I started working in the office again the day after I drove Violet home and now every night when I step foot into my house it just feels wrong.
I hate being home just as much as I hate going to bed and waking up alone.
I never minded being alone before. I liked the peace and quiet, but now it feels wrong. It feels sickening to always be alone and have nobody to talk to about it.
Obviously, I have my unit who are also my colleagues, but it’s not enough. It’s not who I want. I don’t want to complain about my crappy day to Nico, Brice, Jasper, or any of the rest of my guys.
It’s not the same.
I’m in my office today, working on a few cases. Ms. Haddler, apparently Brice's new sworn enemy, is stressed out about her husband again. While we've never been able to find any proof that he actually watches her or visits her in two years of surveillance, I understand her fear.
Simon Haddler, her ex-husband, is a real piece of shit. Not only did he financially abuse her their entire marriage despite their fortune being hers, but he also tried to kill her when she asked for a divorce.
I give her a quick call, having her run through whatever event she thinks happened. She claims that he sent men to her house to threaten her and that they tried to take her.
Either she's imagining things, or my men aren't doing their job. She's had at least one man from my company watching her at all times since hiring us, she's never truly alone.
I checked the schedule, seeing the day she's claiming was actually when one of my unit was watching her. Dane Roth was with her during the time of this incident. “Ms. Haddler, where was Dane while this was going on?” I ask calmly.
Ms. Haddler almost chokes out a broken little sob and I hear one of our guards comforting her over the phone. She paid for double security after this incident happened a few days ago, so she has two of my guards in her home at all times. “I don't know! I couldn't find him, I yelled for him and he ignored me.” She almost whines.
That's so unlike Dane…
My assistant walks into my office while I'm on the phone with Ms. Haddler. She has a folder in her hand but says nothing as she approaches me. She knows better than to interrupt my phone calls.
“I will find Dane and get back to you, stay with Ryan and the guard.” I encourage Ms. Haddler. It's not typical that I send my unit to watch people, we're on the corporate side of things now, but Ms. Haddler seemed shaken up enough that I sent one of us. She may not know what we are, and she never will, but she's safer with someone who can shift and overpower quite literally anyone or anything.
Once I’m off the phone with Ms. Haddler, I focus on my assistant standing in front of my desk. She has a few too many buttons undone on her blouse and her arms pressing her chest together in an attempt to highlight her cleavage to me.
It's a desperate attempt to get me to mate with her, one she's been trying for years. She had let herself into my home to drop off some files during a shifting party. She saw what we all are and that forced an explanation out of us.
That's when she became obsessed with being mated.
Jemma, my assistant, is definitely a narcissist. She's obsessed with her beauty, her success, and the way people view her. She'll do anything to be the center of attention and to get her way. I've just never fired her because she's not actually bad at her job, she's just annoying.
Ever since she found out what we are and how old we are, she wanted in. She noticed a few of my guys had mates and that the women they'd mated age very slowly, just like us. She wants that.
Jemma has been terrified of growing older for a while now, she's only 36 but she's convinced that she looks too old. She'll take days off to get injections in her face, piles on the makeup, wears clothes that she thinks make her look younger, and even asked for time off to get a facelift.
I'd never deny someone time off if they needed or wanted it, but this woman does not need a facelift. She needs to accept what gracefully aging looks like and stop trying to fuck every man in my unit.
I look up, seeing Jemma still standing there. She has leaned over my desk, pressing her chest into the wood while she stares at me.
“Track down Dane and have him call me, he abandoned Ms. Haddler and she's terrified.” I say flatly while flipping through the folder she had handed me.
“Anything you say, Mr. Lewis.” She almost purrs. I hate how desperate she sounds and I hate even more that she hasn't left my office yet.
I look up from the folder and at her, ignoring her chest pressing into my desk, and focusing on her face. “Do I have any calls?” I ask.
Jemma lets out a little huff, straightening her posture before shifting her weight onto her other hip. “Nothing that you haven't already addressed.” She answers.
“Why would she call you? Asshole.” My alien says in my head. I sigh, rolling my eyes at how rude the other half of me is. “We’re supposed to be a team, you're not supposed to be against me.” I think back to him.
He huffs at my response. “Only when you're not a dumbass.” He replies.
He's not wrong, but it stings that Violet hasn’t called me once in the days since I took her home. I know this is what she needed, she needed a clean break, but I didn't want that.
I just hope she’s doing okay. She confided in me in the tub that she didn’t want to be an escort anymore, that she wanted to do something that matters and be somebody that helps others.
