All Kidding Aside - Macy Blake Page 0,3
That Walt? With a kid?”
Nick stopped moving, and his face took on the scary alpha expression he rarely used. “You doubt me?”
Even his voice was frightening. Gus raised his head.
“No,” Riggs said. “You say it’s okay, and I believe you. But Walt? Really? Man, he terrifies me. I went in the kitchen for a snack, and he threatened to gut me. I about crapped my pants.”
Nick’s expression returned to his normal smirk, and he shrugged. “He’s not that scary.”
Victor couldn’t help it. He snorted out a laugh. Nick turned to glare at him, but it quickly faded.
“Fine. He’s a little scary. But not to Ryan, and that’s what matters. Now will you two shut up so we can get to work? I’ve got shit to do today.”
“Um, what about…?” Victor glanced down at Gus before looking back to Nick.
“He likes you. It’s fine.”
“I need to work.”
“You will. Just with him. He doesn’t like a lot of people, so this is important. Shut up and do your part already, Vic. Sheesh. What? He too heavy for you? Your wee griffin arms too weak to—”
“Nick.” Victor glared out the rest of his protest and wasn’t at all surprised when he was ignored.
Nick laughed and kept walking. “That’s what I thought. Damn, it’s a beautiful day. Hey, you two met before?”
“No,” Riggs said.
“Right. I was supposed to introduce you. Jedrek reminded me this morning, but then I got distracted because… well, you can imagine how my mate distracted me.” Nick waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Not that they needed any clue. The alpha couldn’t keep his eyes, or his hands, off his mate. “Anyway, Orsen Riggs, this is Victor Eastaughffe. Riggs is the new foreman. Victor is the money man.”
Victor scowled. “Pardon me? I didn’t see a résumé—”
“Met Riggs in town,” Nick said. “We took some of the older kids to the big library, and then we stopped by Mikey’s coffee shop for treats.”
“And you gave him a job?”
“Standing right here,” Riggs said.
“He passed the background check,” Nick said. “And the Puteri test. Plus, Robin likes him.”
And that was the vote that mattered. The little girl had her alpha wrapped around her fingers.
“Still right here,” Riggs complained.
Victor glared at him, uncaring that he was incredibly handsome beneath all that scruff, with big brown eyes that seemed very kind even if his shirt suggested it needed to be washed. Those details didn’t matter. “What experience do you have? This job is of critical importance, and the timeline can’t be altered. We have kids counting on—”
“Nick explained. I can handle it.”
“Yeah,” Nick said. “Besides, I talked to Eduard. He says you can stay here for a while until the construction is done. I told him we needed you on-site to make sure everything got handled the right way. Like I know shit about invoices and packing lists and whatever the fuck else all this shit entails.”
Nick was a lot smarter than he pretended to be. Victor knew it. Nick knew it. Nick knew Victor knew it. He glared at the alpha. Nick simply smirked. “I made my decision. You two are going to be working together for a while. So stop your bitching and get to it. I need an update.”
Victor made a mental note to strangle his cousin. Eduard knew he wouldn’t want to live at the compound, surrounded by all of the kids all of the time. It was enough to turn his hair from red to gray. He’d agreed to handle this project, but he’d never agreed to be constantly with the kids. Kids weren’t his thing. They were dirty and germy and needy. He had responsibilities. All this stuff didn’t magically pay for itself, as much as Nick liked to pretend it did. It took the majority of his time to manage all the moving pieces that went along with the orphans and their needs in addition to his familial duties, which now included managing his cousin’s finances along with that of his powerful mates. Victor didn’t have time to—
Gus raised his head and stared at him, bringing Victor’s mental tirade to a screeching halt. Blue eyes met his own, searching for something. Victor had no idea what. He’d probably start crying again after realizing Victor wasn’t who he wanted after all.
“Juice, peas,” Gus said softly.
Victor sent a panicked glance toward Nick. The alpha huffed out a laugh and jogged back toward the door they’d just left. He returned a minute later with a small bag that he tossed to Riggs and