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Remi woke with a groan as his alarm started its very annoying and unappreciated sound in his ear. He hissed as he reached a hand outside the warm confines of his blanket burrito to feel around for his cell phone and turn off the incessant nag. He pulled the phone to him and squinted at the screen to see it was 6:30 AM and he had to get up and go back to work. It was Saturday, which meant that he was opening at the restaurant and if he wanted to take a shower and be on time, he needed to get up soon.
He allowed himself one snooze cycle of five minutes to pout and throw a little fit before getting up. Remi winced as his feet hit the tiles and even through his two pairs of socks, the heat was pulled from his body at once, sending a shiver up his spine all the way to his scalp. He walked into the bathroom and started up the shower, the old pipes groaning in the walls as the water slowly heated. Remi brushed his teeth quickly and stripped out of his warm pajamas, stepping into the shower.
He had to wash himself quickly. There was only about five minutes of hot water before it would run out. So, he washed his hair and body with rapid movements, and then stood under the warm spray until he felt a slight change in temperature, and he immediately turned the water off. His shower would go from hot to stone cold in the span of about 45 seconds, and he didn’t want to waste the warmth in his skin.
He reached outside the shower curtain and grabbed his towel, drying himself off quickly before the water could chill too much on his skin. At least the tiny bathroom was warm from the steam as he grabbed his outfit for the day and pulled it on. He blow dried his hair quickly, not wanting to go outside with wet hair in the cold.
Remi hesitated at the bathroom door, not wanting to open it and let all his warmth out, but he sighed and resigned himself as he opened and the cold air of his apartment pulled the warmth away. He shivered as he grabbed his coat, wallet, phone and keys and rushed outside into the cool morning, locking the door behind him.
A snowflake landed on the tip of his nose, and Remi looked up with a smile and saw delicate little snowflakes falling around him. He loved the snow, even if he hated the cold. He smiled all the way to the bus stop as the white flakes swirled around him. Even if he was shivering with his hands pressed deep into his pockets to protect them, the omega was still happy. Nothing made winter like snow. His favorite view was that of the world covered in glittering white ice, the morning after a heavy snowfall.
His bus arrived just as he got to the stop and he hopped on gladly, taking a seat and rubbing his hands together for warmth, blowing into his cupped palms to try and defrost his frozen fingers. His stop came too soon and he jumped out and headed into the restaurant to help get everything set up for the lunch rush. The little bell above the door jingled as he walked in to find everyone gathered in a crowd around the owner, who was crying.
Remi rushed over and joined the group, reaching forward and taking her hands in his, giving them a squeeze of reassurance. Everyone seemed downtrodden and Remi wondered what had happened.
“What’s going on? Is everyone okay?” Remi asked, looking around at his coworkers.
“No. I just got notice that the bank is foreclosing on the restaurant. I have two weeks to vacate the premises.”
Remi felt his heart fall for two different reasons. He felt sympathy for his boss, the woman had always been extraordinarily kind to him, and also because that meant he was losing his job. He felt hot panic rise in his chest. He couldn’t afford to miss out on work for however long it would take to find a new job. He was totally screwed.
Everyone stayed for a while to commiserate, but before too long they all left. There would be no work for them today, the owner had to pack her things up and leave. The tightness in Remi’s chest only increased as he and Phoenix walked to the bus stop. His friend must have sensed his distress because the alpha pulled him to a stop.
“Let me buy you a cup of coffee. We both could use the company, because I think you’re freaking out just as much as I am.”
Honestly that was probably for the best, because if Remi was left alone, he was going to start hyperventilating.
“Yeah, okay.”
They walked to a little coffee shop half a block away and ordered two plain coffees and doctored them up with sugar and cream, before taking a seat at a table and sighing in unison.
“What the hell am I going to do?” Remi asked, rubbing his tired eyes.
“If I were you, and I had an ass like yours… I’d find me a sugar daddy.” Phoenix said and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“Okay… first of all… NO. And second of all, does Aiden know you are looking at my ass?”
“Remi. Aiden might be an omega, but even HE looks at your ass. It’s a really nice ass.”
“Shut up. You’re so embarrassing.” Remi hissed, blushing and trying not to laugh.
“Ah… If I were single I’d find me a rich old omega and let them pay my tuition and bills. I’m just saying, you have the goods… Why not use them? Let some rich guy grope you and jerk him off, and all your bills are paid.” Phoenix shrugged and took a drink of his coffee.
“You’re gross. I’m not doing that.”
Phoenix just shrugged and they changed the subject. Of course there was absolutely no way Remi was ever, ever,evergoing to get a sugar daddy.
Dimitrios was tired. And horny. Which made for one extremely hard to deal with alpha. All of his employees had already been gone for hours, and yet he was still at his desk, going over the end of year financial statements. It was a job he probably could have foisted off on someone else, but he’d always had a problem with needing to personally make sure things were done right. It was something his business partner Leon was always harping on about.
Yes, working 16-hour days, 7 days a week was neither healthy nor sustainable, but he was a bit of a workaholic. He reached over and grabbed his coffee, taking a sip and grimacing at the stone-cold temperature. He looked at the time and saw that it was almost 10:00 PM already and sighed.
It was Saturday night and he should be out at a bar, finding an omega to help relieve some of his stress. But honestly, Dimitrios hated the whole rigmarole of going to a bar and hitting on someone, convincing them to let you take them home for the night. Ten out of ten times when he brought someone to his apartment, what was supposed to be a one-night stand turned into reverse courting when they found out he had money.
He sighed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his tired eyes and trying to decide if he should just give it up for the day and head home. He looked at the half-finished stack of reports on his desk and felt his eyes burning from focusing on the tiny numbers for hours.
What ended up convincing him to go home was not his tiredness, but the fact that if he kept working in this state, he was going to start messing up his numbers. On top of being a workaholic, Dimitrios was also a perfectionist, and he couldn’t allow himself to start screwing up these reports.
He rapped his knuckles against the desk and stood, leaving his neat stacks of papers where they sat and grabbed his coat on his way out. He walked through the dark office, which was a familiar sight for him. Dimitrios very rarely left work when the sun was still up, and even more rarely arrived after it had risen. He knew that he was getting too bogged down in the everyday running of the company. He’d started the business because he was passionate about technology and innovations in computer science. He missed working with the engineers and coding for new products. These days he felt more like a glorified accountant with a big fancy office.
