Damaged Alpha

by Samantha Leal

  She moved over to the phone that was on the main desk and next to the main register, and she pressed the voicemail button and listened intently. It alerted her to six new messages and she dived across to grab a pen and paper, before she sat on her stool with the nib of the pen poised and ready to take down any notes that may be needed.

  As she was listening to various suppliers, wrong numbers, and enquiries about opening times, the door opened wider and the chefs from the café stepped through the door. Melissa grinned at them wide and waved and one of them saluted her and grinned back even wider and they motioned to her hair and gave her the thumbs up. For a moment, Melissa had even forgotten that she had a brand-new look and she shrugged and did a crazy motion next to her head and laughed. They laughed too, before they walked through to their side of the partition and she heard the coffee machine whir to life.

  Once the messages were all cleared, she jumped down eagerly and wandered around to the café. There were two chefs and one barista/waitress who worked the coffee machine and the front of house, taking orders and getting people settled. She watched as the chefs fired up the oven and she knew that, in no time, the smell of freshly baked bread was going to be flowing through the store and making her mouth water.

  “You want a coffee, Mel? Or should I start calling you, Red?” one of the chefs said with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile.

  “You know me too well,” she winked as she held out her hands like Oliver and pulled a sad, sad face. “And I know, the hair is wild…”

  “I’ll bring it over for you,” she laughed and shook her head.

  “Thank you, Jen,” she beamed.

  Back at the desk, she opened emails and started to update the social media accounts, and once her coffee arrived, she felt herself buzzing and was clicking through all her usual tasks with speed and efficiency.

  A few customers had come into the store and were browsing, and the usual breakfast crew that came into the café were busy ordering their Americanos and setting up their laptops to work out in the sunshine. From her vantage point, Mel could make out the entire outdoor section of the café from through the blinds and she often wished she was sitting out there in the sun with a laptop of her own, doing all of the admin work she needed to do for the store out there instead of being stuck indoors, behind the register.

  She felt herself huff a little but then she checked herself. She was lucky beyond words to have this job, and she had to keep reminding herself that. So many people wandered into the bookstore, usually those who had just come to town or were leaving high school, and they would hand over their resumes and look hopeful, and Melissa would smile at them sympathetically and take them from them, even though she knew it would never happen. No one new had started at the store since she had, and she had no intention of quitting any time soon. She loved the atmosphere and the ambience that came with being surrounded by books and she loved the fact that she got to meet new people day in and day out. Her little town wasn’t the kind for many tourists, but they were on the coast, and for that reason, it meant that, sometimes, they did get a few strangers passing through. There wasn’t much to see or do around there, and the town had never needed to rely on tourism thanks to a big factory not far from the outskirts, but they did have one motel and a hell of a view from the beach. In a way, it was kind of like the area’s best kept secret. If you were lucky enough to be in the know, then good for you. It was the kind of place people came to escape, or just to pass through, but for the locals, it was a one in the million kind of town that was their home, and they loved it so much they kept it fiercely protected.

  “Hey, Melissa,” a voice drawled from the doorway and she raised her gaze to see the waitress for the café walk in.

  “Hi, Rachel,” she smiled as she waved her hand.

  Rachel yawned and nodded her head in response and then she stopped and walked across to her slowly.

  “What’s up?” Melissa asked with a wide smile.

  Rachel stifled another yawn and leaned her elbows on the desk top.

  “Nothing much,” she said with droopy eyes. “I’m just exhausted, I was up half the night tossing and turning, wondering whether I should call him or not.”

  Rachel was another girl in a similar situation. A man was doing her wrong, and now she was beginning to feel as if she were the one losing out.

  “I know it’s tough,” Melissa said. “But if I were you, I’d try to stay strong. These men, honestly, they don’t deserve us.”

  Rachel smiled sadly and ran her hands through her hair.

  “I know, you’re right,” she sighed.

  And then she looked up at her and cocked her head to the side.

  “Jeez,” she laughed as she reached out and touched the new bright red locks that Melissa was sporting. “I’m so caught up in my own dramas I didn’t even tell you how awesome this looks! I love it!”

  “Thank you,” Melissa blushed. “I didn’t know if it was the right move or not, but now, when I’m looking at it more and more, I really do like it.”

  “It suits you,” Rachel grinned. “Don’t even think about changing it back!”

  She turned on her heel and headed toward the café and Melissa smiled. She really did love her job.

  “How much are these?” a voice broke her train of thought from behind her and she turned to see a little old lady squinting through her glasses and trying to read the price tag on a small Cat in The Hat toy in the kid’s section.

  “One moment,” Melissa smiled. “I’ll be right there.”

  The day passed quickly, and before Melissa knew what had hit her, it was suddenly approaching one o’clock and it was her turn for a much-needed break. She stretched her arms high over her head and yawned, and at the same time, the front door opened and the scatty but reassuringly familiar presence that was Roz, the owner, came in like a whirlwind of purple silks and smelling slightly of incense as she set down a huge, fat stack of hardbacks and dabbed at her forehead with the back of her wrist.

