“Oh my god,” she says as she checks the clock when I stand up from detailing the floors, wiping my hands on a towel, “we’ve been at this for half an hour!”
“Making good time,” I say, looking around the shop proudly. It’s cleaned up pretty nicely.
“No, I mean, you spent all this time!” she says, letting out an incredulous laugh as she washes her hands off and dries them.
“Don’t mention it,” I say, setting the mop against the wall where I’d found it.
“I think I should,” she says, hands on her hips as she smiles at me. “Seriously, though, I really appreciate it. After everything that’s happened today, I never expected a stranger to take that kind of time.”
“What’s happened today?” I ask, quirking a brow, and I see her cheeks tinge with a bit of color.
“Wh-oh, nothing. The guy who caused the accident just kind of ran off, is all,” she lies, averting her eyes to the setting sun outside.
“Dirty move,” I say, crossing my arms. “Good thing you run a soap store.”
She just stares at me in disbelief for a beat before she bursts into a laugh at my awful pun, covering her face for a moment. “Oh...wow,” she says, starting to take a few steps toward me. “Who are you?”
“Someone who can tell you’ve had too much on your plate for one day,” I say. Every muscle in my body wants to take a step toward her as well, to play the game between us that she’s slipping into already. I want to flirt with her, charm her all over again, even as a stranger, take her out for a good time. If I’m really honest, I want to bend her over that counter and take her right here and now.
But for her safety, I have to keep my distance. I’m just checking in to make sure she’s okay, and then I can disappear from her life all over again. With any luck, she’ll never even realize I was back into it.
“Oh, who am I kidding,” she says, running a hand through her hair and looking out the door. “You’re right. Today’s been a nightmare.” She looks back to me, eyes flitting up and down my form. “Thank you, though. Really. God, I feel so silly, you didn’t come here to--”
“Get some rest,” I say, her name on the tip of my tongue before I reel it back in. “I’ll come back by tomorrow. Maybe I can take care of any other messes that come up,” I say, a boyish smile on my face.
I see the color flush into her cheeks, and she loses her words for a moment before she says, “I’ll be here!”
She was a spoiled brat when I knew her, but even then, it was the easiest thing in the world to get her off her guard and swooning. But I liked that about her. She didn’t feel shame for her feelings. She felt everything intensely. It was good to see that hadn’t changed.
There’s so much more I want to say, but I step out into the cool air without another word to her as I hear her voice calling, “Wait, I didn’t get your name!”
I pretend not to hear.
Seeing how happy she is now, I can’t let our tangled past flood into her life and upset everything she has. She’s running her own business, for God’s sake.
How would she feel about me if she knew I was an enforcer for the mafia?
I don’t even know how I feel about myself.
No, the boy she once knew is gone. And now, there’s just me.
I shake that thought off me as I start to walk away from the building. I have to keep my mind clear and focused for business. In truth, I had no plans to leave her for the night. A wrecked shop and a nervous business owner are telltale signs of extortionists coming through. Have the Cleaners gotten to her already? Whatever the case, I was planning to post up in my car and stake the place out for a night until I could watch Serena leave the shop and get to her car without incident. I’d even tail her home to make sure she gets there safely. I’m good enough at this kind of thing that I don’t worry about getting caught by her. Hell, I’m good enough at it that I make myself uneasy.
And my fears are validated as I approach my car in time to see a black sedan roll down the street.
I slow my pace, eyes watching it, and I can feel eyes inside it watching me. My hand itches to go to the gun under my jacket. But just after what feels like an eternity, the car picks up speed again and takes off. My lip curls into a grimace.
Serena’s being watched.
SERENA
“Have you been doing those morning affirmations I taught you?” chirps my best friend Rafaela through the speakerphone.
I roll my eyes, relieved that she can’t see me do it. It’s midday, and the store has been dead-empty for two hours. At this rate, I’m half-tempted to call it a day and just go home, but that ravenous, desperate hunger for a sale keeps me riveted to my usual haunt behind the counter. Besides, my mind is distracted. It’s hard to think about work when all my thoughts seem to center around that handsome, rugged guy who came into the shop a few days ago. Last night, I even dreamed about him, only I couldn’t quite see his face.
Something about him is so shockingly familiar, but he kept looking away from me, speaking in a low voice. He definitely fit the bill of tall, dark and mysterious. I can’t imagine where I would know him from. At first, I thought maybe he was a guy from my classes or something, but I don’t remember seeing anyone looking so rough and unkempt on campus. Everything about him seemed to exude mystery, from the way he dodged my gaze and wore his hood up to the way he seemed to appear and disappear without giving me a chance to even ask his name.
My brain has been working overtime to try and figure him out. Why did my body have such a strange, visceral reaction to his presence? It felt almost like deja vu, like we have met before sometime, maybe once upon a dream. It’s like he’s just on the tip of my tongue, and I can’t help but feel like if maybe I had seen his face properly, I would know who he is.
It’s enough to drive me mad, especially when work is so boring and there’s nothing to distract me from my thoughts. Luckily, Rafaela is between classes right now, so it’s the perfect time to chat.
I lean over the phone lying on the counter and reply, “Yeah, yeah. Breathe in, breathe out, I’m a powerful goddess woman who can handle whatever life throws my way, blah blah blah.”
“Hey!” she laughs, failing to sound indignant. “You know, that kind of thing really does help a lot of people with their self-confidence. It’s not all just psycho-babble, I swear.”
“I know, I know,” I answer, resting my chin on my hands as I watch the rain streak down the front window of the shop. “Maybe that’s why it’s so slow today,” I murmur aloud.
“What?” Rafaela asks, confused.
“Oh, God, sorry. I just zoned out for a minute. It’s raining cats and dogs over here. I think maybe that’s why nobody is coming into the shop today. You know how New Yorkers are— they’re all too comfy in their apartments to go outside unless it’s nice out.”