hell was that?”

Christian jerked his head, taken aback at Taylor’s reaction. “What was that? I thought that was me keeping you from getting your ass thrown out on the street, you ungrateful brat,” he said, suddenly angry.

“You had no right to do this,” Taylor declared. “I didn’t ask for your charity.”

So was that what this was about? Taylor’s misplaced male pride?

“It’s not charity,” he said in a more even tone. “I expect you to pay me back but at your own pace.”

“Why? What’s in this for you?”

“Nothing,” Christian sighed. “Nothing’s in it for me. I just couldn’t watch you and your family lose your home without trying to help. I’m not the complete bastard you think I am Taylor.”

Briefly Taylor’s eyes caught and held his before he blinkingly looked down at his feet. He didn’t seem angry anymore, but now he looked just a little deflated.

“Thanks,” he mumbled and then straightened up, not quite meeting Christian’s eyes. “Thank you,” he said again with more assertion.

Now it was Christian’s turn to look away. “You don’t have to thank me.” He took a step back and turned slightly away from Taylor. “Besides, I know you’ll pay me back. And if you don’t,” he said, one corner of his mouth tugging up in a smirk, “I know where you live.” 

“I’m gonna go,” he said turning away fully and making his way towards his car.

“You’ll get it all back. With interest.” Christian heard the call from behind him.

“Goodbye Taylor,” he said just loudly enough to carry across the distance, shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away.












Enter the security code shown below:
Note: You may submit either a rating or a review or both.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.