Page 7 of Arrivals & Assets

He snorted. “The only thing I’m getting out of it is being close to my mama again, and she’s gonna wonder why I spent years out here and didn’t land an omega.”

“Yeesh,” I replied with a cringe.

“You wouldn’t be interested, would you?”

I burst into laughter. “I like you, but not enough to take your knot. I think I’d prefer to stick to drinks and video games.”

He chuckled. “Worth a shot. Going back to New York is easier than looking for a new job, but man… I had to really decide if I wanted to deal with Mama hounding me.” He paused. “What about you? Where you headed?”

“Nothing…” I shook my head, “felt right.”

“Really?”

I recalled the hours I’d poured over the relocation packages—the information about the other cities where there were offices. How some part buried deep down had screamed that I had to stay.

“I decided to stay here and risk the job market,” I finally replied with a shrug. “I signed an agreement to oversee the final closing tasks.”

“Closing tasks?”

I sighed and nodded. “I’ve got the lovely job of selling the furniture and trying to find somebody to take over the lease. Ideally, somebody who won’t make us tear out the vault. Corporate really doesn’t want to pay for that.”

“Oh… yuck.” He paused for several long seconds. “They’re paying you for that, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah. They gave me some kind of temporary title, closeout manager… or some other bullshit. I’ll still get the standard severance once I give over the keys.”

He shook his head. “No offense, but better you than me. I don’t know if I could handle this dead office for much longer. Though…”

He trailed off.

I let out a single, dark chuckle. “No offense taken. But I made the most sense… I think. There are a few clients we’re still waiting for paperwork from. So they needed somebody who could process that.”

He rubbed the back of his neck again. “Sooo…”

“Uh-oh…”

“Yeah. Sorry, man, but if you’re the designated last-man-standing, then… I’ve got to give you a crash course on the vault’s environmental control systems.”

“The vault’s what-the-what?”

He looked up at the ceiling and let out a long sigh. “I tried to get the big bosses to let me stay until the lease changed hands. But they don’t want me babysitting an empty vault.”

“Ooooooook…”

“They said I can just monitor it remotely, and that it had already been on remote night monitoring for several weeks. But…” He turned back to me and rubbed the back of his neck again. “I’m not comfortable with that. They pay people like me to monitor these things for a reason. If there’s a problem, I at least want you to know what the control panel looks like and what to look for and press.”

I groaned. “You know I’m not a tech person.”

He nodded. “I know. And I’m going to write you up a cheat sheet while I wait for the movers to finish. I’m putting the thinginto stasis mode, so it should mostly handle itself. But better safe than sorry.”

“I know it’ll be your farewell party tonight, but you’re buying my drinks if you’re expecting me to babysit the vault.”

He laughed. “Fair enough.”

There was a beat of silence; then he asked, “Who’s left?”

I blew out a long breath. “After you… and I’m assuming that Marcia is also out after today— since she handled the high-value shipping… I think Ellie is the last one.”

Jeremy nodded. “Yeah, Marcia’s out today, too. I’m not sure if she’s catching a flight tonight or tomorrow morning. I’m betting she’s catching a red-eye, though. The suits are going to want her there to oversee the unpacking.”