19. Avery
Avery
Sidney: Did you see your views on the first few videos?!
Avery: I haven’t checked since last night. I scheduled the videos to post a few times a day. Checking now.
M y heart slammed in my chest as I tried to clear the grogginess from my eyes. Cohen and I had spent the entire evening chatting and learning about each other. It was a perfect evening—no pressure, just existing—exactly what I needed.
However, that also meant I didn’t drive home until late.
My hands shook as I pulled up the account, terrified to be too excited, too soon. Social media was forever changing and following algorithms was like trying to translate ancient texts, impossible and everyone had their own interpretation on how to succeed.
There was so much pressure riding on these accounts. Not only was this going to show the Town Council that they made the right choice investing in me, but it would also prove to my brothers that they put their faith in me for a reason—that I was really going to help the business thrive.
Knowing that my brothers really wanted to bring back the Artisan Fair, or at least I thought Maverick did to some degree, made me want to succeed even more.
They deserved a break after years of putting in intense hours at Whitaker Brews. If we could bring in enough customers that they’d need to hire some help, they’d finally have some breathing room.
When I finally found the courage to open the dashboard, my jaw dropped at the sheer amount of views and comments I had.
Avery: Holy hell. Does this mean we went viral?!
Sidney: Hell yeah, you did. It’s those thirst traps that really did it. I can’t believe you got them to do that!
Avery: Ew, Sid, those are my brothers.
Sidney: Not miiiine.
On that lovely thought, I didn’t bother to text her back. Instead, I pulled open our profile to read through all of the reactions and comments we were getting.
I really needed to get my brothers the login so they could reply to everyone if they wanted.
I’d handle most of it, but I was trying to find a good balance between doing most of the work and wanting them to do some here and there, so their personalities shined through. That would only help engagement.
Glancing at the clock, I realized it was just after ten. That was enough to get me ready as quickly as possible and head downstairs in search of my brothers. I found them and our mama eating at the table.
The moment they saw me slide to a stop on my socked feet, a wide grin on my face, the conversation stopped completely.
“Why do you look like that?” Maverick demanded. Why was he suspicious? “What have you done?”
“Not what I have done, dear brother, but what we have done,” I corrected. I pulled up the profile and turned it around. They didn’t really know what they were looking at, so I explained. “This right here means that we’ve already gone viral. I’m going to give you guys the logins today. Anytime you have a free second, log in and comment back to people. The more interaction, the better. In fact, making your own personal profiles and reposting our videos would honestly be a good choice, too.”
“Holy shit, how did we go viral?” Cameron asked, pulling out his own phone to investigate. “This is insane. Millions of views that fast?”
“I don’t know, but we need to keep up the momentum. Keep making these videos I send you and hitting trends. I’ll keep helping record some about the bar itself and mix them in.”
“You talked about going live,” Cameron said. “Let’s do it.”
Seeing them get excited with me and more willing to keep pushing only hyped my own.
“We should do a drink special tonight,” Nash added in. “Call it the Whitaker Special or something cheesy like that. See if we can get the college crowd to come down. Price it lower than usual, but enough to make a profit.”
“That’s actually really smart,” Maverick said, sounding genuinely impressed. We probably should have been offended by that, but we were all too happy to give a fuck.
Mama had been silent the whole time, but when I glanced over, she was beaming. She looked so exhausted that some of my own excitement drained away.
“Are you all right, Mama?”
The guys all turned to her. It was as if they hadn’t really seen her until then.
“You do look really tired, Mama. Are you sleeping okay?” Cameron asked gently.
She started to wave us off like she’d done to me every single time even though there was clearly something going on. I gave my brothers a pointed look—this was exactly what I had talked to them about before.
“I’m fine, I promise,” she said.
It was as if, for the first time, I realized my mama was an omega. My entire life, I don’t think I’ve ever heard about one of her heats or anything else about her instincts.
As if she ceased being an omega the day my fathers died and was solely our mother.
My heart ached for her because I couldn’t imagine a life of such solitude. Especially for all of these years.
I could understand not wanting to talk about this in front of all of us, but clearly something was off. I tried to give her a look that conveyed that I’d be asking more questions later, and she nodded once, almost imperceptibly.
“So, what’s the plan until party time at Whitaker Brews tonight?” she teased. It was enough to get the brothers to switch gears, talking about specials and considering what shots to make.
“It might be time to pull out that old blackboard in the back. We used to put the specials up on that, but none of us have good enough handwriting.”
All three of them turned my way. Maverick raised an eyebrow, and I just rolled my eyes.
“I’ll be in before opening to make your board all pretty,” I teased. “But until then, I actually have to get my equipment packed up. I need to shoot some videos for the mayor this week. I’ve been trying to work on the website in the background, but I want at least three businesses under our belt before I begin to launch the site. I don’t want them to lose faith in me in the meantime.”
“Let us know if you need anything,” Nash said as he put an entire biscuit in his mouth like a psycho.
I swear, alphas were a different species altogether.
“Just keep making videos with those pretty smiles, and we’ll be okay,” I joked, snagging a biscuit off the table before heading back upstairs. I was hungry, but I had way too much to do.
I could almost feel Cohen’s disapproving look, but I didn’t give it a second thought as I pulled on an outfit and packed up all my equipment. I’d stop for lunch later, maybe even bring him some.
