I wasn't sleeping. I couldn't sleep. The gun had a silencer when it had went off, but somehow the sound still managed to bounce around in my head like a loud broken record. It already didn't help that my schedule had turned upside down. It would take me some time to adjust, but with the bangs exploding in my head, how could I?
I told no one of the incident. That Elijah person knew my face, knew I was a witness to the murder of that man. As long as that was the case, I wouldn't dare involve my friends in this mess. What if they came back, kidnapped me, and tortured me to find out if I told anyone? I'd rather swallow the secret than be the next one on my knees.
The next day I could barely get out of bed. My body ached like crazy from the lack of sleep. I had no idea how I'd even be able to work, but being fired was not on my list of things to do right now. I did want to ask my boss to change my hours again. I knew it wasn't going to be in my favor, but I had to try something.
"Lucian? Hello? Is anyone in there?"
I blinked and forced to look as normal as possible.
"Yeah, what's up?" I answered Dorian.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm just tired."
We were at a stop light on our way to my hell of a job. I was finding it tough trying to stay focused. I tried to use objects around me as a crutch to stay elevated, but nothing seemed to stop the weight on my eyelids.
"We've barely been able to hang out since we moved," Dorian said.
"We haven't hung out since we moved," I corrected him.
He sighed. "Yeah, we need to change that."
"I'm not gonna lie to you," I started, hoping that he wouldn't be angry with me, "but I'm contemplating quitting the job. Not right now, but maybe once I save up enough to give myself time to find another one."
"Yeah, of course. You know I'll always help you and support you. If you're not happy with the job, you can quit."
"Thanks." I wish I could sound more grateful, but that was the best anyone could get out of me right now.
"Sonam is telling me you aren't eating." His tone was too close to dad-mode and it bothered me.
"I eat," I stated suspiciously.
"Don't lie to me, Lucy."
"I do!" I said defensively. "Not a lot, but I do. I don't have the time to make food. It's not my fault."
"Don't worry, I'm gonna go grocery shopping today. I'm gonna buy you some good shit that you can easily heat up and eat. I'm gonna stuff you the only non-gay way I can and make you thick and juicy."
"I think I never want to eat again."
When Dorian dropped me at work, I headed straight for the main office to talk to the boss. I knocked on the door and his loud voice answered, telling me to enter. The boss was sitting down on a leather chair, his stomach large and pushing up against his mahogany desk. I was merely a second in his office and he already looked annoyed with me.
"What do you need?" he said
"I was wondering if I could talk to you about my hours."
"Why?"
"I wasn't told they were being changed until the last minute," I explained as nicely as possible. "I really can't work these hours and I'd prefer to have my old ones."
"No can do," he said, giving off a condescending vibe. I could almost imagine the lollipop in his mouth and his fingers twirling in his blonde hair. But he was neither blonde, a popular bitch of a cheerleader, and he was bald.
"Please, there has to be something you can do."
"Nope. Now run along, kid."
I could always just threaten him with what happened last night, but was I going to stoop to his level? Probably not. I was too tired to bicker like two old women anyway.
The day started off painfully slow, but picked up as the hours went by. The entire warehouse was so busy I could almost say time flew by. I transported boxes from sections to sections to be prepared for shipment. I did paperwork and all of the boring crap I couldn't stand, but I was managing.
And then it was night and the warehouse became quieter with less workers running around.
I was currently in the main office handling some folders with shipping information. The boss had long gone home while everybody else slaved away instead of sitting all day like he did. I had many jobs before, but this one really touched a nerve with how frustrating everything was. If it wasn't the boss taking advantage of his power, it was how inconsistent this job was. I was so unbelievably confused how this place managed to run itself. Nothing made sense, nothing was organized and serious, it was like a bunch of prison escapees with no knowledge of this business were running this place. It explained why it was so easy to get the job. Nothing must be legal, especially if people are being murdered around the corner.
