Sorry, I'm Not Into Bestiality

Chapter 12.I -- "Well, you know how it is with basketball season."

Chapter 12 - 1

Chris' POV

"Chris...!"

I blinked back into the room with a start, glancing up from the computer to find Cody stood behind my desk staring at me impatiently. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as it took me a moment to process how he could've gotten into my office without my realising, "Hey, when did you get here?"

"Seriously? Like five minutes ago. You greeted me when I came in," He replied incredulously as I continued to stare at him in bewilderment.

"... Wow, I need more coffee," I muttered, rubbing my eyes in an attempt to wake myself up a bit. It was currently the morning after the cellar incident, and by some dumb miracle I'd actually managed to get some sleep last night. I don't know if it was the exhaustion of what happened with Ashley or the relief of gaining some ground with Danny; but someone up there must have pitied me enough because I actually managed to pass out on the couch and get a few solid hours of shut eye.

"You okay, man?" Cody asked, slumping down in one of the chairs that I'd placed in front of my desk for meetings, "You've been staring at that computer all morning."

Annoyingly I couldn't help but instinctually glance at the bottom right corner of the screen, noting the 11:52AM gleaming back at me. I could continue trying to pretend that I was doing work and replying to emails, but by how little I'd actually gotten done in the last three hours even I thought I was kidding myself a bit too much at this point.

What was taking her so long?

"Yeah, just finishing off some work stuff," I bluffed, holding eye contact as his gaze narrowed in suspicion.

He leant forward slightly in an attempt to get a glimpse at the screen, "What kind of work stuff?"

"Important work stuff," I countered, turning the screen inconspicuously as to block his line of vision. I wasn't really in the mood to explain why the important work stuff was just the opening times for the local mall.

His eyebrows rose, "Right..."

"Anyway, what's up?" I deferred, quickly closing the tab and burying the evidence. Less questions asked, the better, "You need anything?"

He shook his head, "Nah, we were just wondering where you were at. The party is about to start."

"Crap, seriously? I must've lost track of time, my bad," I apologised, leaning back into my chair with a deep sigh, "How's Yvane doing?"

"Good, considering all the last minute chaos," He explained, shrugging casually as he did, "Honestly I don't even know what the big deal is."

I scoffed in amusement at his indifference, "It's your kid's birthday, asshole."

"Yeah, she's two. This time next week she'll have forgotten it even happened."

I shook my head with a sarcastic scoff, "And you call yourself a father."

He rolled his eyes, waving me off as he stood up from his seat and brushed the nonexistent dirt off his jeans, "Shut up. You think you'd do any better?"

"Hell no, but I like to think I'd at least I'd care about my kid's birthday," I laughed, surreptitiously putting the computer to sleep and following his lead. As much as I hated to admit it, I had to try and shake the niggling anxiety of Danny's departure out of my mind. I was determined not to show how much more this was affecting me than I thought it would be.

Maybe screaming party kids would do me some good...

She'd left this morning to go shopping at a nearby mall about thirty minutes out, her excuse being that she wanted a gift for Grace's birthday. Even though everything inside of me was screaming that this was a bad idea, I reluctantly stood by my word. Ironically she took my advice about taking a pack member with her for protection, deciding that Lucy was going to be her escort; the one shifter in the pack who couldn't f***ing shift.