“Moonlight City, Illinois. At Moonlight Production Factory. That’s where we get our products manufactured,” Willow explained.
“I have to meet the production team in a few weeks to confirm samples of the shoe collection I sent in last week,” Flora said, picking at the end of one of her braids.
“Wow, that’s around the corner already?” Luxe asked. It was just a couple of weeks ago that they were looking for inspiration for this collection.
“Yeah, the metal ring designs were approved by the rest of the design team and were pushed through to the production team,” Flora jabbered on. She brightened at the topic. Any sign of being tired escaped her body and was replaced with passionate energy.
“Before I get to that meeting, I have a personal project to finish and get sent to them and it’s stressing me out.”
“Ah yes, the special edition stripper shoes,” Willow exclaimed. “You’ve been working on those for a while.”
“Yeah, and every time I think I get close, the shoe doesn’t have the right support, or the color isn’t right and it’s back to the strip club for inspiration.” Flora threw her hands in the air to exaggerate her point.
“Is that why you go to the strip club every week…even though they've had all those security problems?” Dylan asked.
“Yeah, it wasn’t like I thought I would get a stalker from sitting in the audience,” she said slowly, suddenly examining the loose thread of her tank top. “Let’s also not pretend it's a horrible thing to do. It's normally fun.”
“Shit happens everywhere, nowhere is completely safe,” Dylan said.
He wasn’t really lying, though. Most times there was nothing a person could do to prevent being stalked. It doesn’t matter what a person wears, how a person acts, or where a person hangs out at; bad people don’t care about those things. At least, that’s what she read from articles interviewing stalker victims.
Flora watched Dylan out of the side of her eye. He leaned forward in his chair to run his hand up and down her back. His touches were becoming more and more frequent, and she didn’t want the small touches to ever stop. The comfort of having a protector allowed her to breathe. She didn’t have to be strong around him. Flora relaxed into his hand, letting her shoulders drop.Her eyes shot to Luxe, who raised an eyebrow at the contact. The smirk on Luxe’s lips made Flora blush, and she prayed Dylan wouldn’t notice.
“Anyway, I only have one week to finalize these designs, and then the production team has a week to get samples ready by the time I get out there,” Flora said, standing up from her chair. “Love you, girls.”
Flora had a meeting with her finance manager. The math wasn’t adding up correctly on her financial statements. The manager couldn’t seem to do it himself, so Flora had to double-check the records on how much the company was spending. Annoyed and tired are not a mix of emotions Flora wanted to have when entering a meeting having to do with math and numbers. It was going to be stressful enough getting her manager to explain why she shouldn’t fire him for being incapable of doing his job.
Outside, Flora started their short walk to her car, instantly moving to the side of the sidewalk closest to the building.
“I have to run a security check by the Club and you’re safe enough at the Dainty Rebel office. So, I’ll drop you off and head there.” Dylan said, flanking Flora’s side.
“That’s fine,” Flora shrugged, throwing her purse on her shoulder, and pulling down her sunglasses. Two weeks ago, she would have been overjoyed about Dylan giving her some space but now she was already counting down the minutes until Dylan would be back at her side, and he hadn’t even left yet.
Just as they reached her car, Dylan yanked open the rear door of Flora’s car and shoved her inside, slamming the door shut. Another man's arm came into Flora’s view. Shock filled her as she felt the blood draining from her face. With trembling fingers, she locked her car door. Dylan pulled the man’s arm, twisting it behind the man’s back, surely on the edge of breaking it.
Suddenly, the man pulled out a small knife with his free arm. Noticing the gleam of the weapon, Dylan shoved him away. The man sprinted out of the parking lot at a speed only a Shifter could achieve. Dylan didn’t watch to see where the man had taken off. He surveyed the area and something Flora couldn’t see from the car must have caught his attention. Turning back to the car, he threw his body into the driver's seat of her car, pulling out of the parking lot. His eyes were glowing as he glanced at her through the rear-view mirror. “We need to get out of here.”
“What about the girls?” Flora rushed, trying to pull her stuck cardigan from the car door. Seeing that she would have to open the door, she gave up and sat back as much as she could. Trying to press her back into the back of the seat to find some comfort. Tears were already welling up in her eyes and all she could think was what the hell had just happened.
“I’m calling Jackson; he’ll send someone to pick up Luxe and Willow, just in case. Someone was behind the building by the parking lot, the attack was a distraction, a test, I don’t know,” Dylan quickly explained.
One hand held the phone, and the other gripped the steering wheel. He drove in a direction unfamiliar to Flora. She couldn't believe someone just tried to attack her. What if she was by herself? What would’ve happened if Willow or Luxe was with her? Why was this even happening to her?
“You’re staying with me; I still have to go run that check at Lust Lane, so Willow has to cancel your meetings for the rest of the day,” Dylan said. He drove around in circles, most likely to lose anyone who could be potentially following them. Tracing her fingers along the door handle, staring at the clean leather under her fingers, Flora finally let herself shed a few tears. Snuffles followed and soon she was silently crying in the backseat of her own damn car.
“Cry, Flora,” Dylan said softly.
“How many times have you dealt with something like this?” Flora asked, her voice still small as her eyes searched for any threat outside the windows that could come at her. Gaining her strength and courage back, at a red light she swung open her door. Letting her cardigan fall free from the door, she got out of the car and slid into the passenger seat next to him.
“Don’t worry about it; I signed up for this.”
“That didn’t answer my question. How many times?” Flora pressed, staring at him.
“This is the first.”
“The first,” Flora exclaimed.
“I don’t protect, Flora. I kill,” Dylan said frustration wrinkled his brows. She could tell he didn’t understand why the question was so important to her. “I got you. It’s gonna be okay. You’re going to be okay.”
