Althena Book 2

57. Boxes

Monday morning, Conner wakes me up late. "We're going to the office today. Then we have to go to the casino."

"No school?"

"Not today. The slot machines are coming in and Mike refuses to have them all over hell. We have to organize the place."

"Damn."

"I know." He rubs his eyes. Then he rolls over on top of me. "We're not getting out of bed yet though." He gives me a deep kiss as his hand slides up my side.

An hour later, we finally get up and take a shower. "I love you."

"I love you, babygirl. What's going on with you and Monte?"

"He likes me."

"Do you like him?"

"Yes."

"You have 4 mates, babygirl. Do you like Cyrus?"

"Yes. Mike told me to take some time and sort out my feelings."

"You'll end up getting hurt. You like them both. You're going to lose 1 of them."

"Not yet."

"Alright. I don't know what to think about this. We'll come back to it later."

"Yea, that's what I keep telling myself too."

He gives me a kiss, and we go to Darkmoon headquarters with the other boys.

I sit by Drogon at his conference table. The advisors come in and start on with the school food program.

"This is helping. The school districts are happy. Some of them have had to increase the meal prices for the other students, but it's working."

"The school in the slums would like to disagree with you. They can't afford to feed the kids. Too many of them require assistance."

"Maybe we need to step in and give them extra assistance. These are children. They need to eat."

"How much do they need?"

An advisor flips through some papers. "They are estimating they will need $50,000 to finish the year. $100,000 a year would be the grant they require to continue. The kids are already eating peanut butter sandwiches with water. There are no other ways for them to cut their spending. Breakfast is a fruit cup and a slice of toast."

Drogon sits up. "Would $100,000 a year be enough to get them eating hot lunches?"

"No. It would continue the way they are now."

"Give them a grant for 250k a year and make sure they get some actual food."

"Yes, sir. And for the rest of this year?"

An advisor looks over his laptop. "You received a donation of 5 million to your causes account. You could donate out of that and make it public. It would take care of the problem without using grant money. And people will love you more because you take care of kids."

Drogon nearly chokes on his coffee. "5 Million. From who?"

"Anonymous. Give me a minute."

"Why does it matter?"

"People expect favors, babygirl. Donations are never truly free."

"Edwardo Nordin." He shrugs his shoulders. "Like we said before, he was an old friend of her father. They went back and forth. He's probably making sure you two get a good start. I would send him a thank-you card. We have his address on file. Her dad would visit his lake house."

Another nods. "I think he's looking after Thena for Deriston. They could have had some kind of agreement we know nothing about."

"That would make sense. He sent her the boat." The advisor sits back. "I don't agree with the thank-you card though. He made the donation anonymously. I think you should respect that."

Then I watch the assholes argue for 25 minutes about whether or not to send a thank-you card.

Drogon finally stands up. "Send the school $250k out of the causes fund. Put them on the grant list for $250k a year, starting next year. Make the donation to the school public. I will not be sending the thank-you card. Let's let him think it's anonymous. We'll see if he does anything else."

Cyrus puts his hand up. "He did something else. I had a 5 million anonymous donation. My people can't track it. It came from outside Eldervale is all they know."

Mike checks his phone. "Yep. Me too."

Conner looks around. "Set me up a damn causes fund. Her dad must have told this guy she has multiple mates."

The advisor shakes his head. "We can make a fund account. But we have no way of knowing what her dad said to him. They were friends is all we know. But he wouldn't have said Cyrus."

Another nods. "We don't even know when the last time they spoke was. When was the last time he went to visit?"

"When Thena went to Eldervale after the Darmon incident, Deriston went to the lake house for a couple of days. It wasn't a long visit. I think he actually got pulled out of it."

"He could have said something to Edwardo then about Cyrus. They did show interest in each other right away. Everyone picked up on that."

"I agree. Her dad probably guessed Cyrus would be her final mate. He would have known about Mike then. Drogon took the throne. It makes sense why he would donate to those 3."

