Page 2 of Arrivals & Assets

“He’s still out on paternity leave.”

“Ah, so what does Micah want?”

“Dunno. The big bosses want to talk to me.”

“Oooooooh,” Taal teased. “What’d ya mess up?”

“Nothing that I know of,” I replied, even as I tried to remember anything.

“Did you sleep with an omega who turned into a new hire?”

I snorted. “That would require sleeping with somebody.”

“You should try it sometime,” he shot back. “Or at least more often than you do. Warm man in your arms… popping a knot…”

“Says the man who always declares that he’s ‘just looking,’ and never takes anybody home either. When was the last timeyougot laid?”

“Knock it off,” Adam cut in. “I’m too close to my heat for you two to be talking about sex.”

“Sorry,” both Taal and I said at the same time.

We fell silent for several long seconds.

“The meeting could be about something good,” Adam noted, steering us back onto the main topic.

“Hopefully,” I replied.

“You were interviewed for that new branch, right?’ Taal asked.

I nodded.

“Hopefully it’s about that,” Adam said.

“Hope so.”

There was a beat of silence. The new branch was something many of us had applied for—especially those of us without families.

Working for the same company, but in a beachside city? Yes, please.

Even at my current salary, I’d be able to afford the hit of higher rent. On days when I allowed myself to daydream about it, I’d started browsing apartment websites.

And maybe I’d get lucky and meet an omega there. My dating life had seemed to stall in Valle Granja, and, if I was lucky, a new start in a new city would revitalize it.

A mate… maybe a couple of kids… I smiled as I allowed my mind to wander.

“Hey,” Taal said, interrupting my thoughts. “I’ve heard that new burrito place down the street is pretty good. Wanna hit them up for lunch?”

I smiled. “Just don’t let me order anything with beans.”

Adam laughed. “Don’t want to gas out the bosses?”

“No.”

Taal chuckled as we all got back to work.

The ambient noise of the floor surrounded us again: the clacking of keyboards, one-sided conversations from phone calls, and muted discussions as people reviewed various projects.

We headed out to lunch a few minutes before noon to avoid the rush.