Page 1 of Bully Wolf's Nanny
Chapter 1 - Daisy
Daisy Copperfield fidgeted in her cracked vinyl chair, the afternoon sun warming the small room to a sticky humidity, her fluffy blonde curls just beginning to stick to the back of her neck. In front of her piles of paper glared up, numbers and letters swirling together into a pounding headache at the back of her skull. The weak blue light and consistent drone of the ancient computer only made it worse, and Daisy screwed her eyes shut, pushing back from the desk.
There was so much still to do, and a quick glance at the clock told her she had barely any time to do it. The accounts were due any day now, and the printer had wheezed one last pathetic sigh several days ago before promptly shutting off and refusing to turn back on again. Which, unfortunately for her cramping hand, meant everything had to be written out in a scratchy ballpoint pen. If she was late, the company wouldn’t get paid. If the company didn’t get paid…
It wasn’t worth thinking about.
She rifled through the pages, stacking them as neatly as she could, but in her haste, one sharp edge of paper sliced her thumb, crimson blooming from the cut.
She hissed, tears stinging the corners of her eyes as she sucked on the injured pad, anxious to not get any blood on her cream shirt. She’d already ruined one work-appropriate shirt this month trying to clean spilled paint from the carpet of her rented apartment, and there was no way she’d be able to afford another shirt anytime soon. And if she didn’t turn up in ‘work appropriate attire,’ Kevin would never let her live it down.
She’d once made the mistake of wearing a T-shirt, and the only times his eyes weren’t fixed on her tits had been when theywere screwed up with laughter at whatever crass joke he’d come up with.
She tried not to let it bother her. Really, she did. Greenmill was a small town with hardly any jobs available, and if she had to put up with a slightly gross manager to make ends meet, she would do it. After all, she had Thea to think about. Her little girl was growing so quickly; she would be seven years old soon. It seemed like every time Daisy saw her, she had grown another inch.
There was nothing she wouldn’t do for her daughter. Thea was her whole world, her whole reason to wake up in the morning. She loved her more than life itself.
Even when she spilled paint on the carpet.
Glancing at the clock, she watched the hand trudge closer towards five p.m., her deadline. She gnawed her lip. The sharp tapping of her pen against the desk echoed from the grimy wall of the storage container—sorry,rustically charming temporary office—and she cast yet another baleful look at the busted printer stuffed in the corner.
“You couldn’t have lasted three more days?" she grumbled.
“Talking to yourself again, Daisy? That’s the first sign of madness, you know!” Kevin guffawed at his own joke as he strode into the small office, beefy arms folded against his bulging stomach.
Daisy forced herself to smile. “Yes, well, as I told you on Monday, the printer’s broken. It’s not an issue or anything, of course I don’t want to complain.”
“That printer’s basically brand-new! I don’t see how it could have died already.”
She sighed, gathering the papers. “I’m nearly finished with the accounts. It’s taking slightly longer than expected, what with, you know…”
A black look crossed Kevin’s face, his lips thinning and his brow furrowing. “Yes, well, actually, Daisy, I’ve got a bit of news for you on that front.”
“Oh?” she tried to keep her voice light, fighting against the instinctive jolt in her chest at the ominous words.
Kevin coughed, pulling down on his greasy shirt, rubbing his hands together. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that Greenmill Timber hasn’t been doing all that great.”
“I assumed that was because it’s nearly summer. Demand always dips a little before—"
“It’s fucking Iron Logging, that’s what it is!” Kevin spat. Daisy recoiled despite herself, shrinking away from his anger. She hated it when Kevin got angry. He would bellow and spit, his face would turn red, his fists would clench together and shake.
It was pathetic, really, her being scared of him. After all, he was a human. She…was not. Though she supposed that was easy for her to forget; she couldn’t remember the last time she had shifted.
“I know they’re competition, Kevin, but they’re based hours away! Surely it can’t be as bad as all that.”
“It fucking is,” Kevin grumbled, pacing in front of the desk. “Their expansion has been ridiculous. They’ve stolen several larger contracts from us, not to mention Jason and the boys down in the city. Fucking treachery, that’s what it is. Whatever happened to loyalty?”
Daisy swallowed, choosing not to answer. Kevin hadn’t been nearly so concerned about loyalty when he’d charged Jasonnearly double the market rate for the last batch of pine. She didn’t think bringing that up would be a particularly smart idea.
“It’s all the fancy tech money, that’s why they’re doing so well. Fucking suits stealing bread from our tables with their stupid phones and…and…computers and shit. What the fuck do they know about logging?”
“Didn’t they start out as a logging company?”
Kevin scowled at her, and she retreated further back into her chair. “That’s not the point. The point is we’re gonna have to cut some corners. Dave’s kid sister has offered to do some work for us for the experience. It’s not an offer I can really say no to.”
Daisy’s stomach dropped; her hands started to shake. “Wait a minute, Kevin, you’re not saying…”
“I don’t like it any more than you do,” he said, raising his hands in mock surrender. “But we’ve gotta face the inevitable. All you do is sit back here punching numbers into a fucking computer. It ain’t exactly rocket science.”
