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His disapproval was evident by the look on his face. It was a scowl. Why in the world was he so upset about that? He didn’t know me or have a claim on me. I was starting to get irritated with him. I didn’t stick around to hear what he might have to say about that. I went back to my new friends. It was great to be able to claim them as such. I sat down with a cup of coffee.
Neriah bent close to me. In a low voice, one only we could hear, she whispered. “What’s up with that guy? Who is he?”
“He’s my new neighbor. He moved in I think a week or so ago. He came down one day to borrow sugar.”
“Has Blade met him? What does he think? Has he been coming here often? Did you tell him you work here?” Came the flood of questions out of them. It took me a few moments to straighten out all their questions, so I could answer them.
“Yes, Blade met him that same day. He came to my place as Heath was getting the sugar. He wasn’t happy with seeing him. He showed up yesterday for the first time. I didn’t tell him I work here. It was purely accidental he came here, he said.”
“Do you believe him? I mean, look at him. He can’t keep his eyes off you. He doesn’t look happy that you didn’t talk to him. What if it wasn’t an accident and he followed you to work?” Ashlee asked. She had a worried look on her face. I’d found she was a little softer spoken than some of the ladies.
She voiced one of my concerns. I’d wondered if he had really found out where I worked by accident. Having him here two days in a row was setting off warning bells to me. “I don’t know if I do or not. He seems not to like Blade for some reason.”
“Because he wants you for himself. Look at him. He can’t help but stare at you. Did you tell Blade about him coming in yesterday?” Bryony asked. She was frowning in Heath’s direction.
“No, I didn’t want to upset him for no reason. If he was here by accident, that wouldn’t have been nice.”
“Well, you’d better tell him now. The creeper vibe is coming off that dude in big waves,” Harper stated.
“Cassia, we don’t mean to scare you, but you know I was a cop. I’ve seen more cases of stalkers and relationships going bad than I care to remember. Don’t blow this off. Tell Blade and keep your eyes open. It’s better to be safe than sorry,” Nyssa warned me. Coming from her made it even more real for me. She knew what she was talking about. I could only imagine what she’d seen.
I knew she’d quit the force a year ago. She was working with the Warriors in their security business when she wasn’t busy with her and Hawk’s daughter, Isabella. She was almost two and the cutest thing.
“I promise, I’ll tell him tonight. We’re staying at the compound. And I’ll keep my eyes open.”
“Oh, so he’s gotten you to that point. Watch out. Next thing you know, it’ll be let’s build a house,” Harlow teased.
I blushed then confessed. “He’s already got to that. He’s hoping if I stay enough, I’ll move into the apartment with him while we have a house built. I told him it was too soon, but he disagrees. If he had his way, I’d be there a hundred percent of the time and the house would already be under construction.”
They all laughed along with me. “That sounds like a Warrior. Well, we hope you do move there soon. We enjoy your company and we always need as much woman power as we can get to counter all that alpha male testosterone they throw out,” Harper joked.
I spent a few more minutes talking to them. A customer came in, but Erin waved for me to stay seated. She handled her. I breathed a sigh of relief when Heath finally got up and stomped out. He was still scowling when he did. He stared at me the whole time. It wasn’t more than five minutes after he left that the ladies said they had to go. I wondered if they stayed as long as they did to wait him out. If so, they were sweethearts. I got back to work. The rest of my day went smoothly. The traffic increased back up at its usual time. When I left, Erin had it well in hand. I wished I could work with her every day. Too bad her schooling prevented that. Tomorrow I’d be back to Jan and her shitty attitude.
Walking to my car, I did as I promised and was alert. I looked all around to make sure no one was lurking. I was relieved not to see Heath anywhere. Since I had my clothes already packed and in my car, I went straight to the compound. Blade would meet me there when he was done for the day. Pulling through that gate gave me the sense of coming home, which I found odd after only being here a couple of times. I parked and got my bag out and went inside. He’d assured me no one would mind me just walking in. Inside, the only person I saw was Lance. He smiled.
“Hey, Cassia. Good to see you. Moving some stuff into the apartment? Is this all you have or is there more in the car?” He came out from behind the bar and over to me. I was surprised when he took the strap of my bag off my arm and slung it over his.
“No, that’s it. I can carry that. You don’t need to do it.”
“No way. I don’t like ladies carrying stuff if I’m here to do it for you. Besides, it gives me a change of scenery for a minute or two. During the day when the guys aren’t here, it can be boring.”
He walked with me to the elevator then got in with me. I found he was easy to talk to. He asked me about my baking and told me about himself. He was friendly and from what I’d seen, helpful. Hopefully, when the time came, he’d be patched in with no problem. Blade had been explaining MC life to me and he had explained the whole concept behind prospects. In the apartment, I showed him which bedroom to put my bag down in. When he came out, he looked toward the kitchen.
“If you need anything, just give me a list and I’ll go get it for you at the store. There’s a main pantry down by the big kitchen. On the wall is a place to sign out what you took and what you might want to have picked up. Either me or Jake make a grocery run at least once a week on Tuesdays.”
“I appreciate that, Lance. I’ll let you know, although I’m used to doing my own shopping. Do all the ladies let you do it for them?” That would be a tremendous amount of stuff to buy.
He shook his head. “Not everything or all the time. But if they know they need a few things and it can wait, they’ll let us get it when we go. Jake and I use that online ordering system that’s new. It works like a charm. You submit your order and then go pick it up at the designated time. Have you used it?”
“No. I wondered about it though.”
“Do it. If for some reason they don’t have something, you can indicate if it’s okay to make substitutions like for another brand or not. Sometimes things might be out of stock, but our grocery store seems to be on top of it.”
“I’ll do that, now that I know it does work. Sometimes after work, I hate to go to the store and walk those aisles. All I want to do is go home, relax and have dinner. Four o’clock in the morning start time comes fast.”
“Four? You start work at four in the morning? God, that would kill me. I’ve had some of the guys need me for stuff, but it’s usually a quick thing and then I go back to sleep. How long have you done that?” We were sitting down in the living room now.
“Three years. It was hard at first, but I’m used to it now.”
