Sunday Snippet and a sale: Burning Luck

 

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“Hey!” Mark yelled over the noise of the animated conversation going on beside the bar.  

Thorn lifted his chin in acknowledgement and headed Mark’s way, Cain at his side, a manila envelope tucked beneath his left arm.  

As they reached the bar, Mark set a couple of beers down in front of them and leaned against the black padded railing. “Didn’t expect you guys until tomorrow.”  

Thorn raised the beer in salute, then took a long chug. “Thanks. Decided to knock off early, wait until the paint was dry before we started assembling the shelves.”

“So it’s coming along, then, no problem with the licenses or anything?”

“Nope. It’s all good brutha, we’ll be up and running by the end of the month. Brought you copies of everything so Pope could file them with the rest of the business shit.”

Mark wiped his hands on the rag hanging from his waist and reached out to take the envelope Cain slid over, grinning, when he followed the path of Cain’s gaze to where Lucky sat at the far end of the bar, alone and nursing a beer that looked to have gone warm.

“I’ll make sure he gets it,” Mark said as he tucked it beneath the bar. “Is there anything else I can get you two? Maybe something blond, ripped, and moody?”

Thorn raised an eyebrow, and Mark jerked his head in Lucky’s direction and watched as Thorn glanced between Cain and the young man they’d played with the month before, a slow smirk sliding across his face.  

He leaned against Cain, bumping shoulders with him to get his attention before lightly biting his ear. “You wanna play with him again?”

“Can we?” Cain asked, as Mark leaned back and watched the dynamic between them slowly play out.  

Thorn was dominant, aggressive and rarely ceded control to anyone. Cain on the other hand, while content to submit to Thorn, had a dominant side he liked to let out every now and again, making it a rather interesting experience to witness when they chose a third. A part of him wished he’d stuck around the Chrome room and watched them play with Lucky, he’d have loved to see how the kid responded to them.  

Maybe tonight, if he could slip away for a little while…

“Something wrong with that spot that the rest of us can’t see?”

Thorn’s words shook Mark out of his thoughts and brought his attention to the rag he was vigorously wiping the counter with. Shaking his head, he dropped it in the tub of dirty ones near his feet, and pulled a clean one from the drawer beside the resister.  

“Nope.”

“Then you gonna answer the question, or you lookin’ for something else to clean?”

Mark stared at Thorn for a moment, unwilling to admit that he hadn’t heard what the hell his friend had asked him.  

“Uh-huh,” Thorn chuckled and finished his beer.  

“Fine, what?”

“Was wondering if you wouldn’t mind wrapping Lucky Strike up for us again, if he wants to play.”

“I think it can be arranged. On one condition.”

Thorn arched an eyebrow at him and Mark grinned as he licked his lower lip. “I want to watch.”