She couldn't believe he'd actually taken the floor. She'd heard the shower running after he vanished into the bathroom, and once he'd come out, looking even more tempting in just his jeans and no shirt, his hair damp from the shower, he'd simply laid on the floor between the wall and the bed, and she'd debated offering him a spot on the bed, but after a few long minutes of deliberation, she'd just tossed him a pillow and a blanket. He'd growled in response, but hadn't said anything else- though she was waiting, hoping, for him to-, and they'd slowly drifted into an uneasy sleep.
Now she watched as he checked out via the television, and he grabbed her bag and jacket to offer to her. She took them both with a smile that wasn't returned, and they made their way downstairs and to the street again. He took her hand, and for a second she thought it was simply out of affection, but then he pulled her into an alleyway and teleported them to another alleyway and when they stepped out, they were only a block from her house. He walked her to the gate and she hesitated before going in. "Thanks for walking me."
He just nodded curtly. "Yeah."
"I'll see you at work..." She added, opening the gate and taking a step inside.
Another nod. "Yeah."
She frowned. Whatever. If he wanted to be the Were-hunter versions of the asshole that promises to call but never does, who was she to care. "Bye." She snapped, turning to go inside, slamming the gate shut behind her.
He couldn't blame her for her anger. He was acting erratic, he knew that. But he couldn't stop himself. He felt like he could like Sanna, if he gave both of them the chance. She was one of the few people nowadays that made him feel normal again, that didn't make him feel like that stupid twenty year old who lost his lover to his brother. Sanna treated him normally, better than that, even. She treated him like he wasn't a walking volcano, erupting at every little thing. And in return he treated her like a bothersome child; she had more than enough right to be upset with him, and if he wasn't careful, she'd refuse mating with him, killing any chance he actually had at normalcy.
He laughed at himself. Normalcy had left him behind a long, long time ago. He reached the bar and shoved through the doors with no bouncer- the bar wouldn't even open until 11 at the earliest, and that was assuming one of the brothers actually got their asses down to bouncer before noon- and through the bar straight up the stairs to Peltier House. He'd change and eat, and then he'd start to figure out what to do with the newest clusterfuck of his life.
Once he was freshly dressed and fed he felt... absolutely no differently. He still had no idea if his potential affection for Sanna could override the love he'd held onto for Becca for so long. Or if he even wanted it to. He'd imagined what it'd be like to be mated to Becca, to be the DNA in her children, be their father, their protector. And honestly, he'd failed to imagine it. It was only a touch easier these days, with her actual cubs running around looking like her and him- no, not him. Quinn. Looking like her and Quinn- but he still lacked that paternal gene that his father had apparently passed to all of his children but one.
He ran into Dev as his brother was walking out of his and Sam's room, yawning widely. His yawn froze as he caught the scent. He actually looked around for someone other than Remi in the hall before his wide eyes settled on his most volatile brother. "Dude!" Was all he could manage.
Remi snarled and pushed passed him, but Dev trailed him through the halls toward the stairs back down to the bar. "You've gotta be shitting me, you're-"
A louder snarl cut of Dev, who for once in his useless life shut the fuck up and didn't finish his sentence. "Sorry, bro. But seriously? To who?"
"None of your fucking business."
Dev actually looked a little hurt at that one, but Remi couldn't bring himself to care. He reached the stairs, and the still-shirtless Dev didn't follow further as he loped down them. But that didn't stop his final parting shot.
"Too bad. I think you're missing out on something good with that new waitress. She's got a good feel for you."
He almost ran back up the stairs to strangle Dev for being too astute, but he managed to get a reign on his temper and simply stomped back downstairs.
She came up on the door, and spotted... Serre. It was Serre at the door, she was almost positive. Time to test her skills. She skipped up to him and paused with a hopeful grin. "Serre."
He grinned, and she cheered for herself. "Nice call little girl."
"I'm getting pretty good, huh?"
He rolled his eyes and shoved her inside, but he was laughing as he did. "You're a regular Kara. Aren't you late for something?"
She stuck her tongue out at him. "Not yet I'm not!" She laughed, going inside to greet Kara and Alex and throw a hesitant hello to Duff. He'd been uneasy around her ever since the training session, and he hadn't joined any since. He just came and lingered by Kara in panther form, like Sanna was an enemy to watch for. She wanted to ask Alex what was going on between his sister and his best friend, but she didn't want to cause any trouble for Kara and Duff. It wasn't like they were changing facebook statuses or anything silly, it was just something about the way they lingered near each other sometimes, the way he watched anyone who approached her, little things that made Sanna think there was something there. But if Alex hadn't caught on- poor guy was brilliantly smart, but a little lacking in the right-under-his-nose department, always had been- she wasn't about to rock the boat. And besides, Alex had been more wary about training her ever since, too, so maybe it was simply a precaution the boys had taken upon themselves. The guys around here were notoriously protective of the girls, so it wasn't that much of a stretch.
