AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You didn’t leave this mess?”
“Nope.” He sighed and lifted his gaze to Avery. “Unfortunately, I had a death in the family and was out last week… and we had someone retire the day before that. So… there’s been no one manning the ship for a bit, it seems. I guess I figured they’d get someone to help, even at a basic level. I thought wrong.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your loss.”
“It was my grandpere. I really didn’t know him all that well—I was just a beta, you know how that is.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Avery murmured. He’d noticed that preferential treatment given to alphas. Even mated omegas were treated better in some families—because they could at least contribute by having a child. Beta seemed almost as invisible, at times. They were the silent cogs that helped keep the world running while omegas and alphas were in heat and rut, and they were never given much appreciation for it.
“I had to go, you know?” Melvin shrugged. “Show up and be there for the family. Not that they really noticed me.” He took a sip from his cup. “I never would’ve heard the end of it had I skipped, though.”
“Must’ve been hard,” Avery replied, uncomfortable with the oversharing.
Melvin shook his head. “Sorry… I didn’t mean to offer up verbal diarrhea. It’s a bad habit.” He sighed. “Let’s start again. Hi, I’m Melvin. Nice to meet you.”
Avery chuckled. “It’s okay. I know how family issues can gnaw at you sometimes. It’s hard not letting it out… or it festers.”
“Very true.” Melvin sorted through a few of the receipts sitting on the desk. “How about you get this chaos stacked and then organized by date while I check emails and see what happened while I was gone? Then we can show you how we enter them into the system.”
“Sounds like a good start,” Avery replied before taking one of the two chairs at the desk. He hadn’t known he was tag-teaming in his new position, but considering his new boss would not be much help, he was glad to have Melvin there. He dropped his satchel along the back of the chair and dug in.
* * *
“Hey,Rohan… how about grabbing some lunch?” Wilder asked from his best friend’s office door.
Rohan lifted his gaze from the brief he was reviewing and frowned. “I really shouldn’t leave the office today.”
“Why’s that?”
Rohan eyed him uncomfortably. “Well… it’s Abraham’s first day.”
“And he needs a babysitter?”
Rohan tilted his head and shrugged. “Not exactly.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine if you leave for an hour or so.” Wilder considered a moment, carefully waiting so as not to look too desperate.“Or,you could invite him to join us.”
You’re not being transparent. Not at all.There’s no way Rohan could tell you came in, intending to ask that all along. Just act casual.
“I don’t know that he’d want to have lunch with us,” Rohan replied, closing the brief and leaning back in his chair. “Why do I feel like I’m being used?”
“Used? For what?”
“To get to my nephew.”
“Hey… you were the one who didn’t want to leave him here alone. I askedyouto lunch. Not him.” Wilder kept his face neutral.
Or rather, hoped he did.
“Uh-huh,” Rohan said. “What was all that about keeping your distance?”
“When did I say that?” Those words had never come from his lips.
His best friend rose and stretched his arms over his head. “Fine. You want to treat me to lunch, let’s go.” He slid his sports coat off the back of his chair. “Idowant to stop by accounting and check in before we go.”
“If it makes you feel better,” Wilder said casually, not feeling casual in the slightest.
He’d been itching to make a trip to accounting since he’d arrived that morning. Rohan was giving him the reason to be there.
