Chapter Twenty-One
Alphaholes
Laken: Anyone seen Isley of late?
Silas: Why would we? He’s not working directly with any of us.
Booker: Lost the little sugar glider again?
Jupiter: When did he lose him the first time? What’s this?
Laken: Booker, stop being a dick.
Booker: I’m a bear not a dick.
Laken: You were definitely a dick on Friday over the last slice of pizza.
Jupiter: He’s got you there!
Booker: I wasn’t the one who nearly cried at the end of the movie.
Jupiter: Just shows I’m in touch with my emotional side.
Silas: You’re definitely in touch, but usually it isn’t your emotional side!
Booker: Don’t encourage him, Silas! I couldn’t take another round of discussing how good it was to have the cross eyed supermodel bouncing on his balls.
Jupiter: Massimo is going to be the star of our runway show!
Booker: And?
Laken: Why do you always have to derail the conversation, Jup?
Jupiter: Hey, that was all Silas!
Silas: Guilty. Sorry Laken, what’s your concern?
Jupiter: Our little sugar honey not giving you a good… servicing?
Laken: Give over Jup! Silas, I’ve a ton of work but Islay’ s gone AWOL.
Booker: Has he booked time off in the other calendar?
Laken: Shit……I forgot about that one.
Booker: How can you forget about it? The damn thing rules our goddamn lives.
Booker shut down the app with shaky fingers and scowled at how he’d gotten carried away. The weekend had given him too much time to think. He’d come in this morning with a plan to face Frey and act normal. He could do that!
Normal.
Yes, normal, he fired back at his bear’s snide remark. I put rules in place, and I need to stick to them. Yes, he did.
His bear, on the other hand, didn’t get with that programme. Then go find him and let's see how normal you are.
Is that a threat?
Threat? I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Yeah right. You better behave or… …
Or what?
Booker’s teeth ground together as he stomped out of his office, his mission to prove his bear wrong. The battle of wills had started after last week's behavior.
Minutes later, he stared at Frey’s empty office. The scent of him was not strong, revealing he’d not been in his office this morning. Booker rammed his hands into his pockets and strode back to his office, muttering and cursing under his breath.
Where was he?
He should have had the decency to tell him if he wasn’t coming into work.
At Pam’s desk, he came to a halt. “Did Frey say anything about not coming into work this morning?”
It took great effort to keep his tone civil, but it seemed to have worked when Pam pushed up the glasses she used for computer work and gave him an absentminded smile. “Erm… yes. He emailed me. He has a doctor’s appointment and won’t be in until later this morning. He’s sent you all the updated quotes for the accessories you asked for, along with the additional costs for the changes required for the design on the handbags.”
“Right.” Booker went into his office and, instead of sitting behind his desk, he grabbed his car keys where he’d plonked them and headed right back out of the office.
Pam looked up. “You need something?”
“I’ve gotta… meeting. I’ll be back in an hour.”
Her brows met. “I saw nothing on your calendar this morning?”
It took genuine effort not to shrink under her gaze as he told an outright lie. “I put the meeting on my phone and forgot to slip it in the calendar.” Booker didn’t hang around and hustled to get to his car, acting like he’d not seen her pointed look.
He’d hate himself later, but for now, his worry for Frey took precedence over everything else .
Stalking…
Dear gods, this was an all-time low.
Could he stop himself?
He indicated to take the street he needed to go down, driving fast and safe to stop getting a speeding ticket.
It seemed not!