She shook her head. She was here to work- and maybe try to figure out Remi a little more- not dissect imagined relationships between her friends. She grabbed a tray after greeting everyone and got to work on the fairly slow crowd.
She barely saw Remi all night, just glimpses of him in the kitchen when she went in to retrieve her orders. But she was determined not to be the first to give in, and she didn't say a word to him all night. If he wanted to talk to her instead of being the bi-polar asshole he was this morning, fine. She wasn't about to cave first. Finally, her lack of speaking- well, yelling- with Remi caught Kara's attention, who promptly pulled her aside on her break. She dragged her out the side door to the dumpsters and some spare parking, and propped her hands on her hips. "Ok, what's going on with you and Remi?"
She averted her eyes stubbornly. "He's just... he doesn't want to be stuck with me, Kayray, I can feel it. He's nice and normal one second, then it's like he just doesn't want anything to do with me." She said, looking up at Kara, who seemed to soften a little.
"Aw, girl, it's not like that. I mean, he's a tough cookie, don't get me wrong, I'm a little sorry that of all my uncles you mated to him, but he's got a reason to be like that. Did he tell you about mating and everything? How he feels about it?"
She narrowed her eyes again. She got the sense that Kara was looking for a specific answer, something particular Remi should have told her about. Something that might explain his weirdness. "He told me about Were-Hunters, and about mating in general, but was there something else he should have mentioned?" Kara looked a little uncomfortable, and Sanna groaned, running a had through her hair in frustration. "Kara, what the hell is going on? You can't drag me out here and ask random specific questions and not give me any idea what's going on! That's not fair to me and you know it!"
Kara raked a hand through her own hair, looking uncomfortable. "I know, and I'm sorry, but it's personal stuff of Uncle Remi's and I don't have the right to tell you. He will tell you, I know he will. Until then-"
"I know, I know, go easy on him, cut him some slack-"
"No, I was going to say until then if he's going to act like an ass, don't talk to him. He's the one that loses the most here. He'll come to you, and you get to decide what happens. Until then, just live your life. Train with us. Tomorrow. Alex and I will get covers for our shifts."
"What about Duff?"
Kara gave her a chiding look. "You know he'll be there, too. Where goes Alex, so goes Duff."
Sanna huffed in annoyance, and because she was so annoyed and frustrated that Kara refused to tell her what was going on in her own life, she lashed out at Kara. "Really, because it seems to me it's where goes Kara, so goes Duff." She snapped, stomping back inside and missing the look of terror that crossed Kara's face for a brief second.
She was in a foul mood for the rest of the night, and by the time the night shifters started coming down, there was very little that could improve her mood. Though Trip and Kyle both certainly tried. She laughed and played along with the two men, but it was mostly for show; all she could think about was how weird Remi was acting and the fact that he hadn't so much as looked at her all night.
The Howlers were all downstairs, lingering around, some working, some pretending to, Trip wasn't even bothering to pretend and held a tray in one hand and was reaching to toy with the curls of a random girl who was flirting with him along with a few of her friends. Dev was at the door, having relieved Serre, and Serre himself had disappeared out the door with a pretty woman who had come running downstairs from the boarding house to throw her arms around him excitedly. One of the other quadruplets, the one with sad eyes, was behind the bar, fixing a broken hinge on the door on the right most side, the one that was closest to the kitchen. It was a nice, casual night, and it would have been one of those perfect nights, save for Remi's silence.
A woman came down, as pretty as the other, with dark hair and deep blue eyes, looking around. A dangerous guy- one Kyle said was Jasyn- pointed her down the stairs and she came trotting down the stairs. Sanna didn't pay too much attention to her until she stopped to talk to the sad eyed one- Cherif? Quinn? She knew they were the other two quadruplets but she wasn't as skilled at telling them apart, since she rarely saw either of them- and they conversed for a second. Whatever she told him made him leave the bar and go loping up the stairs, and she turned to follow him, but hesitated and looked back to the kitchen with a longing sort of look as one of the waitresses came out with a tray of food, giving both the unknown girl and Sanna a clear view of Remi at the sink, scrubbing at dishes. The girl paused, holding the door open for another girl to go in and grab her own food, and like he felt them staring at him, he looked up. But it wasn't her he stared back at; it was the unknown girl, and the look that crossed his features was one she was familiar with. It was the same look she'd given to countless upperclassmen, the same look the girls in this bar gave the Howlers while they were onstage, the same look Kara gave Duff when she thought no one was looking.
It was the look of someone pining for someone they can never have.
She felt her heart crack a little, and she set her tray on the table just as he realized she'd been staring at him, too. He set the dish down as the kitchen door closed and she left her tray abandoned on the table and went running for the side door, calling to Kara to tell her aunt that she was taking a quick break. No wonder he didn't want anything to do with her, he was already in love.