It was a gorgeous day. The breeze was cool, blowing in from the mountain and laced in the fresh scents I’d missed. Bright sunshine was beating down on me. I knew the shots I got would be beautiful.
I wanted to do a walk-through of Main Street, showing off a few of our main businesses before doing any more interviews. An introduction of sorts.
I’d sent out word, and I knew the mayor was spreading it, too, so the businesses shouldn’t be surprised when I stopped in asking to shoot videos. Though, I was positive I’d meet some resistance. Not everyone loved social media or cameras in their faces. For those, I could simply showcase their shop and do aesthetic videos.
I had picked the perfect time of day to shoot the video. There were only a few people on the sidewalks, it was fairly empty—the lull between breakfast and lunch.
Needing to keep the video from being shaky, I picked up a stabilizing tripod. This one I was shooting on my phone, knowing it would ease some of the editing load later.
Using my back-facing camera, I started my walk at the beginning of the street. I could do a voiceover later and spice it up.
For now, I just wanted to make sure the shot was good.
Halfway through the walk, I realized that I probably should have planned this better and had someone watching over my shoulder in case a car drove by. Thankfully, the only time someone honked, I stepped aside, and it made a pretty good shot. I’d have to blur out their license plate, but it would be a cool effect.
The walk only took me about ten minutes of shooting from start to finish. Simple, but effective. A little editing, a few filters, and it’d be the perfect video to introduce the account.
I don’t think I’d ever felt so content with work as I did taking photos of the town. It was funny— as a teenager, I always wanted to see the world.
Now, as I got older and saw how cruel that world could be, I just wanted to stay here in this small town forever.
“Fancy meeting you here.” The voice was close enough to startle me, but thankfully, I didn’t drop my camera. I turned around to see Ford giving me a grin.
“We were worried when we didn’t hear back from you.” Even as his smile remained, his eyes showed a hint of concern. Reading Ford’s emotions was easy and I found that reassuring. I didn’t have to guess and walk on eggshells around him.
“I had to tell my other mate about you guys, and I did. It was a late night, and then I woke up to some exciting news with work, and now I’m working again. It’s just been a lot all at once. Sorry about that.”
“Hey, I’m only teasing. No need to apologize,” he promised. “Anything I can help with? I’m bored and unemployed, and at your service.” Then his grin fell as if he realized what he said. “Shit, that made me sound like such a loser, didn’t it?”
I snorted out a laugh and shook my head. “I’m the reason you lost your job, how could I judge?”
“Nah, Kent was the reason we lost our job. It was our choice to walk out, not yours.”
“But you risked your job to warn me and didn’t let me get swindled by that asshole. That’s a knight in shining armor, not loser behavior.”
His smile widened at the compliment.
“Speaking of the build, Mason and I have been doing some research for you, trying to find some more reputable contractors since the last one obviously did not pan out. We’re both pretty established in the field, so if you have any questions or you want us to talk through your plans so you can present them as clearly as possible, let us know. We’d be happy to help.”
“That’s really sweet of you,” I said, genuinely shocked by this level of kindness. Every time I was around my mates, I was realizing more and more just how subtly messed up I was from my last relationship.
“I’d like that. Though, I’m not sure when I can even meet with them. I’ve been running the social media for the family bar, and one of our videos went viral. My brothers are doing drink specials tonight to celebrate and go live, so I have to be helping with that. By the time I wrap up pictures around the town, I’m going to have to go home, do some work, and then go into that job.”
“You’re working two jobs?” he said, letting out a little whistle. “When do you have time to take care of yourself, omega?” It was teasing, but with a hint of seriousness that I didn’t dismiss. Honestly, I’d had the same thought this morning when I skipped breakfast. My biscuit was over an hour and a half ago at this point, and I was borderline starving.
When I didn’t have an answer for him, he narrowed his eyes. I had a feeling half of our budding relationship would be the pack trying to feed me.
Part of me loved being taken care of, and the other part was embarrassed that I couldn’t take care of myself.
Well, I could , but sometimes I just got busy. Sidney had been right about me burying myself in work. It felt like if I stopped, I’d have to accept how chaotic my life had been, and now I was so determined to make these big changes that I didn’t want to risk it.
“How about this—you let me help you finish whatever you’re doing here, and then you let me feed you? Maybe the pack can show up tonight, mix a little work with pleasure.”
“Honestly, that sounds perfect,” I admitted. I really enjoyed hanging out with Cohen last night, and spending a little more time with Ford one-on-one would be great.
In fact, I was realizing more and more that when I was left alone, I just lost myself in my own thoughts and work. The whole goal of coming back to Rockwood Valley was to find myself, not create new issues for myself.
“What else do you have left?” he questioned, gesturing to my camera that was still clutched in my hands.
“I’ve hit most of the main businesses here. I was going to check out a few off the beaten path, and then I think I’d really like to take some shots of the scenery around town, like the lake, the docks, things like that. If you have any other suggestions, I’m all ears.”
“That sounds amazing,” he said, ready to follow me anywhere. “Let me carry your bags.”
Before I could say anything, he’d already scooped them up. I stretched out my shoulders, relieved that he’d taken some of the burden.
“Lead the way, boss,” he teased.
“All right,” I agreed. “But your job is to make sure I don’t run face-first into anything or anyone.”