Bad Taste (Part II) // Colby Brock

254 - Rebecca

On cue, the female worker appeared by her side, with sparkling eyes trained only on her. I startled at the love I could see plain in them, and wondered if it was possible that Colby might look at me with any more emotion. She looked like she held complete and utter devotion in one simple stare.

Melanie smiled widely, her own show of affection. "Hey," she whispered.

"Hey, slacker." The worker—Tati—smiled. "You should come back to work, I need your help with something."

I sensed the code in her words. "Yeah, you guys should get back to work. This place should be finished by the end of the day, right?"

"Within an hour," one of the male workers called out on his way through a tiny gap in one of the walls. I nodded toward him.

"Don't let me hold you up," I added, as I walked toward the top of the stairs. "Thanks for talking with me."

Melanie grinned. "No problem."

They went back to work, so I pulled out my phone intending on calling Colby so that I had something else to do. But before I could, the door to the basement opened behind me and Jax walked inside, head held high and a stack of papers in his hands. He threw them on the floor beside me before he started to sit, and I put my phone away knowingly.

"Been busy?" I questioned as I joined him.

"Yup."

"What with now?"

"Gowns." I startled, my eyes flicking down to the first design on the first piece of paper. There were multiple thumbnails, but the gist was a beautiful ball gown. The most refined of the sketches was of a red ball gown covered in black lace that filtered out toward the end, making the red appear more abundant. It looked gorgeous.

"Wow..." I whispered as I picked it up. Beneath it was another sketch that was quite similar, but it held no bearing on the beauty in my hands.

"I knew you'd like that one," he admitted.

I nodded. "I definitely do. Are you going to have this made?"

"You're still boss," he shrugged, "so you still have to decide. I can manage the other designers, I can't manage you."

A warm smile spread over my face as I put the design back on the stack. There were so many that I should really be going through them but I was feeling a little sentimental, and he looked pretty sad compared to me. I didn't like that anymore. I wanted him to be happy.

"Just because I'm still boss doesn't mean you have to run everything by me. I trust you, otherwise I wouldn't have put you in charge. I mean, do you really think I'd ever leave this place without putting someone I have complete and total faith in in charge? No!" I placed my hand on Jax's shoulder. "You're going to be good at this, trust yourself."

He sighed heavily but he was smiling a little. His head dropped to the side until he could lay it on my shoulder, and although I was surprised, I didn't push him off. He sighed again, this time tiredly.

"Have you been feeding?"

"Yes."

"You seem tired." He looked up without saying anything. "I'm just caring—that's what people have wanted since they met me, right? So come on, if it's not feeding then what's draining you?"

He shook his head. "Nothing is draining me, and it's not feeding. I'm just a little nervous." He lay his head back down.

"Why?" I asked, as Melanie ran from my now-completed office walls. I saw her grabbing the plaster.