Chapter Five
Kari
There was something different about Bowie, and it was niggling at Kari like a stone in his shoe. It irritated him for reasons he couldn’t say.
It wasn’t like he didn’t have a lot more to think about.
He did. Drinkwater and whatever was happening at the factory his brothers had paid a visit to—which they were now buying—was top of the list. There’d been a lot of discussion about it, in between ragging on Taylin about growing a set of balls and confessing his feelings to Hollis—finally.
Although Kari suspected that Hollis might have had more to do with their new relationship than slow coach Taylin.
The alphahole group chat had been interesting, to say the least, over the last few weeks.
He tapped his stylus on his iPad, his gaze shifting back to Bowie as Rue continued to waffle, giving him time to ruminate.
Had someone upset Bowie at work? Kari couldn’t see it with the PAs all being so tight. They appeared to have a great relationship in and out of work from what he’d overheard. Then, was it a personal reason?
Not my business.
We’ve made it our business. His wolf had been getting very mouthy the last few weeks, and Kari, who wasn’t prone to outbursts, struggled with these new urges.
He works for us. Kari was fed up with pointing this out.
Yes.
And that’s it.
“Is it too much to have your attention for five minutes?”
Rue’s sarcastic comment brought Kari’s gaze from Bowie, whose head didn’t lift.
Kari arched a brow, though his gut was uneasy at Bowie’s lack of reaction. “It is when you keep repeating yourself. I heard you the first two times you mentioned the shortage of the exact fabric dye required for the range of…” Kari waved a hand in the air forgetting exactly what.
“You can’t market a product when I fucking don’t have pictures of the exact color ranges,” Rue said in an exaggerated voice. “Isn’t that why I called this damn meeting!”
“Then we advertise something else from the range. Simple.” Feeling that way out, he used a sugary sweet tone that never failed to wind his brother up.
“You’re wasting my time,” replied Rue, glowering. He got up, tugging on his tie like it was strangling him. Monty, who Rue didn’t even glance at, followed and stood, a twitch in his lips the only sign he was as amused as Kari by how Rue was acting.
Rue was far too serious for his own good. He was the last brother to join their family. Kari sometimes wondered if Rue didn’t feel like he fit in. Much of his past remained a mystery, and no matter the effort Kari put in, Rue had divulged little.
Kari, like the others, had done his best to make him feel included, and that involved some good old traditional ribbing.
He gave Rue a careful, assessing look, and what he found made him worry.
The strain around his eyes hadn’t been there just a week before.
Was he more affected by the situation in Drinkwater?
It was a real shitshow, and they’d all spoken about the awfulness, but this level of sullenness was unusual.
Rue had been vocal, the same as Booker and Kodi, but was he masking?
There was trauma hidden in his past, the shadow of pain was there in Rue’s eyes. Not knowing Rue’s history made it hard to fathom what affected him on a deeper level. Kari made a mental note to speak to Popi about it.
“Come on, sit back down,” he encouraged.
“We need to decide what, for the global market, we’re going to advertise for the next big campaign.
Jupiter is doing the fashion trends for the big show in Milan.
A ‘what’s coming from the catwalk’ type push.
We need something new for the general market of what that will translate as. ”
They had to find the right balance when market research gave a wide variation of what transferred well from the catwalk to the high street.
Rue thumped into the seat making it groan under his rhino’s bulk. “Then stop pissing about and focus.”
Rue looked pointedly at Bowie, and Kari worked to ensure the embarrassment didn’t show as he nodded. “Is there something that is a close match to the…”
Five mind-numbing hours later, Kari shut down his computer, groaning at the stiffness in his shoulders. He rolled them and cricked his neck left then right, feeling some tension release.
When Rue and everyone else had left his office, he’d spent the rest of the afternoon going through what felt like a million emails, playing catch up.
Bowie’s filing system in their shared inbox worked well.
It meant that Kari didn’t need to waste time explaining what he was saving and figure out what best file to save it into.
Bowie had done all the hard work. The guy might not pick up on all the social cues of others, but his straightforward thinking was a dream to work with.
Kari stretched his arms above his head, clasping his hands and reaching up until he felt the muscles release.
He groaned in appreciation, getting up to slip his suit jacket off the back of the chair.