"He knew about me too. Give me a causes account." Conner rubs his face.

"We will set Conner up an account and fix the school food issue."

"Thank you." Drogon helps me up. "We're going to go unbox slot machines."

We get to the casino and Monte looks like he's about to have a melt down. "The boxes aren't marked. You have to unbox them to know which tokens they take."

The boys, "Ugh."

My phone dings. It's Conner in the group chat. -If anyone wants to help at the casino, we'll be here all f*****g day and need some help.-

Clayton: -We're in school.-

Mike: -OH, now you want to focus on school.-

Clayton sends a bunch of laughing smileys. -What are you doing?-

Conner: -Unboxing slot machines.-

Clayton: -I have a text next period. I'll come after that.-

Conner: -Thanks.-

Mike rubs his face. "Penny slots are at that end of the building. Highest priced slots that end. Let's do this, or it's never getting done. Baby, can you make some coffee?"

"Sure."

I get them each a cup. Then I help unbox. This is a lot of slot machines. Then they each come with a seat. I end up unboxing the seats and set them up with the slot machines the boys have moved.

Cyrus puts his arm around me. "You ok?"

"How do you mean?"

"It kind of feels like you're pulling away from me. I haven't had any time with you. I miss you."

"I'm sorting out my feelings, Cyrus. I still need some time."

"Can I take you out to dinner later this week? Or something? You can pick, I just want to see you."

"I'm really busy."

"Yea." He turns to walk away.

I grab his arm. "I mean it. I have the game on Friday. My concert is on Thursday. Girls' club Wednesday. Clayton's birthday stuff is Saturday. We can do something tomorrow. Maybe tonight. I don't know how long this will take."

He wraps his arms around me and kisses my head. "I'll take you to dinner tomorrow. Thank you."

I snuggle into his warmth. "I wish we could go back to Eldervale and watch the fire."

"You were really happy there, weren't you?"

"Yea."

"I'm sorry I ruined it."

"You didn't ruin it. Atlas did. Yell at him for getting attacked by a bear."

He chuckles. "Bad timing on his part, but I did the damage."

"FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO DO." Drogon is glaring at us from halfway across the building.

"OPEN BOXES." Mike points.

"UGH." I stomp over and open seat boxes.

Monte comes over after a minute. "What did he want?"

"He's taking me to dinner tomorrow."

"Yea, that makes sense. He's going to end up being your mate. Makes sense he wants to spend time with you."

"You think he's my mate?"

"Yea. Everyone believes it."

I could climb into a box right now. I feel dumb. "I thought you liked me?"

He smiles, but I can see pain in his eyes. "I do. I adore you. But you are way too good for me. I can steal some kisses and cuddles, but that's all I can do. You'll end up with the prince. Not me."

I don't know how I feel. "I'm not too good for you." I don't know what to say. "You're better than me."

"No, I'm not. And my soulmate isn't going to be a princess or a queen. She's not going to have a lot of money. She's going to be a normal person. It's ok. You'll get the prince, and I'll find her eventually. I'm still hoping she doesn't run the hell away."

"Nobody is going to run away from you, Monte."

"I hope not. I hope she gives me a chance. I'll prove I'm worth it."

He is worth it. He's worth so much. I step against him and kiss him.

"DAMN IT, WOMAN. BOXES."

I turn and glare at Mike. "STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO. I'M GOING TO MAKE LUNCH NOW."

"FINE."

I make Drogon approve my grocery order. I'm not talking to Mike. Then I make lunch for us. I make sandwiches, mac and cheese, and some other random sides. It works well. By the time we're done eating, Clayton, Akmae, and Josh join us.

"We can blow off practice tonight. It's only 1 and it's Monday."

"I'll show you what to look for and where they go. You can open boxes too." Mike shows them around.

It takes all day, but we get them open. I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.