Last Friday Night (ManxMan)

Chapter 17

The phone call on a Tuesday afternoon was unexpected, to say the least. Hunter was in full work mode: sending correspondence, sifting through emails, and handling all of the stressors of a company better than ever.

But the call cut through his focus.

He would've let it go to voicemail if he didn't see River's name flashing on the caller ID.

"Hey, River. What's up?" he asked. He sounded calm despite having just scrambled up from his office chair to answer the call.

"Hunter, hi. Thanks for picking up."

Hunter was glad to hear the older man's voice but grew uneasy by how nervous he sounded. River was never the most expressive person, but the nerves coating every word brought a frown to Hunter's face.

"Look . . . I need to ask you a huge favor."

"Yeah. Of course, River, whatever you need."

"Can you watch Melodie tomorrow afternoon?"

What?

"Both of my managers are going to be out of town tomorrow so I need to stay until closing and Melodie's babysitter is busy."

"Oh, uh-"

"She gets out of school at 3:30 and heads straight over to her after school program. I can let them know you're coming so you can pick Melodie up at anytime before 6. . . "

River continued to describe how he would go about watching her but Hunter struggled to see how he could do it. Hunter was swamped with work these days. Even going to Adonis for lunch felt like a stretch but missing half a day of work would be impossible. But Hunter's position as a CEO prepared him for moments like these. He had tough conversations all the time. He would just tell River no.

" . . . please?" the man whispered. "I don't know who else to call."

So Hunter agreed. There was no world in which he could have said no to that. To River, showing so much vulnerability and honesty. To River, just trying to make sure that his child was okay. Hunter's protector mode switched all the way on and someone would have to tie him up to stop him from helping River's little family. They made plans to discuss the details more the next day when Hunter came in for lunch, ensuring that Hunter couldn't use that time to catch up on work either.

An hour ago, Hunter enjoyed the rush and the challenge of manning a company. Currently, he stressed to figure out how to watch Melodie without screwing himself over for the next several days. He first thought of taking his laptop so he could work while he watched her, but Melodie was an energetic child. Hunter never forgot the action-packed day they had only a few weeks ago. Between the coloring and the movies and the board games, he barely had time to check his phone, let alone finalize an animation project.

Returning to his desk, Hunter filed through his drawers hectically until he found his old stress ball. He hadn't touched it in a year but the firm foam sphere seemed perfect for the occasion. Squeezing it, he went through his other options. His next idea was to just handle the missed work when he got back to the office again. The problem? Hunter didn't do a normal amount of work.

His normal was getting into the office an hour before anyone else and leaving when most stores were already closed. His normal made it easy for him to spend the night at the office. Why go back home to sleep in his bed when his office couch felt just fine? Picking Melodie up at 4 would be more than a change of schedule, it would be missing up to 7 hours of work.

His arm felt sore and when Hunter looked down, he saw that his nails threatened to burst through his stress ball. Slowly, he released his grip. This left him only one option, an idea that made Hunter's skin crawl.