Now that work was dealt with, his mind did what he had no willpower to stop and circled around how to discover what had made Bowie look sad.
Bowie was his PA and therefore it was Kari’s right to feel some worry about him when he noticed something was amiss.
And this did not differ from when he worried about Rue earlier, he justified.
Okay, not exactly like that as Rue was his brother.
Bowie wasn’t a relative but still, they worked closely together so it was important to make sure he was alright.
Now that he’d cleared the decks of work, he could easily find it reasonable to seek Bowie out.
He stayed well after five pm, the same as Kari, so he headed in that direction.
Rewarding Bowie for all his hard work was in order.
Maybe taking him out for something to eat?
They could go to the new burger place that he’d heard Bowie discuss with Monty.
Kari still hadn’t decided when he arrived at Bowie’s office, but found it empty. Tidy, with a lingering scent of sweetness that Kari associated with Bowie, but still empty. He frowned.
“Is there something you need?” Hollis’s voice came from behind him.
Kari turned to find Hollis was jacket-less, shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His hair was mussed, and his glasses bore smudges and were slightly off kilter.
Kari’s nose wrinkled when he inhaled and got a whiff of sex. He knew exactly what Hollis had been doing. His presence in the corridor must have disturbed him and Taylin.
He kept a straight face. “Nah, I was looking for Bowie, but it seems he’s left for the day.”
“Yes, a couple of hours ago,” Hollis supplied helpfully. “Can I help?”
Kari frowned, shoving his hands into his slacks.
“Right, thanks and no.” He winked at Hollis, needing something else to think about other than the reasons behind Bowie leaving early and not mentioning it.
“I believe you might already have someone else to help this evening.” He looked over Hollis’s shoulder and called out, “Isn’t that right, Taylin? ”
Kari chuckled all the way to his car at how Taylin had cussed him out from Hollis’s office. It was great to see Taylin so happy. It was, except it drew attention to the fact he’d still not bothered to find a boy to fill his free time.
You have someone.
Honestly, I’m too tired to listen to your nonsense.
Nonsense is pretending you aren’t interested in the doe-eyed boy with beautiful dimples. Alpha up and stop dragging your paws before whoever leaves his smell on him, lays claim.
Kari’s mood hadn’t improved over the weekend and took a further plummet at the file on his desk that he had to discuss with Bowie.
As Bowie took the seat in front of Kari’s desk, his nose wrinkled.
His wolf hated the scent that was clinging to Bowie.
Back was the awful piece of grit inside his shoe at the lack of spark coming from Bowie.
The subtle change was there. The corners of his lips drooped, and his eyes were too bright. As if Bowie was ready to cry at any moment.
An odd tugging came in the center of Kari’s chest, followed by an unsettled feeling at the base of his neck where his heckles were. On days like today, when Bowie looked less confident in his demeanor, Kari wanted to demand what was wrong. Except that wasn’t his right.
I don’t like him smelling and looking like this. Do something about it.
Kari didn’t react to his wolf, despite how hard it was becoming to ignore it. It seemed to have an opinion on Bowie’s needs almost daily.
What would you have me do? Pee on him to mark our territory? It was a sarcastic comment, because he was as frustrated as his wolf.
Yes.
He masked his features at the absurdity of his animal side, giving Bowie a pleasant smile. He picked up the file of printed advertisements that his secretary, Miranda, had given him, which was why he’d summoned Bowie in the first place. “I got the new ad copy for the summer shoe range launch.”
Eagerness made Bowie bounce on his seat, and the shimmer in his eyes no longer came from tears. “Oh, that was fast. I thought they weren’t going to be ready until the end of the week?”
He passed them over to Bowie, who placed down the ever-present iPad onto Kari’s desk to take what he offered. Excitedly, he flicked open the file holding the images, and a grimace replaced his smile.
He glanced at Kari with concern, brow wrinkling.
“Yes, exactly.” Kari answered the unspoken look of worry. “They are awful. A four-year-old with crayons could have done better with the design concepts.” That was putting it mildly.
Kari had taken Bowie’s recommendation when he’d shown him several different advertisement campaigns by Eliott’s that they had done for other fashion businesses. What was in those glossy shots was nothing like what Kari had expected.