Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
It took another week before Isaac had time to meet with Avery. With the new project going full steam ahead, everyone was busy. Once it moved to the research stage, most other offices would slow down again, but getting everything set up was a team effort. And since Maverick had issues delegating, he and Isaac were incredibly busy. Isaac felt bad for continually postponing getting coffee with Avery, but Avery didn’t seem bothered by it and was all smiles when they finally met up the following week. Maverick was across town in another meeting and agreed to let Isaac take a long lunch to meet with Avery, so Isaac didn’t have to rush.
Isaac got comfortable, accepting a little cafe menu from Avery. He scanned it, but he’d been to this cafe before and he always got the same thing. He was a creature of habit when it came to his food.
“I’m glad you finally got away for a bit. I know the past week has been busy for everyone.”
Isaac nodded in agreement. “It has been. There are a lot more legal hoops to jump through than I thought, and it’s really interesting to see how everything works.”
“So, things are going well with Maverick, then?” Avery asked while waving hello to someone who was walking past. The cafe was on the first floor of Spellbound and popular with the employees. Avery was popular just because he was friendly and used to work as a temp here, but people also knew him as Ozen’s mate, so he was well known around the building.
Unlike when Jade asked him questions about how things were going with Maverick, Avery didn’t seem to be fishing for gossip. He just looked curious.
“Things are fine. He’s a little short-tempered, but I’ve figured out a few things that help when he’s having a rough time.” Food, mostly. That dragon can eat.
Avery snapped, pointing at him. “Speaking of that. I completely forgot to tell you what I did when he was struggling when I worked with him. It was only a week, so you’ve officially got more experience than me, but I wanted to share it with you. Maverick works really hard, and if we can make his day easier, it’ll be better for him.”
Isaac liked that Avery was focused on Maverick’s comfort instead of how he affected everyone else. Isaac was working on getting Maverick to stop making a smoke trail through the office, but he couldn’t say that was all for the staff. Part of it was because he didn’t like just how pissed off the dragon seemed to get on a regular basis. That couldn’t be good for his health.
“Okay. What’ve you got?”
“Snacks!” Avery said brightly. “As Ozen’s feeder, it was important for me to eat regularly. Whenever I went to the break room for a snack, I grabbed something for Maverick, too. He never outright said it helped, but he never turned it down, either. And it seemed to help. I think he doesn’t get enough opportunity to eat full meals, and I know shifters need to eat a lot. I know I get grouchy when I haven’t eaten in a while. Ozen is even worse. If he goes too long without feeding, he actually seethes, which freaks out the entire office. Pretty sure shifters need more food than either of us do, too.”
Isaac didn’t comment on how he already knew about the food thing, but he appreciated Avery’s attempt to help anyway. No one else in the legal office even tried to get to know Maverick. It would’ve been simple enough to offer him something when someone brought in a cake for a birthday or something like that. The dragon was too stubborn to go get it himself, but he never said no to food.
“Snacks sound like a good idea. Thank you. What did you do when you worked with him?”
Avery pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Admin, mostly. Answering calls, making appointments, copies, that kind of thing. It was where I had the most experience. I tried to do some research for him, but I’m pretty sure only half the stuff I brought him was relevant. He didn’t say anything negative, probably because he knew how Ozen felt about me, but I could tell sometimes that he was irritated. Which was when I brought him snacks.”
Isaac snickered at the thought of bribing the dragon not to be pissed when he did something wrong. Since Avery was the CEO’s mate, Maverick couldn’t yell at him. It must’ve killed him to keep his mouth shut. He probably took the snacks just to occupy himself with anything other than commenting on Avery’s mistake.
“Do you do research for him?”
“Yeah,” Isaac nodded. “But I’m familiar with it. I’m in law school, so legal terms aren’t a foreign language to me.”
They paused their conversation long enough to go up to the counter to order. While they waited for their number to be called, Avery leaned in and asked, “Law school? That sounds amazing. What made you decide to become a lawyer?”
“There wasn’t really any profound reason,” he admitted. “My cousin had trouble controlling his magic when he was younger. He accidentally started a fire in an abandoned building while he was trying to work off some of the excess energy. The whole thing burned to the ground. The cops who arrested him wanted to lock him up, when it wasn’t anything he’d had any control over. A lawyer, who worked for Spellbound actually, showed up to help. They were working on helping mages with uncontrollable magic and had been monitoring Peyton to see if he qualified. They stepped in to help, got the charges dropped, and offered Peyton a place in the trial. Thanks to them, my cousin lives a relatively normal life and didn’t have to spend part of it in prison.”
“Wow,” Avery breathed. “And you wanted to be like them?”
