Paired With Fate

Chapter Twenty Two

Author's note; dubious consent below the asterisks. Most definitely eighteen plus!

Peas, sweet corn, tinned tomatoes, tinned beans... bit by bit the shelf filled with goods, each product with the label facing clearly forward for the ease of the customer. This sort of thing was repetitive, but for a man with other things on his mind, this sort of repetitive thing which one could do without any major consideration for, was just right.

His phone vibrated in his back pocket. He ignored it. It was another message and he could even guess just who it was from. He was working, it wasn't like he intended to ignore Zandre or anything... well maybe he did... he hadn't yet forgiven him after all. It wasn't very nice of him to have taken advantage of himself when he was drunk, twice.  Ichiro conveniently swept aside just who threw themselves onto the ever willing Alpha. Zee wasn't the sort of man, after all, who wasn't about to refuse to eat what he had been craving and happened to conveniently be served on a platter before him.

A quiet alarm went off in his pocket causing Ichiro to sigh inwardly with a little relief; finally, this shift was over.  From beginning to end his patience had been stretched somewhat thin.  Not only suffering from his thoughts and some lingering pain in his lower back and even lower... he'd been suffering due to...

A loud smash came from the aisle on the other side, shattering glass as well as Ichiro's train of thought.  It was followed by a loud cry as well as the voice of a woman; "I am so sorry!"

"Ah, accidents happen." That slurring and slightly sleazy tone belonged to the owner's nephew, an almost carbon copy of the man himself.  Only this one didn't only love money... well, it no longer had anything to do with him!

He passed the end of that aisle that now had broken glass and granules of premium instant coffee splashed across it, caught the eye of the nephew and gave a gesture that he was off the clock.  The man, whose age was a little younger than his own, narrowed his beady eyes.  "Ichiro, go grab a dustpan and brush and clean this up!" 

Ichiro couldn't help but frown with the thought; you do realise that your uncle doesn't pay overtime right?

However he went unheeded due to the excuse that someone had to ensure that customers didn't hurt themselves on the breakage.  Unfortunately, despite the fact that there weren't many customers in store and Ichiro would be doing this off his own back, the bastard had a point.  But just going to grab the cleaning equipment should be enough, why should he have to clear it all up as well?

"What are you still doing here?" The owner questioned him some thirty minutes later after the floor had not only been cleared of all fragments of glass and coffee, but mopped and wet floor sign added as well.  The older man's eyes narrowed, clearly his mind questioning whether his employee was after more of his hard earned cash.

"A kid broke a jar of coffee," Ichiro replied, "I was just clearing it up."

"I'm not paying you overtime," the man grunted, causing Ichiro to almost roll his eyes with a snort.  "So this kid pay for the breakage?"

"Um, can't really charge a toddler," Ichiro scratched his head with a mirthless chuckle.

"But the parent should cough up," the owner was relentless.  "That's going to have to come out of your pay check!" 

Bastard, Ichiro thought to himself as he watched the stingy middle-aged old man head to the back.  Swallowing down his anger, he left the store and took a deep breath.  He still needed this job, no matter how rotten it was, no matter how he hated it.  The cash kept them all afloat, he couldn't afford to lose it now!  But so help him, if he ever managed to find a better job, he was going to report this guy to trading standards.. anonymously!