Beasthood

~Chapter 21- Build~ Part 2

Hi all! I know I keep saying it, and will continue to, but thank you so much to those of you who have stuck with this so far. And to all those who are voting. I wish I could dedicate chapters to all of you, but I don't have enough!

I'm dedicating this to @PattieAvilla because she has been voting non-stop and I just have to thank her for it. Hope you enjoy this. Part three coming up... 

Two hours later, Jaz was exhausted beyond belief.

The planks of wood were so heavy and she had so many splinters and blisters on her fingers and palms by the time she'd finished. How they all managed to work without gloves, she couldn't fathom.

The group leader, an abnormally tall, -even by Were standards- stocky black man with very neat, artistic weaves, a wide smile and sultry but sharp onyx eyes, bossed her around, ensuring her it wasn't difficult, pushing her to keep going when she stopped for a second to breathe.

She wholeheartedly disagreed. It was very difficult.

And there were hundreds of planks.

The plan was that the barbecue area was going to be decked and the seats were also going to be constructed out of the planks of wood. They would carry on from the outbuilding walls and then meet together, turning the U-shape into an enormous rectangle. Enough to seat fifty to sixty people.

The middle of the rectangle would house the hand-built, stone barbecue with a chimney, and then the outhouse would be used for storage for things such as a fridge and freezer, extra chairs, whatever was needed. That's what Skye told her as they worked.

Jaz didn't know the technicalities or the complications that came with powering household appliances in the middle of a forest, but she imagined it wasn't as easy as plugging them in. They were deep in the middle of the forest; a ten minute walk away from the main building. They'd need a hell of a lot of wiring, that she was sure of.

She'd given up working out how they would go about it. She'd given up caring altogether after carrying one side of twenty planks of solid -extremely heavy- wood from the back of a blue, open back Mercedes truck. The truck made three rounds between seven in the morning, to one o'clock in the afternoon.

Jaz collapsed on the floor when the group leader, Carr, called everyone to stop and have a break. Someone brought picnic baskets and iceboxes with bottled water, sandwiches, fruit and salad. They started a fire away from the wood and construction and began cooking burgers over what looked like a hand-made grilling tray.

Jaz watched, breathless, wondering why the hell she was killing herself for these guys when they could clearly cook up a barbecue without the need of the one they were building now. And she wasn't even hungry. She just needed to sleep.

Kenna and Kelda joined Skye and Jaz with platefuls of food. They handed one to Skye and kindly brought one for Jaz too. She was touched but declined.

The sisters gazed at each other unsure of whether to insist or not, but the owner of a flash of blonde hair swiped the plate from Kenna's held out hand and everyone jumped, swivelling around to glare at Alf.

He smiled before biting ravenously into the stolen sausage.

“That wasn't for you, Alf,” Kelda grumbled.

“I know, but I couldn't resist,” he said through a mouthful of meat. “And Skinny didn't want any.”

It took Jaz a moment to understand he was talking about her. She frowned at him. How can he think I'm skinny? I'm clearly not.