Clear Lake

Chapter Eleven

Is this some kind of peace offering? A friendship offering? Yes, I'll take it!! I'm confused at her total shift from not talking to me at all to this, but beggars can't be choosers.

"Wow, that's really thoughtful." I tell her sincerely. Then, thinking I may as well, I add with a wink, "Just wait until you see how I answer the door tomorrow, after this!"

She smiles another genuine smile, then looks around the room.

"It looks really great in here." She comments, then bites her lip again. "So I had another motive for bringing you breakfast." She hesitates. "You mentioned last night that you had to come here against your will. What did you mean by that?"

Ugh. While she's being really nice and seems genuine this morning, I'm not sure if I want to go into everything with her. I don't know yet if I can trust her. I guess I can tell her the bullet points. I swallow a big bite of cinnamon bagel.

"So," I begin, "I told you I was working at The Sweet Tooth. Well, the Alpha came in for our inspection, since they're inspecting all of the pack businesses." I pause. "Alex was with them. He tried one of my desserts. A week later, Iris - my boss - gets a call, saying that I'm going to be working at the pack house, effective immediately, per his request." I sigh, feeling the sadness creep in.

I glance up at her, and she's looking steadily at me, with a serious look on her face.

"Alex recruited me into this position too. I had actually been..." She got cut off, by a sharp knock on the door.

What the heck? I've lived here for like two seconds. Who could THAT be and why am I so popular?

"Sarah?" I recognize Alex's voice. Kiara and I both shoot up out of our seats, with wide eyes, and I feel my wolf start pacing. Kiara points to my bathroom door, and I nod, thinking that I must have been correct about them having issues. As she makes her way to the bathroom, I jerk open one of my drawers to find some yoga pants.

"Just a second!" I call out. I'm definitely not answering the door to him, without pants. I also throw on a t-shirt over my camisole top, for good measure. As I'm throwing my clothes on, I wonder how much of our conversation he heard. When we build, we make sure to sound proof the walls. Otherwise, everyone would be up in everyone's business all the time. Doors are a little different, and have to be specially ordered, to seal a room into being completely soundproof. These are clearly not those special doors, because I spoke with Kiara and now Alex, through the door. If he made an effort to listen at the door, he could probably hear us.

I walk over to the door and open it a bit, standing in the doorway, so he knows I'm not inviting him in.

His blue eyes flick over my body, and he smiles. Ew. Then, he glances behind me into my room, like he's looking for something. My stomach turns. He definitely heard some of our conversation. He's wearing khakis and a red polo shirt. I wonder if he works at Target in his spare time. I try not to smile at that, as I wait for him to explain why the heck he's here.

He looks back at me, "I just wanted to stop by and see if you wanted to have lunch in my office today. I was able to talk to you-know-who and got the information we need." He wiggles his eyebrows conspiratorially.

I smile politely. "I'm so sorry! I actually have plans for lunch today. If you want to just let me know the flavors, I can come up with something..."

His smile fades. "No. I want to be hands on for this. Why don't you just bring dessert to my office again tonight. Same time. We can discuss this then." He abruptly turns sharply and walks down the hall. I follow him with my eyes to make sure he's really leaving, then gently close the door, leaning against it. I let out a big sigh.

I hear Kiara opening the bathroom door. She steps out, and the light mood is gone.

"What was that about?" She asks quietly.

Remembering he told me not to tell the staff about the surprise, but not wanting to ruin our tenuous bond, I say, "He wanted me to make some special desserts...for...the visiting packs. He just wanted to give me more instructions, I guess." That seemed plausible enough, but I'm not sure if I convinced her.

"Okay." She glances around the room. "Well, I'm going to go. If you need anything, I'm down the hall in 310. I'll see you in a few hours." And with that, she quickly made her exit and closed the door.

Cool. So now it feels like I'm back at square one with Kiara. What is her deal? And Alex? Ugh. I don't really have lunch plans, but no way was I going to commit to - at minimum - a whole hour with him. Hard pass. He acted like I disobeyed an Alpha command, which thankfully, he can't give yet. I'm on bad terms with everyone I guess.

I kick my pants off angrily and crawl back under my covers.