Eventually someone joined me, but it was only briefly. Her name was Cherry and I was certain she was a hooker.
"Are you almost done?" she said as she clocked out by the wall of time cards.
"I'll be out in an hour," I told her, pressing my lips together in an attempt to smile.
She returned the same smile and shrugged. "Gotta do what you gotta do."
I had no idea what that meant.
"Yeah," I said, laughing awkwardly as she changed her clothes right in front of me. Maybe she was clocking in for her hooker job now.
"See you later."
And then I was alone again. The hours sucked, but the worst part was the lack of people and the immense silence that made my skin shiver. I once watched a movie where a freaky spider monster appeared through one of those tall aisles and took people to be wrapped in its webs like a cocoon. I was terrified I'd start hallucinating the monster from my lack of sleep.
So because this place was hella cheap and shady, I was doing my paperwork on a tall table in the middle of what seemed to be a lobby. It had no chairs, no televisions, only the table, the section where employees clocked in and out, and an empty water dispenser. My folders were all sprawled out on the table, creating a mess I'd have to clean up later. I wasn't complaining, I'd rather be doing this than spending another night out loading a truck.
As I quietly worked, I noticed someone approached me and stopped beside me. I only noticed one of their legs while I was looking down. I ignored them and kept going, hoping to be finished as soon as possible.
After a whole minute passed, I realized this person wasn't trying to clock out, they were just standing there. I looked up and over my shoulder and let out a shriek.
It was him.
"Oh! No, don't let me disturb you! Keep working," Elijah said, smiling at me.
My eyes went straight to his pockets to check if there was a gun visible. There wasn't one from what I could tell, but it could be hidden somewhere else. He was wearing a long sleeved-shirt and camouflage pants that went just over his knees. That was when I also noticed that one of his legs was a prosthetic. It wasn't one that made it look like your other leg either, it was black and metallic and had bizarre patterns.
I stepped back and circled the table so I had something to use in case he wanted to try something. But he didn't even feel hostile to me. He just wanted to stand and watch me.
"I haven't told anyone," I said.
"That's good to hear."
"I'm not going to tell anyone. I don't want any trouble. I just want to work in peace."
"Work in peace then," he said, shrugging his shoulders to relax while he stood like a soldier with his arms linked behind his back.
"I-I can't do that w-while you're watching me," I stammered.
He wasn't going to let me go, was he? There was no reason for him to be there if I was off the hook. He was trying to scare me, to intimidate me for some reason. I should have known better than to come back to a job like this.
"Are you single?" he asked and smirked confidently.
"What?"
"Not now," he whispered to the side.
"What?" I repeated.
"THIS IS NOT THE TIME!" he roared madly, losing his stance and walking out of the office. I could still hear him screaming. "WHY DO YOU KEEP DOING THIS? CAN'T YOU FUCKING LEAVE ME ALONE FOR ONCE?"
Was he talking to someone through an earpiece? Fuck. Now that he was distracted, this was my only chance to get out. I waited for the right time. He was pacing back and forth, talking a bunch of nonsense that I couldn't comprehend. When he went into one of the aisles, I rushed out of the office and ran for it.
I managed to run out of the warehouse and make it to the road, but I didn't get too far before I heard running footsteps and got tackled to the ground. We rolled on the rocky road under the moonlight. I fought to free myself, but he was strong and I had little to no energy. He forced me on my back and took control of my arms, holding them over my head as he straddled my hips.
"Holy shit you're fast," he said, panting while keeping his eyes locked on me.
"And you're pretty fast for someone with one leg."
He laughed, like a genuine, full-bodied laugh. "You're really funny. I like you."
"If you like me so much, why are you holding me down and not letting me go?"
"Because you didn't answer my question."
I was unequivocally confused.
"What question?"
"Are you single?"
"Why?"
"Why?" He laughed again. "You're the most beautiful guy I have ever seen. I had to come back and see you again. That's why."
