Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 30832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 154(@200wpm)___ 123(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 154(@200wpm)___ 123(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
I followed her on the train home but stayed in a different compartment and kept my distance. That first night, after she was safely in her home, I ordered Chinese for her and had it delivered. She tried to refuse it, but I paid the guy an extra fifty to tell her it was for her and it was taken care of.
Now every night, I have food sent to her home. She stopped trying to refuse after a few days, but I keep wondering if she knows it’s me. I wonder if there’s a place inside of her that knows I’m taking care of her. Just like I said I would.
At the end of every night I wait outside her building until I watch her light go out. After that, I head home and think about her until I fall asleep. I can’t hold back much longer, and each day that passes, I become less and less patient.
I pull up in my usual spot that’s close to the old house she works in but not close enough for her to notice me. A Maserati sticks out in a neighborhood like this, but she hasn’t so much as glanced in its direction. One day I’m going to talk to her about being aware of her surroundings.
I’m early, but I never mind the wait for her to leave. Some days I follow her on foot to the train station and ride it with her. Some days I wait until she gets on and then drive straight to Rita’s. I strum my fingers on the steering wheel as the clock ticks by.
When she’s five minutes late, I get annoyed.
I get out of my car and pace a little closer, thinking that maybe I can see if there’s a meeting or something happening inside.
After ten minutes have passed, I’m getting angry, with concern growing right along next to it.
Finally, I give up and walk into the building, knowing that she always leaves out the back. If she’s working late, then she won’t see me and there won’t be any harm done. That’s what I tell myself.
When I walk inside, there’s a young girl at the reception desk smacking her gum and holding her phone up for a selfie.
“Is Thea James working?” I ask, getting right to the point.
The girl looks up from her phone in confusion. “Who?”
“Thea Jones.” I hold my hand up to the height of my chest. “This tall, long dark hair, gray eyes.”
“There’s no such thing as gray eyes.” She looks at me skeptically.
“Do you know who she is?” I’m irritated, and I don’t do a thing to keep it from my voice.
“Yeah, she’s the quiet one who used to sit in the back. She’s gone,” the girl says, and goes back to her phone.
I’ve had enough. I reach over and put my hand over the screen and push it down to the desk. “Did she leave early?”
“Dude. Don’t touch my property,” she says, moving her phone from under my hand as she looks around for help. When she sees none, she finally answers me. “She didn’t come in today. I hear they called her last night and let her go with a bunch of other people. Cutbacks or something. It wasn’t just her.”
I don’t say another word. I push back from the desk and I’m out the door with my cell in my hand. The guy I had watching her building picks up his phone on the first ring. I slide behind the wheel as I try to figure out what happened.
“Why wasn’t I informed the woman on the third floor didn’t leave for work today?” I’ve been getting updates on her movements for two weeks, and I’m pissed I didn’t hear about this already.
“Sorry, boss. I thought you only wanted to know when she left. I haven’t seen any movement today, so I assumed all was good.”
I hang up the phone and hit the gas. Normally it takes me a while to get to the other end of town where she lives, but I’ll make it in half that today. I’m gripping the steering wheel and weaving in and out of traffic as I think about her losing her job. She works hard and has barely anything. I know it probably wasn’t her dream to work there, but she seemed to be trying to make it work. It pisses me off that I wasn’t there for her when she got the call. That I wasn’t beside her, telling her it was going to be okay.
By the time I make it to the building, I spot my guy near a construction zone across the street, where it looks like he’s set up to work. But in reality, all he’s set up to do is watch Thea. That’s his only fucking job.