Page 56 of The Pack Next Door (The Wolfverse #4)

Gideon

“This isn’t a good idea,” I told my brothers the next morning. “You said you’d be there for breakfast with Briar, not me. We can’t start chopping and changing things, just when we’re starting to build trust.”

“No trust to lose right now.” Jace pulled on a t-shirt and sprayed himself with deodorant. “Mads, are you ready? I wanna be at the art supplies place when it opens.”

“Coming!”

I hated this. Them yelling at each other, rather than coming into the same room to talk civilly to one another.

The change of plans. The way my mind concocted a very realistic scenario where Briar looked up, initially pleased, then her face fell when she saw me.

Yeah, I hated that most of all, because it was the most likely end of this so-called plan.

But, I’d said I’d back my brothers’ plays, and so I was forced to agree to this.

“How do I…?” I said. Mads came in, hopping as he dragged his jeans up. “How do I know what Briar wants for breakfast?”

“Ask her.”

For Mads, everything was so damn simple, but that was because rejection didn’t frighten him in the least. He’d faced it every day in our family unit and that forced me to moderate my irritation. If he could bear that, I could do this.

“Or ask the cafe staff.” Jace shot our brother an incredulous look, as if he couldn’t believe Mads hadn’t thought of that. It hadn’t occurred to me either, so there was that. “The one near the warehouse. They know the team well and are good with suggestions.”

“So what’s so important that you need to go to the art supplies shop straight away?”

I tried to ask that casually, but by my brothers’ snorts, it was clear I’d failed.

“Not sure yet.” Jace pulled on his boots. “I’ve got a hunch I can do something about the whole cracked pottery thing, but I need to do some recon first.”

And with that, he had my support.

Unpacking each item was a miserable process, because with each damaged item, I knew how much this would hurt my mate. It was only that she’d requested the information that kept me going. If Jace could… I wouldn’t get too far ahead of myself, just happy someone was thinking of a possible solution.

“OK, I’ll grab a cab over to the warehouse and see you two there later.”

At that, I grabbed my wallet and room card and then exited the building.

Everything was so busy in the city. The cafe was full when I walked in and I eyed the line with trepidation.

“Hey!” Emma saw me and waved me over. Some customers behind us did not look happy, but she just smiled. “Wasn’t sure if you’d be back today.” With a peer over my shoulder, she glanced back my way. “Though not with your brothers?”

“They have an errand to run.” The line moved forward and I was greeted by a glass case filled with possible options.

Muffins, croissants, sandwiches… Then there was what was on the menu above it.

How the hell…? I looked down at Emma, hating my first impulse, but not sure what else to do.

Men relying on women to do all the emotional labour was excoriated on the social media posts I’d been reading, trying to work out a way forward with Briar.

“So, if you were getting breakfast for your boss, what would you buy?”

Her grin turned knowing.

“You got put on Briar duties this time, huh?” She glanced back at the glass case.

“Well, if you ask her, she’d say a bran muffin or an overnight oats.

” I picked them out easily in the offerings.

Both were brown and uniform looking. “But…” My focus shifted back to Emma. “If you want to make her happy?—”

“Yes, that.”

She laughed at my abrupt response.

“I’d get her a toasted sandwich with extra cheese. She loves anything melty. That and a dirty chai tea, and the most chocolatey muffin you can find. Always trying to suppress the omega in her, but Briar never met something sugary she didn’t like.”

“Next!”

I was aware I was jumping the queue, but I couldn’t seem to care. I faced the woman serving and then rattled off my order. “And anything Emma would like as well.” I placed my card with a snap down on the counter.

“Hey, thanks.” When she had her coffee and fruit salad in hand. “So I’ll see you at work then?”

I nodded. I had to wait around for the toasted sandwich, but I’d be there.

Standing outside Briar’s office, my hand raised, ready to knock, but not knowing how… The sandwich was still hot, the chocolate blotting on the paper bag the muffin was in. I sucked in a breath, then another, before rapping my knuckles on the door.

“Come in…”

Briar sounded completely distracted. I opened the door and came in to see her sitting at her desk.

Just go and put the items on her desk and say good morning , I told myself, unable to believe that savagely tackling whole packs of alphas was easier than this.

Probably because when Briar finally looked up, wondering who was lurking there, her brows creased.

“Oh, hey.” Surprise was there, but also disappointment. She blinked as if unable to believe what she was seeing. The mask re-situated itself quickly and she smiled tightly. “I told Jace I didn’t need breakfast.”

“So you can work inefficiently and then crash hard in the afternoon?” I didn’t mean to lecture her, but the words just came out. “Sorry, I…” The chai was set on her desk, the sandwich and muffin placed beside it. “Seb said you had some stock that needed sorting, so I’ll just go and do that.”

