Page 87 of Fourth Base with the Alpha

Not disappointment, or sadness, or betrayal.

Just a little peaked, like I might be coming down with something. Love sickness probably.

I wake up every morning, catch the bus to work with a smile on my face, hug Frankie on my way up to the office and work my little socks off.

By Thursday morning, I’m definitely under the weather. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve got a temperature. Most likely I caught something on the plane.

Kim strides into the office half an hour after me and slams a coffee down on my desk.

“You got me a coffee?” I ask. It’s me that buys the coffees for Kim. Not the other way around. “I thought you weren’t in for another hour.”

“Why?” she asks, peering over my computer screen. “Are you surfing for porn?”

“No … that’s this afternoon’s task.” I blow across the rim of my coffee. “So what’s this in aid of?”

“Look at your bank balance,” she says, bouncing on her toes like an eager puppy.

I pick up my phone from my desk and open my banking app. “Why am I doing this?” I ask as the thing loads.

“Hunter paid the agreed bonus into your bank this morning. I made him do it.” She grins proudly.

“Okay.” The sound of his name is not making my heart sink. Definitely not.

The colors of the page paint across my screen and then the figures blur, slowly becoming clearer.

I stare at them.

Blink.

Then scream and drop my phone onto the floor.

“What?” Kim says, scurrying under the desk to retrieve my probably cracked phone.

“There’s been a mistake,” I say, shaking my head. My hands shake too and bile swims in my throat. My head thumps with a coming headache.

“What mistake?” Kim asks, turning the phone over in her hands. “Did that bastard not – fucking hell!” she screeches as her gaze lands on the amount of money burning a hole in my account. “That is ten times what we agreed!”

“He must have messed it up.”

“No,” Kim shakes her head, placing the phone on my desk, “Hunter doesn’t make mistakes. Especially about things like that.” She perches on the corner of my desk, her hands resting on her thighs. “Did you tell him about your family’s debt?”

I swallow. “Yes, but I never meant for him to–”

“Look, Hunter’s an asshole. Most men are. And he’s gruff and rude and often more moody than a teenage girl on her rag, but he has a heart of gold. Probably the biggest heart of any of them in the band. You have no idea how much money that man has given away to good causes over the years. If you told him about the debt, he’d want to pay it off. It’s in his nature.”

I grab at my phone, clearing the screen of that ridiculous amount of money and finding Hunter’s number.

“I need to call him and tell him to take it back.”

Kim rests her hand on my forearm. “Don’t Isabella. It’s a gift.”

“But what does it mean?” Does it mean anything? Is it simply a gift from a friend? A gesture from a generous man with a heart of gold?

“I don’t know if it means anything … although …” I’m staring at his name across my screen but I can feel the intensity of Kim’s gaze as she studies me. “Jeez, Isabella, your skin is seriously scorching. Are you sick?” She jumps up from the desk as if I’m about to infect her. “You don’t have to come into work if you’re sick. You know that?”

I press my hand to my forehead. “I do feel a bit poorly.” And especially hot this morning. I have the aircon ramped up full blast and I dressed in a tiny vest and skirt this morning and still sweltered on the bus.

As if to confirm it, my gut twinges and my gland itches like crazy on the back of my neck.