THE PAYOFF

“You are fired. Drop the key to Scooter.”

Those were the words Tristan Wells heard when he showed up for work three weeks ago.

He had handed the keys to the new hire and walked out, trying hard not to regret the fateful weekend that had cost him his best-paying part-time job.

Getting another delivery job would take a bit of time. For now, he’d just make do with the daily-paid construction work.

“Come on, boy. We don’t have all day. Keep moving those legs.”

The bearded man holding the other end of the wooden beam they were carrying spoke, jolting him out of his thoughts.

Tristan adjusted his grip, lifting his end higher against his shoulder. His dusty boots scraped against the uneven ground as they moved faster, passing piles of sand and bricks.

He couldn’t seem to concentrate.

What had made that Omega pay him off?

The clang of metal and the rumble of a cement mixer filled the air around them as they reached the pile of wooden beams waiting to be measured and cut for use. They threw theirs onto it.

George tapped him on the back.

“Good work, son. Let’s rest over there for a while.”

The bearded man pointed to a few sheltered chairs arranged at the edge of the casted building.

George took off his helmet and sat down. Tristan stood for a while, lost in his own world, while workers moved around them, carrying tools and materials across the site.

He had tried his best. He was sure he had treated him gently and satisfied him well enough, so why?

“Why…” The word escaped his thoughts.

“Why what? Here, have some water.”

George handed Tristan a bottle of water. He took off his gloves and sat down to drink it, wiping the sweat and cement dust from his forehead afterward.

“Thank you, George.”

“Great. We’ll rest for a few minutes, then go out there to finish up. It’s getting late.”

Tristan sighed and nodded. The man looked at him with worried eyes.

“How’s your sister?” George asked.

“She’s quite well. Last weekend, we took a stroll around the hospital. The doctors said she was responding quite well to the treatment.”

Tristan’s blue eyes lit up.

“Would she still be needing the surgery?”

“We don’t know yet. The doctor only said we’ll watch her for a few months to be able to decide,” he explained.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure she’ll be fine soon. How are you holding up? The bills—you’ll need to save up more, son.”

George patted him on the shoulder again.

The lad was such a good kid. Working various jobs, trying to pay off debts and take care of a sickly sister. He was really working hard, while other kids his age were slaving away in brothels and clubs.

Tristan nodded. He had to save up more now than ever, but those were the least of his problems.

“George, has your wife ever tried to pay you?” he finally asked.

“Huh? No. Haha—” George laughed.

He smiled at Tristan before scratching his scraggly beard.

“That snobbish woman, she would rather sell her kidneys than give me her money,” he scoffed.

Tristan laughed and shook his head.

“I work here so I can help her and make her happy. Why would she want to pay me? It’s my duty.” He said, staring into the setting sky.

“Why do you ask that kind of question?”

“Well, I met this really gorgeous Omega a few weeks back.” Tristan blushed.

“Uh—oh! This is new. What’s she like?” he asked.

“He. He’s a male Omega,” Tristan corrected him.

“Male? Those are rare, son. I’ve only seen just one in my entire life. Where did you meet him?”

George was curious.

Tristan paused, contemplating whether he should say exactly what had really happened or not.

“Well, in his house? I had to deliver a—”

“Hey!”

A voice interrupted him.

Their gazes flew in the direction of the voice.

“Gather up, everyone! The supervisor has something to say!” the shirtless man shouted.

Everyone stopped and started moving towards him.

George and Tristan joined in too, picking up their helmets and gloves.

The sun was already down, and they still had a few digging jobs left to do.

“Hello, everyone. Thank you for the hard work.” The short, skinny supervisor cleared his throat and began.

“We’ve been asked to discontinue this work. Everyone will be paid off extra today,” he announced.

“What?! Just like that? No way!”

Murmurs filled the place. The men were grumbling, cursing, and dropping their tools.

Tristan wiped his sweaty forehead. His brow knotted in confusion.

“I heard HT Constructions lost the contract bidding.”

A hefty man sitting on a large stone behind Tristan spoke quietly, but loud enough for him to hear.

He turned and squatted.

“Really?”

If it were true, what was he going to do now? He had no more high-paying daily jobs left.

Did this mean he had to do a lot of job hunting this weekend?

“Yes. HT had been funding the construction out of their own pocket in hopes of winning the project. Now it’s all a loss. Can’t blame them. They’ve never lost a contract before.”

The man stood up and dusted his butt. Tristan followed him to join the line for the payoff.

Fuck. This was bad.

Once the month ended, those debtors would start calling again. How was he supposed to manage?

His mind wandered to the wad of money Kelvin had given him.

Tristan shook the thought off. He had originally planned not to touch it. Once he had figured out why he was paid, he would return it to him.

For now, he must not touch it.

“Here.”

The supervisor handed him a wad of 250 bucks once it was his turn.

Tristan stared blankly at it.

“Hold up, everyone. I just got informed that the big boss is coming to the site. He wants to meet us,” the supervisor informed them.

“All of us?”

“Yes. Hang around, please. He’ll be here soon.”

The murmurs increased. One of them even tried to leave but was withheld from doing so.

Tristan quietly went and sat in a corner.

What was really going on? Being laid off and the big boss coming to visit on the last day? Was he coming to offer some compensating words?

More money would be better in that case.

After a few minutes, a black-tinted SUV drove straight into the site and parked.

The head supervisor ran down towards it in haste.

Tristan thought it should be the boss, and he was right. In a few minutes, the men crowded around the car, including George.

He stood up to see for himself—the man everyone was calling their boss.