𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐃

4

HER PREDATOR

"All dressed? Lovely. Now we can both look like fools together," I said as soon as Casei popped back up at my counter, the clothes she came in wearing on one arm and the other set of the uniform on the other. "What do I do now?" she asked me, a tiredness to her eyes that hadn't been there earlier. I sat my phone down, gesturing to a stack of papers at the edge of my short counter.

"I believe these are for you, sweets."

"Oh great," she said lightly, putting the clothes on the counter and picking up the stack and weighing it out in her hands. "Seems like I have my work cut out for me." She put the papers back down and seemed to quickly text somebody before picking them back up. "Where's my work area?" she then asked.

"Um, I'm not really sure. The floor seems okay. On the plus side, it's carpeted so it won't be too cold-

"Lowen, you sarcastic, silly girl!" Brian came out of nowhere, giving me a playful nudge. "I'll get you a chair and you can work next to Lowen. There's more than enough space for two," he declared, winking at Casei. "And I'll take that uniform from you and get you a bag for your clothes, love."

I glared at her while she wasn't looking, as she awkwardly stood at the counter. Meanwhile, Brian struggled to bring an office chair over to us. I had been promised this entire counter for myself. Truly, the small slab of black material had a desk attached to the counter that was a little bit of four inches taller than the actual sitting part. Now I'd have to stand to do my work, or find a bar type of stool, while she got to sit at the desk area and type away.

Fuckin' joke.

"Lowen. Brighten up. I'll order you a taller chair this evening, 'kay?" Brian assured me sweetly.

I only grumbled, leaning against the counter and watching Casei assess the work she had set out for her. "Uhhh," she glanced over at me after a second, "I didn't mean to invade your area-

"No, it's fine," I told her quickly.

"Oh, uh, are you sure?" she asked me shyly, blinking up at me. I looked away, turning my face completely out of her sight as my teeth softly sunk into my bottom lip. "Yeah, I'm sure," my voice wavered a little.

"You sound a little emotional there?" she pointed out.

"I'm just great," I laughed, looking at her again and leaving the counter area. "I'm fine. I'll be outside if Brian or Andrew ask for me, okay?"

I was almost out the door when she called my name.

I looked back, seeing her standing there behind my desk...holding my tie. "You dropped this when you were leavin'," she hesitantly held it out for me, then started to come my way. I was frozen still as she made it a foot away from me, carefully inching towards me and placing the tie around my neck. Clumsily tying it, she seemed proud of herself as she stood back and admired her work. "Doesn't really match the uniform, but I'm sure you'll make it work," she added.

I could only stare at her in a bit of awe and disbelief as she went back to her stack of work, and I touched the tie around my neck. I undid it as soon as I walked outside, out of her sight of course, and held the bundle of dark satin material between my fingers. I balled it up in my fist, squeezing it like a black heart, before I released it into my other hand and slipped it into my left pocket.

The city moved around me. Cars, people walking, and the many sounds of Quercitron life- our city. The law firm was in the heart of the city, or downtown, amongst various other businesses and parking garages. I had known this city for all last school year, with it being so like Houston, but so...different.