  “My God,” she said with a sigh. “It’s so fucking hot out there today.”

  Melissa smiled and laughed and then she shrugged.

  “Well, I guess I’m about to find out,” she said as she got to her feet. “I’m loving the air conditioning in here, but I have got to say, I’ve been looking longingly to the sun-soaked chairs out on the patio. Mind if I take my lunch break?”

  “Of course not,” Roz said as she flounced around to the back of the counter and sat down, pulling a small handheld electric fan from her purse and putting it on. “Go on, scram.”

  Roz winked and Melissa hugged her lovingly and then reached for her purse. She was even luckier to have a boss as awesome as Roz was. She was uber-cool, a total hippie with a love for anything remotely artistic, and a work ethic that was both strong and liberal. For some reason, it all just worked, and it made Melissa even more passionate and enthusiastic for the place she called her job. The bookstore, it wasn’t just a career, or a place to earn money, it had become part of her soul, and she was enjoying every second of being there on that journey.

  She wandered through into the café side of the partition and smiled at Rachel who was behind the counter looking a lot more perky than she had when she had first come in that morning.

  “Man,” she said as she looked up to the clock on the wall. “Is it that time already? I can’t believe it.”

  Melissa looked up at the chalkboard that ran along the back wall and skimmed the ceiling and she crunched up her mouth as she thought.

  “You know you’re just going to order a large coffee and a chicken salad,” Rachel half laughed. “Shall I just ring it through?”

  Melissa laughed and nodded her head; she had to say, she was predictable.

  “I think I may want something else today,” she said with a raised brow.

  Rachel reached up to her chin and said, “Oh my, are we having a full-on personality reset?”

  Melissa winked and shrugged.

  “I�
�m trying out a few new things, sure,” she said wryly as she scanned the menu again and then breathed a sigh of relief when her eyes settled on something hearty and simple.

  “Poached eggs, whole meal toast and avocado,” she grinned. “And a sprinkle of chili flakes, if you’ve got them.”

  “I like your style,” Rachel mused. “You’re like a mini Roz in the making.”

  Rachel laughed and covered her eyes and Melissa shot her back a stern but affectionate face. If there was one thing Melissa wasn’t, it was a drifty free spirit like Roz, but she still admired her all the same and didn’t mind being compared to her one bit.

  She wandered out onto the patio that was cordoned off from the rest of the street by a metal railing, and she took a seat just outside of the awning so that her back and legs were in the sun. She smiled as she sat down and looked around. There were a few other tables taken, but on the whole, the store and café were pretty quiet, and she could only put it down to the fact that the weather was awesome and most people who weren’t working would be down at the beach.

  She looked at the other two tables that had been taken and realized that she recognized them slightly from around town and from coming into the store, but they weren’t regulars. And then she looked down at her cell phone and started to catch up on her own personal emails.

  It didn’t take Rachel long to arrive with her coffee and food, and she poked at it slowly, taking tiny bites and making it last as long as possible while sipping her coffee and relishing in the buzz it was giving her. She loved sitting outside the store and watching the world go by. Their town was so old worldly in a lot of ways, and it never failed to warm her heart when the sun was shining and it looked its best. Fresh flowers were swinging from lampposts in baskets and blooming in a whole range of incredible colors. Fuchsia, turquoise, white, yellow and purple; it made Main Street look as if it were competing for a competition for prettiest town.

  As she smiled and looked back over her shoulder, she was aware of the blare of a loud and aggressive engine coming her way. She squinted as she tried to see into the distance, but the sun was shining so brightly she had to raise her hand to shield her eyes and she felt her jaw sag as she saw the big, gleaming bike come rolling toward her.

  She had never seen a machine like it before in her life.

  It was so big and intimidating looking, like something out of a movie and so out of place along their little, quaint Main Street that people were turning and looking as it went past. Melissa found herself scowling and wondering what kind of idiot would want to ride one of those things. But as the bike got closer and closer, and the man sitting astride it came into view, she felt her heart dip a little and her legs tighten together.

  She tried not to stare, but at the same time, there was no way she could tear her eyes away.

  He was dark and rugged looking with a beard that seemed to be covering half his face. His eyes were dark and brooding, and they were so clear they seemed to pierce through the midday sun with total clarity and confidence. He was big and muscular, and his clothing was rustic but cool, it looked as if he could have just rolled out of bed, but at the same time, he was so well put together it was like he had just stepped out of a commercial.

  It all fit him so well, it was as if it were a part of him.

  Melissa felt her cheeks begin to blush, and she was aware that she was staring really obviously and watching his every move.

  The bike slowed right down to a crawl and he pulled it in along the sidewalk about twenty feet away from the entrance of the book store. She quickly shot her eyes down and away from him as he climbed off the back and hitched up his low-slung jeans before he began to walk toward the café, and her heart was pounding in her chest.