Isaac shrugged. “I wanted to help people like my cousin. I’m no good at science, so I tossed out the idea of joining a research team or something. But I’ve got good attention to detail, and I actually enjoy doing research, so becoming a lawyer seemed like the next best thing. And it’s really interesting. Ever since I told Maverick that I was in law school, he’s been explaining things a little more, so I can see why we’re doing that research and how it will help with contracts and things like that.”
“Maverick, huh?”
Isaac felt his stomach drop out and his heart started racing. He hadn’t meant to say that. He only referred to Maverick by his first name in his head. Never in front of staff. It was too familiar. He didn’t want anyone guessing that they’d hooked up. But he was so into the conversation with Avery, he let it slip. To the mate of an incubus. Fuck.
“I– uh…”
Avery snickered, shaking his head. “It’s okay. Your secret is safe with me. I kind of doubt he’d be upset about you using his first name, but it’s my fault for using it so often. He gave me permission after I gave him a copy of my first book, and I liked that he thought of me as a friend, so I took it and ran with it.”
Relief flooded him, making him dizzy. Avery thought it was because he kept referring to Maverick by his first name that Isaac slipped up. He was none the wiser about why he felt so comfortable with the dragon. Thank the goddess.
They spent the rest of their lunch talking about Avery’s next book. Isaac wanted to steer clear of any more conversation about Maverick. Avery was easy to talk to, and he didn’t want to slip up again and say something he’d regret. He was just finishing his sandwich when Jade came into the cafe, complaining loudly to her companion.
“I just don’t see why he targeted me! I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“You were there. That’s usually all it takes, right? He takes his crappy mood out on everyone around him, and we can’t say a thing about it because he’s friends with the owners of the company.”
Isaac stiffened. They weren’t talking about Maverick, were they? He wasn’t supposed to be back yet. Isaac was supposed to have plenty of time to pick Maverick up some lunch before he got back.
“Well, somebody is probably going to report him this time. With the way he was shouting, he’s probably on a rampage by now. My parents always said dragons don’t belong around civilization,” Jade sneered. “They’re basically wild animals, slaves to their instincts. And their instincts are dangerous.”
Launching to his feet, Isaac shot Avery an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. I need to handle this.”
Avery had been listening too and didn’t complain, dismissing him with a shooing gesture. “Go. Take the gold elevator and then the stairs. It’s way faster. Call me if you need me to send Ozen down to help.”
Isaac shot him a grateful smile before tearing out of the cafe. The line for the regular elevators was long since everyone was coming back for lunch. The group crowded around the gold elevator at the end was a lot smaller, and since the elevator only went up to the top floor, there wouldn’t be a ton of stops to get to his destination. Still, Isaac anxiously bounced on his toes while he waited and slammed his hand on the door close button the minute the last person waiting stepped inside. He got a few curious looks, but his focus was on the numbers above the door as they rose toward the top floor.
Isaac never used the gold elevator before. He probably should say something to Avery about not giving him a proper warning. The elevator was an express, and Isaac’s ears actually popped from how fast they were going. His stomach quivered uncomfortably for a moment, but it settled once he stepped off the elevator, turning immediately toward the stairs. It was eight floors down to the law office, but all the rest of the elevators were on lower floors and it would take too long to wait for them. Isaac took Avery’s advice and raced down the stairs, breathing heavily by the time he burst through the doors on the 52nd floor.
Smoke filled the office, burning his eyes. It was thicker than normal, which meant it hadn’t originally been confined to Maverick’s office. He’d been out here when he lost his temper. The air in the office vibrated with the dragon’s fury. There wasn’t a soul to be seen in the common areas. Whatever pissed Maverick off, it was affecting the entire office.
Isaac made quick work of the smoke, shoving it towards Maverick’s office. The door was closed, but Isaac didn’t hesitate to go inside, his first focus on getting the smoke out of the office through the terrace doors. He heard the growl of warning behind him, and he was more careful this time to project his movements, shutting the office door quietly and moving the smoke out of the terrace with care to not make any sudden movements. He left the terrace door open for the time being, since Maverick was still billowing smoke, but he’d shut it if it got too cold.
Turning to face his boss, he swallowed an exasperated sigh. The office was a mess, papers everywhere, and Maverick was sitting in his chair with a drink in his hand and a scowl on his face.
“What happened?”
He only got a growl in return. Stubborn dragon.
“I can’t help if I don’t know what happened. And you can’t go to your next meeting like this. So tell me. What happened?”
The vibrating got more intense and Isaac’s magic swelled in response to the threat. He wanted to help Maverick, but he wasn’t going to let the dragon intimidate him, either. He glared back, locked in a now familiar standoff, until an idea popped into his head. He’d blame his libido later for such a stupid idea.
“You can either tell me what happened, or I can distract you until you calm down. Take your pick.”