Chapter 48 – part 1
It feels strange having Valen under my roof, awkward. Everything I usually did for Valarian, he suddenly asked his dad to do. Like cut up his food. I was suddenly no longer needed; he asked for his father when it was his bath time. Most of my afternoon was spent twiddling my thumbs since I only had to heat dinner up. Yet, Valen never once complained and seemed to enjoy his son’s constant attention.
Even as I went to put Valarian to bed, he asked if his father could tuck him in. I know it was childish, but nights were the only time I got to spend with him, really, so it bothered me more than it should. I was so used to juggling things between Zoe and me that it felt unnatural having someone willingly helping us, ruining our usual routine, I suddenly had time on my hands, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
Once Valarian was tucked in bed, Valen returned to the living room. He scratched the back of his neck before looking at the empty spot beside me on the couch.
I rolled my eyes before moving over, and he smiled before coming to sit next to me and draping his arm across the back of it.
“Finally, Casey is down for the night,” Zoe says, coming out in her pajamas while braiding her hair. I had always been envious of how she could do that, I had tried and ended up only making a knotted mess, yet she did it so effortlessly.
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Chapter 48 – part 1
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Zoe comes over and sits down on one of the kids‘ bean bags, the bag almost swallowing her petite frame as she sinks in it.
“I’m so damn tired,” she yawns, covering her mouth with her
hand.
“Ah, and tomorrow will be worse. We are down three staff in the kitchens, one in the children’s playgroup. Two waitresses and have a full house,” Zoe sighs.
“Emily must also have the bug. She never showed up for work tonight,” I tell her, getting up off the couch and walking over to the bookcase for my folder.
“I already checked the rosters for tomorrow,” Zoe tells me. I sat back down with the folder going to the events diary.
“I know, we will have to manage. I can work the lunch and night rush if you can handle the kids in the morning.”
“Sounds like a plan. I will wake you at eleven. If we are still down the next day, we can swap. Macey already pulled doubles two days in a row,” she says, and I nod.
Zoe glances at the diary, “What are you looking for?”
“We need to find a date to move the Alpha meeting forward,”
I tell her, but the earliest date I could make work would be one week head, so instead of three weeks, it would be two.
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“The 12th?” I ask him, and he looks over my shoulder, flicking through the pages before scrubbing his hand down his face.
“What’s wrong with this coming Friday?” he asks while looking at the empty slot.
“That’s six days away, it wouldn’t be enough notice, and I am not sure I can get supplies in early enough,” I tell him.
“Get what you can in. The rest I will organize from one of my hotels and have it sent over. You still want to announce it, right?”
I nod best to get it over and done with.
“Then it has to be the sixth, I can go unseen for a few days, but two weeks, two weeks, the media will come looking for me,” he tells me.
“Though I am a little shocked it has stayed under wraps already, I am surprised one of your staff haven’t sold the story yet,” he says, and Zoe glares at him.
“They aren’t staff; they are family, we are all family, we stick together,” she says, and Valen sticks his hands up in the air in surrender.
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“Settle down; you and Macey are the most aggressive rogues I have ever met, geez,” he says.
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Chapter 48 -part 1
11 288 Vouchers
“The 12th?” I ask him, and he looks over my shoulder, flicking through the pages before scrubbing his hand down his face.
“What’s wrong with this coming Friday?” he asks while looking at the empty slot.
“That’s six days away, it wouldn’t be enough notice, and I am not sure I can get supplies in early enough,” I tell him.
“Get what you can in. The rest I will organize from one of my hotels and have it sent over. You still want to announce it, right?”
I nod best to get it over and done with.
“Then it has to be the sixth, I can go unseen for a few days, but two weeks, two weeks, the media will come looking for me,” he tells me.
“Though I am a little shocked it has stayed under wraps already, I am surprised one of your staff haven’t sold the story yet,” he says, and Zoe glares at him.
“They aren’t staff; they are family, we are all family, we stick together,” she says, and Valen sticks his hands up in the air in surrender.
“Settle down; you and Macey are the most aggressive rogues
I have ever met, geez,” he says.
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Chapter 48 part 1
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“Sorry, I am just overtired,” she rubs her eyes before reaching over and grabbing Casey’s school jumper off the ground. I also yawn, my eyes feeling like sandpaper, and I regret taking my pills earlier now that I had to do some planning.
“Shit, I forgot to wash it,” Zoe groans.
“Grab one of Valarian’s out for tomorrow,” I tell her, and she nods before sniffing it. Her brows pinch together before she suddenly buries her face in it.
“What is that? Gosh, it smells good. I want to eat it,” she says to no one in particular. Valen raises an eyebrow at her and twirls his finger beside his head, and I chuckle when he mutters, “cuckoo.”
“What? You smell it then,” she snarls, tossing it at his head.
“I wouldn’t want to offend you by sniffing your daughter’s jumper,” he mocks, and she rolls her eyes.
Valen sniffs it before pulling a face. “Ah, yuck. I can’t smell anything but Marcus; thanks for making me get a whiff of my Beta,” he says, shaking his head.
“You can’t smell it?” Zoe asks.
“Yeah, I can smell it. It fucking reeks of him,” Valen says, rubbing his nose. I take it from him and sniff it.
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“Yep, definitely your Beta,” I tell him. Zoe rubs a hand down her face.
“I must be more tired than I thought. I thought I could smell vanilla bean and fudge,” she pouts for a second. “Now I want vanilla bean and fudge,” she mutters unhappily.
“Cravings, are you sure you are not pregnant?” Valen laughs. Zoe looks at him, appalled.
“Not unless I am giving birth to baby batteries or a baby bunny vibrator,” she spits at him. I chuckle at her while Valen just blinks, shocked at what she said.
“Go to bed. I will fill out the order forms,” I tell her while laughing. She nods, yawning as she gets to her feet before moving off to her bedroom, muttering about finding some vanilla fudge tomorrow.
“Night, Zoe,” Valen chuckles, and she flips him off over her shoulder before disappearing down the hall.
“She is definitely my favorite out of your friends,” Valen
states.
“What’s wrong with Macey?”
“Ah, she threatened to castrate me and put me on an ants‘ nest. Tell me what is right with that one. Who says that, let alone thinks of something like that?” I laugh before looking
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over at the table.
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“Tatum dropped some clothes off for you while you put Valarian to bed. They are on the table,” I tell him before reaching over to the coffee and grabbing a pen from the drawer. I sit back, pulling the order forms out to fax off tomorrow. Valen gets up and rummages through the bag Tatum dropped off.
“Can I borrow your shower?”
“You can’t borrow it, but you can use it,” I tell him. I peeked up at him, and he has a silly grin on his face, and my lips tugged in the corners. “Towels are in the hallway.”
“Valarian showed me earlier,” he says and walks off down the hall while I turn my attention back to my task.
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