"You know this is not how normal people behave, right?" I said.
"Noted."
He wouldn't stop smiling at me. His eyes were scanning my face like an unexplored cave filled with beauty. He was taking his sweet time with every inch, lingering for too long, staring too hard.
"I'm serious."
"I know you are."
"Then let go of me."
He actually complied and released my arms. Once he was up, he stretched out his hand and helped me get up on my feet. I was still severely anxious about this mess. It was hard reading Elijah. I had no idea what was going through his head, couldn't even assume. The innocence that seemed to be enveloped around him could be a lie. If you can easily kill someone without it affecting you, how human could you really be?
"I'm sorry," he said.
How was I supposed to respond to that? He was a killer and I was feeling bad for him? I hurt my arm when we both fell and rolled like tumbleweed, but I was concerned that I had made him feel bad for tackling me and not killing me?
Confused didn't even begin to cover it.
"You won't kill me if I leave?"
"Not if you're a good boy." He winked.
I wanted to test my luck. Every part of me knew how dangerous this was. I wasn't fucking stupid. But for some strange reason, Elijah was besotted with me.
"Okay, I'm going to clock out and go home then." I went back to the office to finish the sloppy work I had left on the table. I shoved everything back into boxes and clocked out quickly. By the time I was outside again, Elijah was nowhere to be seen.
It was unfortunate that this wasn't going to be the last time I'd see him. No, he actually visited me every day for a week straight.
-
On the second day, I was more awake. I still suffered in bed, helplessly drowning in the persistent nightmares, but caught on enough sleep to be able to function properly.
I stupidly continued coming back to my job. Why? Maybe I had a death wish. Maybe fear was what kept me from self-destructing. Either way I got my wish and Elijah returned.
Besides the obvious, something was off with him. I spotted him during the daylight when I came to work. He was wearing these thick sunglasses that looked heavy and tight on his face. He was wearing a black jacket and pants that matched. I noticed that while I worked, he'd never be directly under the sunlight.
I was never approached by him. I went through my day normally without being disturbed.
On the third and fourth day, he showed only at night. He kept his distance when he watched me. It made me uneasy being observed so intensely by a man who killed another man. I tried not to waste time imagining scenarios where he'd kill me, but what else was I supposed to do? I didn't exactly have the balls to go over to him and yell at him to stop whatever the hell he was doing.
The fifth day was the strangest, but not the worst on this exciting countdown. He walked past me a few times, yet still said nothing. It was when it started getting dark that I began to hear his voice. He wasn't speaking to me, he was just speaking at the air around him. He whispered, screamed, and even begged. The part that made it strange was how no one around reacted. Not a single worker looked at him when he was having his meltdown. Like . . . like it was a normal occurrence.
Nothing compared to the last day.
After a long and exhausting day, I clocked out and marched down the road until I made it to the bus stop. I used this time to check my phone and respond to text messages, most of which were from Chance. He stopped being aggressive towards me and his texts only came every other day, but nothing had been resolved. I was kind enough to give him my new phone number, and that changed something in him, like maybe he was finally accepting that I wasn't coming back, but nothing truly changed. I could respond with a few words to something he'd say and I'd get back a page. He wasn't done with me.
My personality sucked most of the time. I had no idea what I was doing. I wanted to please people, sure. There was something oddly satisfying about having the power to be someone's everything. Maybe that was why Chance couldn't move on, because I wasn't letting him. I shouldn't have given him my new number, I shouldn't keep responding to his messages and giving him a feeling of hope, but I promised him that he could talk to me whenever he needed me, and how could I break a promise like that? I wasn't the devil. I just couldn't say no.
The bus arrived just as I finished texting back. I used my bus pass when I climbed aboard and gave the driver a friendly smile. His name was Lawrence and I had gotten to know him over the past week. It was usually us two at this time until we got a little closer to the center of the city. Then the bus would fill with people of the night. At the moment there was one sleeping man in the front and nobody else. I walked to the back and climbed the two steps, made a turn to the left and sat in my favorite spot with the partition between me and the back exit door.
