All Kidding Aside - Macy Blake Page 0,4

a sippy cup that he handed to the little boy.

“Shouldn’t I, um, put him down?” Victor asked.

The hand with the dripping wet thumb grabbed his tie. Victor tried not to wince.

“No,” Gus said.

“Man, he really likes you,” Nick said. “Riggs, how many of these cottages are going to be ready by the end of the month? I want to start bringing in more potential parents, but no one’s leaving here with one of my kids until I know they’re gonna be able to handle it. I’ve gotta work out a process, but I need a place for ’em to stay. And, you know, maybe live.”

Riggs began updating them on the different stages of completion on the dozen cottages currently being built on the property next door. He seemed competent, much to Victor’s surprise. The last foreman had done the first phase, which had basically involved prepping all the plots for the infrastructure required for a building project of this magnitude. Water, electric, sewer, the roads. Before building could begin, all the infrastructure had to be in place. As far as their permits were concerned, they were developing a subdivision, and that meant a lot of red tape on Victor’s end.

They’d found a competent foreman at the beginning of the project and had used a family connection of the griffins for the project design. The foreman had been on loan from his pack, even though they were paying him a pretty penny to be there. But then his pack had some issues and he’d been needed at home, which left them with a spot that had been filled by this guy whom Victor had never even heard of.

How the hell could Nick trust a random stranger with this job? They had to get the cottages completed before they started finding parents for the cubs. It was Nick’s number-one priority after taking care of the kids. He’d said from the beginning that he would offer permanent places in his pack to any of the adoptive parents he found. He wanted to stay the alpha to the kids if he could, even though he knew some of them would go off into the world without him. Victor didn’t plan to be around the first time that happened, though.

He tore his attention away from that idea, ignoring the way his heart clenched at the thought. He needed to focus on this Riggs person and why Nick had decided he should be trusted with the job. They needed someone with experience. They needed someone highly skilled and very organized. And sure, he sounded competent. And he looked the part in his beat-up jeans and dirty tan boots. But looks could be deceiving.

“Bear,” Gus said, pointing at Riggs.

“That’s right,” Nick said. “He’s a black bear. You’re not a black bear, though, are you, Gus-Gus?”

Gus shook his head adorably. “Bed Banda.”

“Close enough, buddy. Red panda. It’s almost like a bear, right?”

Gus grinned and held out his juice cup to Nick.

“Man, you’re cute. Okay, I’ve gotta go help the teenagers with their reading class. They get a little testy, so it’s better that I’m there to keep them calm when they get frustrated. Vic, can you get Riggs up-to-date on everything? Jed and I told him what we could, but I know you’ll have a million other things we didn’t even think of.”

“Sure. You going to take—” Victor tried to peel Gus off him but the little boy clung tighter.

“Nah, he’ll let you know when he’s done. Just call Puteri and she’ll bring him back. You can take him outside the wards, but only to the construction site. And, you know, if anything—”

“I’ll call Puteri. I promise.”

Nick nodded and bounded away. A group of older kids had gathered at the opposite end of the rec building, and their alpha greeted each of them by name.

“Bird,” Gus said and pointed at Victor.

“Griffin,” Victor said.

“Fin,” Gus repeated. He held out his juice cup to Victor.

He really didn’t like kids at all. But he might be willing to make an exception just this once.

2

Riggs

The last week had been insane for Riggs. He still didn’t quite understand what happened. He’d been working up north and finished his job. Feeling a little restless, he’d decided to take a mini road trip. Somehow, while stopping for coffee at a random small-town coffee shop whose impressive billboard along the interstate had caught his eye, he’d ended up with a new job.

He still remembered the strong aroma of coffee and cinnamon when he’d opened the door.