Chapter 29 #2
Cooper sits with me and plays with my hair. He bought me drops to massage into my scalp that’ll promote hair growth, and it’s been working so far. My hair is more pixie-like than fuzz now.
It means I can play with what I have now, and sometimes I curl it into a cute punk look. Even though my mother is dead, I still find myself needing to remind myself of my freedom. The scars run deep, but I’m working through it.
Ethan
“I want to surprise Nina at work,” I tell Dad as I grab my keys.
She graduated about nine months ago and immediately got a job at The Journal as a columnist.
“Can you bring her food?” he asks. “She said that she was going to have a long day, and insisted on only bringing snacks.”
“Yeah, I can,” I say. When she’s busy, it’s harder for her to get the time to eat a full meal, so snacks work better. It’s almost four though, so I may be able to tempt her with tacos.
Walking out the door, I check my phone as I head to my car. I started my business right after I graduated with my masters degree as an analyst to help companies enhance their profit margins.
I wanted something that would allow me to help others while still being able to work from home when I wanted to. The business definitely exploded when I started proving how quickly I could turn around a company that might be flagging in sales or marketing.
Opening my door, I get into my Jeep and start the engine. Georgia weather is so nice year round, I bought myself a new car to celebrate graduating. If I want Nina to enjoy her wins, then I have to walk the talk.
Her birthday is coming up next week, and she’s still weird about celebrating it. Vivian managed to ruin a lot of her birthdays until she stopped acknowledging them at all.
That’s unacceptable to me, which means I’m planning a surprise birthday party for her. She deserves to celebrate with people who love her.
The drive to the newspaper goes quickly, another plus for Nina since her commute is short. Parking in the underground garage, I hum to myself as I make my way to the elevator.
Nina started work at six this morning, and has barely responded to messages today. That means the day has been heinous. As her alpha, it’s my duty to kidnap her and ply her with tacos.
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Impatiently, I sigh as I step inside of the elevator and stab at the button for the twelfth floor. I swear, it takes forever for the elevator to rise, and it constantly stops at different floors.
If I were my father, I’d just scare people out so I could get to my omega without having to wait. These are the times that I can appreciate being feral.
As soon as the doors open, I practically explode out of them, stalking past the cubicles to find Nina’s. The sound of people talking and keyboard tapping is loud and I wonder how she’s able to concentrate.
As I approach, I see her standing and arguing with her manager. What the fuck is he going on about?
“I’m sorry,” he says, shrugging. “Martin bought out the newspaper and said he doesn’t want you working here.”
Martin…As in Vivian’s ex-husband ?
“I was barely his stepdaughter,” she groans. “I don’t know why his sleeping with my mother makes any difference.”
“Martin says you’re a liability?—”
Yeah, I’ve heard about enough of this.
“Excuse me, what exactly is the problem here?” I bark out.
Nina glances at me with a sad expression, and I fist my hand in anger. I fucking hate seeing her sad.
“Nina’s fired,” her manager grunts. “She needs to be out in the next five minutes.”
“Are you going to stand there while she gets her things together and continue to speak to her?” I ask. “I believe you no longer have that privilege since she no longer works here.”
“I…” Her manager swallows hard and shakes his head. “Five minutes or I’m getting security involved, Nina.”
My little queen rolls her eyes at him while I enjoy a bit of pettiness and shove her manager aside with my shoulder as I follow her into her cubicle.
“He blindsided you, didn’t he?” I ask, watching as she drops into her chair.
“Pretty much,” she says. “I was working on my piece for the newspaper, in the zone and ignoring everything when Milo interrupted me. He said that effective immediately, I was fired due to a change in owner. When I asked him why that would cause me to lose my job, he said that it’s because Martin is the new owner. ”
“He didn’t seem to have a problem when Lyle encouraged him to sign divorce papers,” I mutter, crouching beside her.
“The piece I’m writing is about the new Omega Center that they’re getting off the ground in Savannah,” she says, flicking away a wayward tear as she reopens her laptop.
“Blog it,” I say, knowing there’s some gravel behind my words. “You have a following now, Little Queen. Use it.”
“You’re right. I just really liked this job,” she says.
I watch as she sends the piece she’s writing to her email and then deletes it. Nina then systematically begins to delete everything that she’s written for the paper off the computer after sending herself everything first.
“I’m fired,” she says, smirking as I chuckle. “They don’t need any of my work anymore. This will include the piece I’m working on as well as anything else that I was playing with in the background. Fuck them.”
“That’s exactly right,” I murmur, watching as she grabs her oversized bag and throws in her phone and a photo or two from her desk. For someone who’s been here for months, Nina doesn’t keep very much personal shit at her cubicle.
An idea starts to form in my head as she stands and pulls her bag over her arm. Since the laptop belongs to the newspaper, everything else will stay right where it is now. Taking her hand and looping it over my arm, I lead her out of the cubicle.
Nina chin held high, not a hint of the only tear she allowed herself to fall in evidence of how upset she is, she walks across the long room with me. An alpha with cold blue eyes watches us, and I realize that this must be Martin.
Vivian seemed to like men in power with money, though Martin just looks like an ass.
“I’m doing you a favor, Nina,” he says. “An omega like you shouldn’t be working at a newspaper.”
“You’re right,” I bite out. Nina doesn’t flinch beside me, completely trusting that I’m a better alpha than Martin. “I think she should own one. See you around, Martin.”
“Wait, what?” he asks. “She doesn’t have the kind of money for that!”
“My money lies with Pack Thornefield,” Nina says in an airy tone. “If I want a newspaper, then that’s what I’ll have.”
Fuck yes you will.
The two of us get onto the elevator and I stab the button, hoping we won’t have to stop.
“Stand tall, Little Queen,” I murmur as she begins to sag against me. “Assholes like that probably watch the elevator videos. ”
Taking a breath, she nods as she steals her spine.
“We just talked a whole lot of shit just now,” she mutters.
“It’s not shit if it’s true,” I say. “I still have a lot of time on my hands, and an online newspaper would do very well in Savannah.”
“You’re serious,” she breathes as we arrive at the garage.
“Fuck yes I am,” I say as we walk to the car. “You should be able to work in your house instead of an office, and regularly eat instead of skipping meals. Can I take you out for tacos to celebrate our new partnership?”
Nina’s laugh tinkles over me as she nods. “You and Riley claim Cooper is over the top,” she says as I help her into the Jeep. “I’m pretty sure a company is right up there.”
“How else is a queen to rule?” I ask, shrugging. “A more liberal approach to news is needed. It’ll also give you more time to write the book you’ve been working on.”
“I haven’t had time to write much,” she admits as I close the door.
Well, now she will.