“Really?”
He nodded. “I’m not trying to stunt your growth, only push you to be better.” He winked at me and turned to leave again.
“Thank you.” I called after him.
“You’re welcome.” He called back. Then a door opened. “Alpha Vince.” Rick said it loud enough, like he was surprised, but I know it was to alert me he was here.
“Rick, are you busy?” I could hear his tone and I knew he wasn’t asking.
“For you? Of course not. Let me just-” He leaned into my office door. “I’m going to have to put a pause on our training. If my meeting with Alpha Vice goes past the end of the day, just head on home and we can try again tomorrow.”
I gave a thumbs up. “Sounds good.” Then I turned back to my computer and started back coding a firewall.
It must have been longer than I thought when I finished the code, as I finally pulled my eyes away from the computer when my phone rang, scaring me. I grabbed it from the desk and answered. “Hello?”
“Hey baby.” My mom’s voice rang out. “How’s your day?”
“It’s been pretty great. Is there anything wrong?” I flicked my eyes to my screen as I opened the next coding program he wanted me to work at.
“No.” She chuckled. “You must be distracted.”
“Yeah, I just finished up with a project when you called. Why?” I clicked open the next file and my mom laughed harder.
“Look at the time, baby.”
“Huh?” I glanced at my phone screen and then down the clock in the corner of my computer. “Holy crap.”
She snorted. “Yeah. You’re late for dinner. Hurry home.” Then she hung up.
I got up and walked out of my office. Alannah was still at her desk, but Ternen was here. “Hey.” I looked at them with a confused look, but Alannah’s eyes cut to Rick’s door. “Everyone is working late tonight.” I chuckled and went to my desk to turn things off.
Nix tell mom to call me again and tell me to invite my work friends to dinner. Be quick.She left without looking back. Within a minute, my phone rang again as I shut off my computer. I answered on speaker again with a laugh. “Hey mom. I’m shutting down right now.”
“No, I know.” She laughed. “Morgan and Shannon said they were busy with Alpha Vince and Brandon tonight, and I made too much food. Invite your friends from work for dinner.”
“Mom.” I sighed.
But she cut me off. “I want to meet them. Ask.” Then she hung up.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Isighed and slammed my head back against my chair, then I groaned. “Fuck.” I put everything away into my purse, then stood. I walked out and smiled. “Hey. I had a question.”
“Sure.” Ternen smiled at me but I could see the tension below the surface.
“My mom wants me to invite you all to dinner.” I checked my phone. “Has Rick left yet?”
Alannah shook her head. “No.” She smiled as she put her things in her purse. “And we would love to join you at dinner.”
I nodded and then walked to Rick’s office door. I knocked and swung the door open. I froze when I saw Vince holding Rick by the throat. “Ugh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” I spun in a circle, facing away from them.
Vince grunted, and I heard Rick take a deep breath in. “Amy, what are you doing in here?”
I coughed. “My mom called me and asked me to invite Rick and Alannah to dinner.”
“Well, he’s busy.”
I turned around and grimaced. “While I appreciate that, this is my mom.” I forced an awkward smile to my face. “She won’t listen to me. Can you call her?”