  Oh God, what if he saw me staring and is coming to ask why I was so rude? What if he comes in here? What if I look at him again?

  Suddenly, she was so nervous she didn’t know where to look or what to do with herself, and she had no idea why.

  She took a sip of her coffee and stared down at her table, determined not to look at him again. Out of her line of vision, she was aware of his shadow and shape going in the front of the store and she bit her lip and tried not to smile. She certainly didn’t recognize him, so that would suggest that he was from out of town, and was likely just passing through. But it also meant that he had good taste and it would give her something to think about for a long time.

  In her head, she mused that maybe he was a traveling poet, working his way across the country on his bike, stopping off in small towns and wandering into all their bookstores to see if his latest collection was there and giving himself a little ego boost. Then she shook her head and almost told herself to stop being so stupid out loud, when he stepped out of the café door and was there on the patio.

  If it were possible to put on sunglasses in a sexy way, well…he did it as he ran a hand through his hair. Even from a few meters away, she could smell he was wearing a delicious cologne, and his tan was dark and well maintained, as if he had spent a lot of time outdoors.

  Melissa tried not to look up and stare directly at him, but his presence was forceful and commanded attention. She focused in on his feet first and the huge black boots he was wearing, before she moved up his legs and his wide, muscular thighs to his crotch where she gulped and tried not to blush even further. When she worked her way up his abs, which she could see formed a perfect six pack underneath his t-shirt, her heart was fluttering all over again, and when she reached his face and saw how chiseled and pronounced his jawline and nose were, felt a warm ache in her pussy that further threatened her composure.

  There hadn’t been a lot of times that something like that had happened in her life. When a man had simply walked into her line of sight and she had felt her entire world shift. In fact, she wasn’t sure she had ever felt it, but in that moment, watching him felt like what she was supposed to be doing, and when he reached up and pulled his sunglasses away from his face and their eyes locked in on each other’s, something inside her flipped.

  He was older than he had looked from a distance, but in a good way. He was mature and handsome, a man of the world, she could tell just from one glance, and when he looked back at her, she felt her world turn.

  He smiled slightly, and then he smirked and moved closer to her, never breaking eye contact. She barely dared breathe. She had no idea what was happening to her, but she couldn’t stop looking, and suddenly, when he turned away and moved to a table further down on the left, she felt her heart hammer on in her chest and she swallowed and allowed herself to breathe.

  He sat down and kicked his boots up on the chair next to him and put his shades back on, before he ran his hands through his hair and sighed. Within a few moments, Rachel was out there next to him and she was delivering him a big cup of coffee and a sandwich from the counter, and he thanked her in a low voice before he reached for the rolled up newspaper in his back pocket and spread it out on the table in front of him.

  Melissa felt somewhat embarrassed, she had fully stared at him as if he were a piece of meat, and he had smirked at her and then went and sat practically with his back to her.

  Way to go, Mel, she cursed herself. Way to fucking go.

  She sipped the last little bits of her coffee and then got to her feet. She had the feeling he was watching her as she made her way toward the door back into the café and the store, but she couldn’t be sure. She wasn’t going to look again and risk him thinking she was crazy, so she just kept walking and hoped that he was.

  It had been the most exciting thing to happen in the bookstore in a long time.

  A handsome stranger had ridden into town on a big, gleaming motorcycle.

  It was almost like something out of the movies…

  3.

  By the time Friday had arrived, Melissa was feeling a lot better about herself and the whole situation with Dylan. After she had been into work that day and the handsome stranger on the motorcycle had driven into town, she hadn’t do
ne much but think about him instead ever since.

  When she had been working back on the counter in the book-store, he had come in and started to look around and she had sat there tense and waiting for him to pick something up. He was wandering slowly around the business section, and then he went into fiction, and then history. He let his fingertips trail along some of the spines and he’d dipped them out and cocked his head to the side so he could read their backs before slipping them back into place.

  She had been desperate to speak up and ask him if she could help him with anything, but her shyness crept over her, and she found herself staring anywhere but in his direction, as she jotted down notes in her notebook, tapped at her computer keyboard, and stacked up a set of new deliveries of an upcoming release on the counter.

  She didn’t know how long he walked around the store, but it had felt like a lifetime, and when he finally arrived in front of her with a book in his hands, she was surprised to see that it was a plane, hardbacked moleskin. She reached out and took it from him and he reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet.

  “Are you a writer?” she asked him before she even knew the words were flying out of her mouth.

  He looked at her as if she were crazy and then he looked over his shoulder and then back to her.

  “Am I a writer?” he’d asked with confusion.

  She’d known she was blushing, but she had to carry the conversation forward.

  “Yeah,” she’d stammered. “You know, the moleskin…?”

  He crunched up his forehead and shrugged as if he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.