126. He didn’t know—my foot
126
HE DIDN’T KNOW—MY FOOT
Nate
I was trying to be patient. Daire wasn’t liking Brax being around anymore than I was. He had our beasts on edge and mine was a chill one pretty much always, barely peeking his head out on a normal day and he was pacing like it was his job. And Daire’s bear? I’d scented him more than once recently when I shouldn’t.
And I hated to say it, but there was nothing not sketchy about Brax. He was “job hunting” but never seemed to go anywhere and when he did it was to hang out at the pub. And given he wasn’t a bartender, that wasn’t where his job was going to be.
Daire tried to talk to his parents about the whole thing, as he should. They just dropped the guy in our laps and nothing they said gave us confidence they knew much about him. So far they had called him Jax, Ax, and Rex. Not once had they said Brax on the first try.
The entire thing felt off.
But anytime I tried to discuss it with Daire, he only got more on edge. And given he felt cornered into doing this, there was no point in upsetting him. So instead I just kept my eyes and ears open and crossed both my fingers and toes that he was going to leave soon.
“I’m off to work, love.” I kissed Daire deeply. “Maybe when I come home we can have a date?”
“Like to the movies?” He nibbled on my bottom lip.
“Wherever you want.” Another peck and I leaned back. If I didn’t, I was going to be late. Daire’s kisses were like potato chips: no one could have just one.
“I love that.” He raked his eyes up and down my body. “For the record I think it’s going to be bent over the couch.”
“Great, now I’m going to work with a boner.”
“Maybe we can put that boner to good use when I get to work?” He had an errand to run on his way there. “So keep that boner for me, okay?”
I did not keep said boner. Brax hanging out across from our door, deciding to tag along with me to work effectively put an end to it.
The last thing I wanted to do was spend the day with him, but family was family or some bullshit like that.
“You know the rules, right?” I asked as we pulled into the parking lot.
“Daire told me,” he sighed.
Someone needed to teach his privileged ass not to be so entitled. But then again, given he was in no hurry to get a job and he had food and housing provided, I could see why he thought people were just going to give him everything; they did.
Micah and his and Daire’s assistant were already there and discussing filming ideas for the day when I arrived and I sent Brax to the place we’d designated as the lunch room, where there were muffins and coffee and most importantly, he was out of my sight.
“He’s still here?” Micah didn’t hide his discomfort around Daire’s cousin.
That seemed to be a universal response to his bear. Like maybe there was something wrong with the beast, but also maybe not. It was both awful and peculiar.
“I think he’s going to be here a while,” I admitted. “How about we figure out the shoot before I’m back on babysitting duty.”
Not that I was asked to babysit him, but he sure as shit felt like he needed one.
Everything felt like it was going well enough for the day, Brax just sitting there watching as the filming took place. He was oddly not needy and when I tried to sneak away to pee, I discovered why. His phone was in his shirt pocket with the camera facing out. The bastard was filming us.
I snatched it from his pocket.
“Hey!” he bit out. “Give that back.”
“No. You’re not supposed to be filming. You know the rules. You’re out of here.” If Daire’s parents had a problem with that, they could deal with me directly.
“I didn’t know. I thought—I thought it was cool to see this side of things. I’ll erase it.” He was far too contrite—too soon. “I’m sorry.”
“Show me.” I handed it back to him and watched him delete everything making sure he deleted it completely and that he didn’t email it someplace first. There was something off about all of it, it was the only thing I could think to do.
I should’ve kicked his sorry ass out .
He went from quiet and filming to loud and obnoxious. He chatted up the contestants when they were to be on their own—you know—competing. He gave advice to anyone and everyone who would listen, and he was an all around asshat.
The only savings grace was when he moved down the motel driveway to vape.
“He needs to get out of here. This is bullshit. I don't care if he’s Daire’s cousin.” I had never seen Micah this livid—ever. “He belongs nowhere near this motel.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Daire promised.
Like he hadn’t already done that multiple times. But Micah had more empathy than I did over Daire’s plight and agreed.
I still didn’t like it and spent my day only half focused on my work, the other half keeping Brax from whatever it was he was doing.
There was no part of me that was sad when everyone but me left for the day. I needed to get the editing done and get back home to Daire for our date. Edit and go. No big deal.
Until the film in front of me caught Brax giving his number to some of the contestants and them giving theirs in return. Had it been the single ones, I could’ve brushed it off as him trying to be a player. But it was all of them, including the pregnant omega, the old lady, and the biker.
He wasn’t hoping to get laid. He was up to something, which I already knew. But now I had proof or at least sort of proof.
I took a frame and isolated his face and googled it. Go modern tech . I instantly realized I should’ve done that sooner.
His social media was grift central. He used manipulation tactics to cultivate an intense following. But the things he posted were weird. Like he was a reporter, but acted like an influencer. He would do polls where he basically told people the answer they should pick, he had random hints of a movie deal that from what I could tell was one hundred percent in his imagination, and he had quite a few links to “gotcha” type reporting where it looked like it was all premeditated.
I’d seen one of his “exposés” in my social media feed. It was a restaurant with rats. Which I agreed was gross, but there was enough speculation in the comments that said rats were planted there and were pets not wild ones.
Not at any point did he mention PR work.
By the time my phone buzzed, Daire wondering if I was coming home soon, I no longer had any benefit of the doubt left for Brax, not that I’d had much when the day started.
“Yeah. I’ll be home soon.” The rest of the editing would have to wait. “Sorry. I got side tracked.”
“Sorry about my cousin. I don’t know what to do about him.”
I had suggestions. Gods, did I have suggestions.
“He has to either get a job or leave town and I need him not to be at the motel. He can’t come back there.” I didn’t want him at Sunshine Manor either, but first things first.
“What if he gets a job and wants to live in 3B permanently?”
Gods, I hadn’t thought of that. We’d have to get proof he actually had the job and then we’d need to find someone else to rent 3B pronto and say it’d been organized a while ago.
Poor Daire. I did feel bad putting him in this position, but really it wasn’t me doing it. It was Brax and my mate’s parents who insisted he stay at the manor.
“I don’t know if he’s trying to poach ideas or poach talent or what, but he “accidentally” filmed us and got numbers of all of our talent.” I wouldn’t cover things up.
“He what?”
“Yeah. On film. I saw it while editing.”
“What are we supposed to do with that?”
“I have no idea.” I hated to bring up something else when my mate was already annoyed but better to have it out in the open. I told him I found Brax on social media. “Babe, have you considered that he’s not here looking for work at all?” I had a lot of other questions too but that was enough for now.