Beauty and The Beasley

Chapter 15

Bree hurried upstairs to change clothes. Sawyer agreed that she could borrow Allen for five hours everyday and that was more than enough time. She put on a pair of black jeans, a black tank top underneath a loose brown jacket and knee high boots. She was going to hike a long way so she made sure her shoes could bear the burden.

On her way back from the restaurant, she'd gotten a leather backpack she could use. She filled two large bottles with water; one for Allen and one for herself. She packed sandwiches in a plastic ziploc and a few apples. The bag had to be lightweight so it didn't slow her down at some point.

She took a flashlight and some extra batteries as well. It was noon but the mountains tended to get dark without notice. She wanted to speak with Norman before leaving to at least get the guilt off her chest. She wanted to find out why he hated Jimothy but a part of her thought that maybe if she did, she wouldn't trust to go near him again.

She strolled down the stairs and bolted into the lobby. Oakwood shuffled doormen constantly and today, Bree wasn't surprised to find a new face behind the wide desk by the corner.

"A good afternoon ma'am." The man greeted. He looked young, almost Norman's age but a little older Bree guessed.

Bree beamed at him in the politest way she could. "Hi, you're the new doorman, right. Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine. You must be Brianna then, no?"

Bree cringed internally. Only her father called her by her full name but she managed a nod.

The doorman was oblivious to how uncomfortable she looked. He reached under his desk and grabbed a package. Bree recognized it immediately - blue box with pink ribbons.

"Norman." She said immediately.

"Oh yes, Mr Bates asked me to give this to you." He said and handed her the box. She accepted it and almost opened it right there but remembered she was still standing in front of the door dude.

"Thank you." She said and turned to leave then stopped. "but wait, how did you know i'm the one he was talking about?"

"Mr Bates' description matches you perfectly." The young man said with a look of pleasure. He seemed to already know that Norman was her boyfriend.

"What description?" Bree asked out of curiosity.

"He said to give this package to Ms Brianna and i quote 'the loveliest woman in the building' and he also said you'd recognize the box when you saw it."  he said.

"Oh, i see." Bree said and hoped she wasn't blushing really hard. The young man's smile seemed to tell her that she was. "well, thank you then uh, Mr. . .?"

"Tony, the name's Tony."

"Tony! Thank you, Tony." She said and slowly walked outside.

She put the box in her backpack and waited for Allen. Sawyer said to wait by the gate and he would come to her. Within a few minutes, Allen came bounding towards her, his black coat making him look dangerous under the sunlight.

He screeched to a stop near her legs and began to lick her boots. She giggled and tried to move away but he simply followed her.

"Okay, okay, you ready for a hike boy?" She asked and he barked in response.

His leash hung loose from his collar and Bree picked it, wrapping it around her palm to keep him within arm's length."alright then, let's go boy."

They hailed a cab and rode to the pen. There were no pigs this time, it seemed the thief had struck too many times and forced Herb to stop stocking the pen.