Chapter Three
George tried not to pay attention to the fact that his hands were shaking as he rinsed his coffee cup. That would mean acknowledging just how nervous he was at the moment. Nervous. Anxious. Coming apart at the seams.
He was a mess, and he knew exactly why. Today, he had talked with a lawyer about his lottery winnings and set up some sort of trust for the money to go into. Tomorrow, he was supposed to go claim said lottery winnings. All one point six billion dollars’ worth.
As much as he liked the idea of having a crap-ton of money to realize every dream he'd ever had—not to mention some he hadn't had yet—he was really starting to wonder if it was worth the anxiousness. His stomach had been in knots since he realized he had the winning numbers.
Granted, he had spent a fair amount of time thinking about what he'd like to do with the money and he'd come up with several ideas. Number one on that list was to do something special for his uncle, aunt, and cousin. They had been kind and accepting of him when no one else had.
From the moment they learned George's parents had kicked him out of the house because he refused to challenge their alpha for the clan and his alpha had banned him from the clan because he was afraid George would, Allan and Helen had taken him in and made him a part of their family, no questions asked.
That deserved something really special in George's book. He just had to figure out what that something special was. He had to wonder why it wasn't easy for him considering he could practically buy anything they could ever want or dream of.
That almost made it harder. Aunt Helen would be happier with a homemade card and a flower in a pot than the most expensive long-stemmed red roses. Uncle Allan was pretty much the same way. He was happy sitting back after dinner with his feet propped up, watching his favorite sitcom while drinking a beer.
They didn't need fancy or expensive things. They were pretty simple people. According to them, their wealth was in their family and friends.
George liked that, except that he didn't have any family beyond them and barely any friends. That made him pretty poor according to that theory. And George was pretty sure any friends he made after people learned he had oodles of money weren't the kind he'd want.
George jumped when his front door crashed open. For a moment, he forgot to breathe, and then he heard Ford.
"Hey, cuz, where are you?"
George gripped the edge of the counter and drew in a shaky breath. He adored his cousin. Ford wasn't just his cousin. He was George's best friend, but if he didn't learn to knock, George was going to sit on him after shifting. He'd squish him like a bug.
"George?"
George huffed before answering. "I'm in the kitchen, Ford."
Ford appeared around the corner a moment later. "Hey."
"You need to learn to knock."
Ford snickered.
"Seriously, Ford. You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days." Ford was always crashing into the apartment without knocking first. "Your mother would beat you with a wooden spoon if she caught you doing shit like that."
"Which is why I knock before entering when I'm at home."
Yeah, he wasn't stupid…most of the time.
George crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter as he watched Ford open the fridge and root around inside. "Why are you here?"
"What?" Ford grabbed a soda then closed the door. "I have to have a reason to come visit my favorite cousin?"
"I'm your only cousin."
Ford shrugged. "I just wanted to check in on you, see how you were doing."
George signed. "I'm okay."
"Come on, George, this is me. Tell me the truth."
That was one of the bad things about having your cousin be your best friend. He knew George just a little too well, and had since birth. George had never been able to get anything past his cousin.
"My gut is one big knot."
"Yeah." Ford nodded as he popped the tab on his soda. "I figured it would be."
