The alpha's last chance

Chapter Nine:The brick wall

POV: Barbara

As Barbara drank her coffee, she mentally went over the day ahead.

Gracies was a rather low-budget shop which offered a broad range of products, and it was, amongst others, her job to make sure all items were covered to the satisfaction of the customers.

The latter being the biggest time consumer.

As the first customers came dripping in, she straightened her shoulders, sipped the last of her coffee and walked in.

With an experienced eye, she went over the rows of clothes and checked if everything was in place.

It wasn't long before she was grabbed by the arm by an older lady, wanting her help.

"Young lady, I've purchased a lovely sweater here last year, and I'd like to buy it again. Could you point me out where I can find it, please?"

"I'm sorry madame", Barbara said "I'm afraid we don't sell last years collection anymore."

The lady sighed as if Barbara was a different kind of stupid and took last year's catalogue out of her purse, opened it to a page with an advertisement for a promotion to buy two for the price of one and waved the pages in Barbara's face. "This is what I came here for, young lady". The woman said.

"It's going to be a long week", Barbara thought. She could feel it.

After dealing with the customer, which took a fair while, Barbara walked through the departments to check on her colleagues.

Make-up department seemed busy enough, but no sign of the aisle-keeper, but as she heard whispering and giggling in the aisle behind her, she had a fair idea where at least two of her colleagues were. She rounded the corner and saw Shelly and Macy with their backs to her, looking at the window, behaving like two teenagers.

"Technically, they're not that far past that age anyway", Barbara thought to herself. And as it was only Monday morning, she decided to not go too hard on them. She didn't feel like going through the week having to look at two pouting faces.

Walking up to them from behind, she couldn't see what exactly they were looking at, but she didn't doubt that it was some hot dude. And knowing their type, probably a bearded and tattooed tough guy, who caught their attention. Shelly's curls jumped up and down from the intensity of her giggles, as she was clearly positioning herself to be seen from her best side.

"Shelly, Macy", Barbara said, trying not to sound too stern, "Could you please tend to your customers?"

The girls looked guilty immediately and hurried back to their aisles, Barbara looking at their disappearing backs. She sighed slightly, she hated having to be the mom of the bunch and she wasn't liked for it either. She usually took her lunch outside, or if the weather was too bad, in the storage room. It's not that she didn't like her colleagues, it's just that they didn't seem to have a bond. She always felt a bit different and people tended to notice that. It didn't matter, she was used to being on her own. And honestly, she liked it just fine.

As she was standing there, thinking, a hand was placed on her shoulder. Thinking it was a customer wanting her help, she put on her professional smile and turned around. To find nobody was standing there.

Confused, she looked around and caught a glimpse of the "stud" Shelly and Macy were so interested in. She had already forgotten about him.

Ready to give him the "stay away from my girls"-look, she was taken aback by a strong feeling that built up in her stomach. She looked at the man, as he was looking straight at her.

The feeling in her stomach tightened.

"Is that the guy from the bus stop?" Barbara asked herself. She felt uneasy. Why would he follow her here?

"Don't be daft, Barbara", she said to herself. "That's just a coincidence."

She planned to turn around and get back to her duties, but felt as if something was holding her back. She found herself drinking in his features. "Damned, he's hot", she thought. And it took her quite an effort to tear away her eyes and return to her work. Only to look straight in Shelly's face, radiating with mischief.

"Now admit it, boss, he's hot, right?" Shelly said. "I wouldn't mind being taken out by him to...eat." She finished with a wink.

Although Barbara didn't dislike Shelly at all, she was a happy little thing, she had to fight back the urge to punch her on the nose.

"What is wrong with me", Barbara thought, "I'm usually not that touchy". She quickly straightened up her face and agreed that it was a cute guy, which was in all fairness an understatement. Her emotions must have shown anyway, because she could see the strange look on Shelly's face. "And don't call me boss," Barbara said, walking away.

The morning passed in a steady pace and after lunch, which Barbara decided to take in the storage room today, the afternoon held the promise of a quiet evening.

Barbara could almost taste it. She had spent some time in the back, straightening up items from the rows. It was really beyond her why customers always had to leave such a mess. At a certain point, a deep voice came sailing in from the men's section.

Although nothing sounded out of place, Barbara felt drawn to it. Closing in to the conversation, she overheard Shawn, her colleague explaining the benefits of wool over polyester and a man politely asking questions. Nothing to bother about for her, but her shoulders suddenly felt tight. And she felt her senses going on alert.

Carefully she peared around the corner.

The same man from the bus stop and the window this morning was casually talking to Shawn. She didn't know why, this was after all a shop and open to the public, but she felt as if he was trespassing, as if he had stepped into her personal space.

Carefully she looked around the corner, without being noticed, she hoped. "Damn" she thought, "He is cute". A warm feeling spread through her abdomen, just by looking at him.

At that point, the man glanced over Shawn's shoulder. He was a hell of a lot taller than Shawn was. And looked straight at where Barbara thought she couldn't be seen.

"Sh#t", she thought, backing away slowly. "I'm no better than Shelly and Macy". And with a feeling of being caught doing something she shouldn't be doing, she silently walked away. "This is ridiculous", she thought "This is my bloody work place. It's my responsibility to watch out for trouble." Still, she felt as if she had a stone in her stomach.

Barbara knew the girls had seen that embarrassing scene and she could hear them whisper and giggle the rest of the afternoon when they thought she wasn't around. When their work day was done, they happily left the store, glaring back at Barbara with a glimpse of laughter in their eyes. "Bye boss, see you tomorrow", they said in almost perfect union. And with a grin Barbara knew she wouldn't have heard the last of that.

As it was her turn to close off, they each took a week of close up shop- duty, she was working quickly to empty the registers, close the money in the vault, shut down the lights and heaters and grab her stuff. Close up shop-duty was always a challenge to catch the bus in time.

She hurriedly closed the door, turned around, started running towards the bus stop and ran straight into a brick wall, bouncing off it and landing on her behind. With a "Thudd" she landed on the floor and wondered confused where that wall came from. She didn't remember seeing a wall ever before.

"O my love, are you ok?" She heard. A man bent over her, lifted her up and planted her gently back on her feet.

She looked up and before even seeing him properly, she knew it was the man from the bus stop.

And she also knew, she was in trouble.