I traded my keys for a crisp twenty-dollar bill from my wallet, sliding into the driver's side of the car and peeling out of the lot to go the few short blocks to where I'd tracked Eva.
She'd dropped a pin to help me find her, but I didn't need it.
A little flicker of irritation went through me at her irresponsibility. Didn't she know there was a monitored lot, not even five blocks away? Why wouldn't she look for something like that?
Though from the general patina of her vehicle, I wasn't sure it was worth much more than parts. And not in a snobby,I have enough money to buy a new car for every day of the weekkind of way. In awas this the car you bought yourself in high school?kind of way.
Or maybe a little of both, I guess I couldn’t be sure.
I could almost find it in myself to be impressed that she was so loyal to her hunk of scrap metal, but any kind of warm feelings towards the car dried immediately as I pulled up beside her in the gravel lot and caught sight of her red, puffy face.
"T-thanks f-f-f-or c-c-c-oming—" she said with a heavy sniff as I got out of the car, rounding the back to come and inspect the smash job on her windows up close.
"Of course," I said, my chest tight with the overly sweet, rotten stench of her stressed scent. But the smell was manageable, if only barely; it was the crying that made me want to run. "Why don't you get in the car, and I'll take you home?"
Awkwardly, I patted her shoulder, offering a tight smile that felt more like a grimace. Eva turned to me, her blue eyes glassy and wet as she threw her arms around my neck, her face pressing into my chest and dampening the front of my black t-shirt.
I tried, very, very, very hard, not to think about how many germs were in the saliva and snot she was sinking into the fabric.
A task I failed as I half lifted her to turn and open the passenger side of my car, nudging the omega into the seat, "C’mon—let's uh?—"
I froze.
Just under the nearly alcoholic scent of Eva's distress, there was something else. Something familiar.
I couldn't entirely place it, where I'd smelled it before… and with Eva's uneven breathing and sniffling muddying my thoughts with their overwhelming… muchness… I couldn't think straight enough to figure it out.
She settled into the seat, clutching a folio of paperwork against her chest that her knees came up to meet.
Bile rose in the back of my throat at the thought of her filthy shoes on the upholstery of the seat.
I hadn't considered when I'd offered to be the one to pick the omega up that she wouldn't be familiar with my rules… but I was the closest, by far, and it wasn't like I was going to leave the job to someone else.
Still, when I leaned into the car to buckle Eva's seatbelt, since she didn't seem inclined to do it herself, I couldn't help the pang in my gut as I worried about when the last time she washed her hands was.
Our eyes met, and for a moment, the howling inside of me quieted—until she lifted her arm to blow her nose into her sleeve.
I reared back, closing the door between us and turning away quickly to hide the revulsion on my face.
Crying, I decided then, was my least favorite thing on the planet.
Between the noise and the mess… wholly unacceptable.
Now that there was some space between us, I took a couple of deep breaths, as much to steady myself as an attempt to try and gather a bit more of that familiar scent into my lungs, but it was gone now. Drowned by Eva's perfume.
Shit.
I leaned into her car, careful to avoid the glass as I opened the glove box to pull out her pink slip. Not that it would do her much good, since I doubted the car was worth stealing.
If it had been, wouldn't they have stolen it?
As I withdrew from the cab of the car, something caught my eye. Something that flagged the back of my mind as being unusual. wrong.
All of the change in her cupholder, and even a couple of small bills, were still there.
I snapped a few photos, just in case someone else came by before one of the others could arrive, sending a message to Marcus to see if he was able to come by and keep an eye on the situation until I was able to return for another look
If this had been your typical smash-and-grab, easily accessible cash should've been the first thing to take. Especially since I knew Eva had her laptop in the bag on the floor of my car.