“How come you pulled breakfast duty?”

Her question had my feet stopping. I froze where I was, having no script to deal with this.

“Jace had something he needed to pick up before he made it to the warehouse and Mads went with him. I was free, so I went to the cafe for him.”

“And got one of my favourite muffins.” She peered at the contents of the bag. “And the toastie I love. Is this fate or did Emma help you out?”

Fate, I wanted to say. It was right there on the tip of my tongue. It was fate, and I’d learn how to make triple chocolate muffins myself, if that’s what it took to convince her. Of course, that wasn’t how it worked. No amount of carbs would make up for the side of me she’d seen.

“Emma advised me what to get,” I replied. “Otherwise you’d have probably ended up with a black coffee and some plain wholemeal toast.”

Her nose wrinkled, right before she smiled.

“Well, tell Emma she’s getting a pay rise.” Briar turned back to the computer with a sigh. “Right after she cancels the venue hire.” A shake of her head and that frown was back. “I hoped maybe we’d have enough stock to do the launch, but not with these numbers.”

The tally we’d created was shoved away as if the paper personally offended her. That had me moving forward and lowering myself into a chair.

“The loss of the launch will have a negative effect on your business?”

“Sort of.” She sipped her tea. “I mean if we can get back our deposits, it’s probably not going to have that big an impact financially, but launches are more than just sales.

” Her back pressed against her chair as she looked up at me.

“It’s like a culmination of so many things.

A ritual of sorts, to commemorate the fact we’ve launched a new line and finished all the logistics of setting that up.

” Briar shrugged. “It also gets us some nice local media coverage.”

“So you can’t use other items for the launch?”

In my mind, I saw all the boxes and boxes of items stored on the shelves.

“I mean, I guess.” The flat note in her tone made clear that was not desirable.

Being an alpha, I knew all about rituals.

We performed them in different ways to demonstrate and retain our position in the community.

If someone had changed a trial, swapping it from the one thing I’d prepared for, telling me another would be just as good, I’d have been gutted.

“Actually, no, we can’t. There’s all the pre-launch stuff that goes into it.

You need to build hype and I did that for Tom’s new line.

There were blog posts and social media ads and newsletters… ”

Her voice trailed away. It felt like her eyes speared straight into me when she met my gaze.

“I just wish…” That convulsive little swallow had me following the bob of her throat.

“I just wish I did things differently, y’know?

Hired a different freight company. Checked in with Tom more and made sure this is actually what he wanted.

Been here when the pallets arrived and supervised the delivery more closely. ”

“And if you did?” Suddenly I was on familiar territory and that gave me an unexpected rush.

“What then? The driver was obviously inexperienced or negligent. How could you have made up for that deficit if you were here?” She stared at me, her brows shifting, but not settling in any one expression.

“It’s the illusion of control, Briar. If you believe everything is your responsibility… ”

I saw my mother, my fathers, and heard the scripts they told me over and over, impressing just this upon me as far back as I remembered.

“There’s a relief and a pain to that. It means the world is a reliable, predictable environment where luck doesn’t play a role.” I sat back in my chair and she watched my every movement. “It also means you can’t relax for a second, lest all the many, many balls you have in the air start to drop.”

“Huh…” A thoughtful sip of her tea and I watched her closely, almost able to see Briar process my words in real time.

“I hadn’t thought about it that way.” Her smile was small, but I treasured it far more than a toothy grin.

“That actually helped.” The muffin was dragged closer.

“And you brought chocolate. There isn’t much a chocolate muffin can’t improve. ”

“You’ll have another one on your desk by lunchtime,” I promised, getting to my feet.

“I guess you can’t have a sugar crash if you keep eating it.” She pulled off a piece and then took a bite. “Thanks, Gideon.”

Jace talked about having a praise kink, but I had no idea what he meant until now. Every muscle seemed to relax in that second as a feeling of the sweetest pleasure rushed through me.

“Any time.”

I strode out of her office, closing the door with a click behind me, lest she see it. The need for more praise. Whatever it took, that’s what my heart beat, as I walked through the warehouse.

To find my brothers messing around with gold dust and glue.

“What the hell are you doing?”

I didn’t mean to snap at them and the unfriendly looks as Mads and Jace looked up made clear how welcome that was, but Jace was holding pieces of pottery together.

Glued with a mixture of gold and glue.

“It’s breaking Briar’s heart, seeing all these pieces broken,” Jace told me, pulling his hands away, then grinning when the shard stayed glued in place. “Well, I think I’ve come up with a plan to fix that.”

I dropped down onto a stool and scooted closer.

“Tell me more.”