I spent a good ten minutes on my phone before I saw a shadow from the corner of my eyes. The shadow approached me fast and took the empty seat next to me.
He never showed up today. It made me forget of his existence for a few peaceful hours. I should have known he'd appear sooner or later. I just never imagined we'd meet on a mostly empty bus in the middle of the night.
I went to stand up, but his hand went to my thigh and pushed me down.
"If my people find out that you were there that night," he began, his mouth close to my neck, and his deep voice scratched the surface of my skin, making the hairs bristle like crazy, "they'll kill you on the spot. And I won't be able to stop them. They might even make me do it."
His hand was still placed on my thigh and it no longer pushed me down. He knew I wasn't going anywhere.
"Are you following me?" I asked.
"I've been watching you."
Yeah, no shit.
"Why?"
"Because I don't know what you're capable of. I don't want you to get hurt. You were at the wrong place at the wrong time. You shouldn't have been there."
"I was just doing my job. You were the one that decided to use the back of a warehouse to do your killing. Maybe pick a different spot next time."
He laughed and I glanced at him. It was the first time I was this close to him since the tackling incident. There was color returning to his skin, but he still wore the sunglasses.
"We own the warehouse."
That made so much fucking sense. I was actually so relieved that I didn't even give a shit about anything anymore. The place was LITERALLY ran by criminals!
"I already told you I'm not going to tell anyone. If you don't trust me, then trust the fact that I don't want to die."
"I was also watching others." His hand was still on my thigh and it was squeezing now. "Many people work there. Someone could have seen you. And did you forget that your boss knows you were out there? He was the one that sent you, didn't he? He knows what goes on behind closed doors."
Was my boss trying to get me killed? Why else would he send me out to load a single van? It didn't make sense then, but it made sense now.
"I don't think I can work there anymore," I muttered.
"You can't just quit this job." His hand was sliding deeper between my legs.
"Um."
"Just come back tomorrow like any other day." He was looking at me, knowing that I was fully aware of what his hand was doing, waiting for me to stop him. "I'll tell your boss that you're doing a bad job and to fire you. I'm his boss, so he'll have no choice. If you quit, it will look suspicious."
My heart was pumping faster as his hand reached a specific area. My own body rebelled in response. My blood rushed down and it took no time for me to get hard under the touch of the dangerous stranger.
"T-Thanks," I stuttered as his hand began to stroke the shape over my jeans.
"If you have any other questions, don't be afraid to ask me."
"I-I really wann-na know why you're being a creep."
He raised his eyebrows and smirked. "Because I watched you?"
"And because you hid in a bus to confront me." His hand was moving slow and cautious, his thumb caressing just over the tip while the rest of his fingers dragged lightly as a feather. "And because you're jerking me off in a public bus."
"I'll be honest, I don't know how to act normal anymore," he answered. "Whatever I do or say won't make sense to people. But I did it to make sure nothing would happen to you. Now I know that nothing will. And lastly, you haven't told me to stop."
If there was a point that I wanted him to stop, I wouldn't have been able to say it. It felt too good that my brain turned off. I had never done anything like this before, especially in public. We could be caught so easily and that only increased the pleasure. His magically talented hand never stopped until I began to suppress my moans as my body twitched.
And that was how on day six, Elijah made me cum through my jeans in the back of a public bus.
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[Author's Message]: OOF! That was an exciting finish. No pun intended. But seriously, I'm getting so excited now that the story is picking up. UGH. So many things to come. SO MANY MORE PUNS TO HAPPEN. I REALLY hope you guys liked this chapter and if you did let me know and make me happy with your funny comments <3 Love you guys and the support on this book. I know it's a strange one but I guarantee you will be entertained. Hope you're missing Cedric even though you know nothing about him. Well, you know nothing about either lmao.