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“Can do. I guess we both have things to work on. I’m trying to get better with communicating my needs.”
The heat in her eyes took me by surprise. I stopped breathing for the brief moment at the inferno that was levelled on me.
“I should leave you to your work,” she said. I watched her retreating back and shivered.
I spent my breaks with the four of them after they reclaimed their corner. Hana left for work at five-thirty, and the closer to the end of my shift it got, the more often I wandered to the windows.
This time I had parked on the other side of the pole so that my driver’s door couldn’t be blocked, but, just like yesterday, a black sedan sat next to my car. It was only twenty minutes until my shift ended, and while I couldn’t tell who was in the vehicle, I could see thatsomeonewas.
Billie came up behind me. “What are you looking at?”
I jumped as they spoke.
“Wow, someone's twitchy today.”
I startled again when Gabe and Tony appeared from around one of the stacks. Tony put a hand on my shoulder and looked out the window with me.
“Is that him again?”
“I think so.”
Gabe's low growl had heat pooling in my belly.
“What's with this guy?” he asked.
From his reaction I could only assume that Tony had given them some of the details. I wasn’t crazy about my vulnerability being shared, but, considering Tony had rushed to my emotional rescue this morning and he and Billie had physically rescued me from Alphonse before, I didn’t blame him for keeping the others in the loop.
“I don’t have any answer for that,” I said. “This is exactly why I moved and changed my number after he and I broke up. I’d even transferred to another library location.”
I let out a frustrated sigh. I couldn’t do that this time. This facility was the only one in the city to have a twenty-four-hour program and I was loving working nights. I hated that I even had to contemplate changing my job because of him.
“He sent lilies again. I had Miranda take them home and I’m going to talk to the facility manager. Maybe we can start refusing the deliveries.”
“That might piss him off more,” Gabe said quietly. “I would see about just having them be redirected. Let him waste his money while we see what kind of escalation he's willing to pull.”
“I’d be willing to pull his ears off his fucking head,” Billie hissed. “No one's allowed to treat my girl the way he does.”
I warmed head to toe at being called their girl, even though it was amid threats of bodily harm to my ex.
“We’ll get you home safe, Nicky,” Gabe said.
The dread over seeing Alphonse waiting for me was edged out by the gratitude I felt to the three wonderful people surrounding me.
“Thank you.” It was on the tip of my tongue to ask if one of them would stay with me, but I refused to be a burden. Alphonse didn’t know where I lived, and, even if he did, he couldn’t get inside with the building security. I just needed a cup of tea and a solid sleep. Not an absolutely gorgeous babysitter to coddle me.
Before work ended I emailed Patricia and explained the situation with the flowers to keep her apprised, and ran over the program set up with the day staff as they arrived.
Tony, Billie, and Gabe moved around me like they were my own personal Secret Service as we exited the building. When Alphonse tried to get out of his vehicle, Gabe slammed his door shut to keep him in place while I climbed into my own car.
“Nicky, what the fuck is this?” I could hear Alphonse yell through the two layers of glass between us.
I pulled out of the lot with instructions to message the pack when I had arrived home safely. They blocked Alfonse's way so I had extra time, but I still took a roundabout route back to my apartment, parking around back to be out of sight of the road, and I deadbolted the door behind me when I got in. Spud greeted me with a meow-scream, and I tapped out my message to the pack while I fed him.
Why couldn’t Alphonse just leave me alone?
28
NICKY
