Page 12 of S.O.S. Perk

But today, he was almost glad she was demanding his attention. He was game for anything. He had a lot of time to kill until Monday.

“Yeah, Mizzay?” he questioned, a huge smile gracing his face as he approached her desk.

“Huh. Somebody’s havin’ a good morning,” she grumped. “I’m glad you ahh, because mine just hit the dumpster.”

Perk immediately tried to downplay his stellar mood, sobering at least externally. “What’s wrong?”

Mizzay growled. “Rory’s school called. She’s puking her guts out, which meansyouzeare now receptionist for the day.”

Perk’s good humor slipped a notch.

“Why me?” he asked. “Doesn’t Billboard usually take ov—”

Ah, shit. Billboard was on his honeymoon, so heobviouslycouldn’t do phone duty.

He changed directions. “Aren’t any of the other guys around?”

“Nope.” Mizzay popped her “P” decisively.

Perk sighed. “Never mind, then. You go take care of Rory. I’ll make sure this place doesn’t fall apart while you’re gone.”

“Okay,” she returned somewhat skeptically. “But remembah. I’m only a phone call away if something comes up you can’t handle.”

“I know that, Mizzay, but I’m sure there won’t be any fires huge enough today that I won’t be able to put them out,” he told her with assuredness.

She groaned. “Now youze have done it. The shit is sure to hit the fan after that dumb-ass comment.” Mizzay grabbed her purse from under her desk, then stood up with a scowl. “Now listen carefully. Hea’s what you need to know. Mistah Songen is off on assignment in New Hampshire. Mistah Balshir is currently in Boston, checking out some sketchy goings on in a homeless encampment. Mistah Montverra and Mistah Prancingdeer are helping the authorities hunt down some arsonists who have been setting fires in a state forest south of heah, and the Devons’ brothers are on call for emergencies only, because they’re finishing up an excavation project for their brotha. You got all that?”

“Yup,” Perk nodded. “If anything comes up that needs immediate but not emergency attention, I call Prez. Brent and Daire are only on tap if something cataclysmic happens. And I’m stuck to the desk for the entire day.”

“You got it.” Mizzay strode toward the door. “But it’ll probably be at least two days.”

Perk tipped his head in question.

“Rory’ll be down for the count for at least that long. And now that I think about it, two days won’t cut it ifIcatch this son-of-a-bitchin’ virus. That’ll mean youze’ll be on desk-duty for the next week.”

When Perk made a face, Mizzay narrowed her eyes. “OrI can come in sick and spread it around to all youze guys.”

“In which case I’ll only be breathing out,” Perk quipped.

“Hah. Hah. Funny,” Mizzay snarked back. She gave him a distracted salute, then left the office.

“Well, shit,” Perk huffed as soon as she was out of sight through the glass doors.

This morning certainly hadn’t gone as planned. Part of it had been oh-so-good, but this part was…meh. Perk gave a shrug. At least instead of hanging around waiting for his next assignment, he’d have something useful to do. Because answering the phones was an extremely important part of the job, he knew, and he wouldn’t let Mizzay down.

Perk settled in at the desk, and flexed his shoulders.

His initial plan this morning, if he hadn’t received orders,hadbeen to head to the weight room—installed by Del in their suite of offices—work up a sweat, then head back to his desk and eat for the rest of the day. But now he’d just…sit here and eat.

Yup. Along with the boyish good looks that had never left him, his metabolism also hadn’t begun to get the picture that he was nearing the ripe old age of thirty; something that should have made his massive caloric intake a problem.Nope. Like a teenager, he could eat with impunity.

The guys were all jealous, but little did they know that sometimes it was a huge pain in the ass, his inner beast demanding food all the time.

And speaking of food…

Perk opened the drawer in Mizzay’s desk that he knew contained all the take-out menus.

If he was going to be here all day, he was going to feast.

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