“Thank you for your help today. Everything was perfect. You did a great job.
~AC”
Iris ran her frigid fingers over the note to confirm that it was real. The fine linen texture of the paper, coupled with its ivory color and gold embossed corner patterns proved its authenticity. His note was genuine, and its appearance with the soup seemed to fly in the face of everything she’d heard in the office. Warren had just finished explaining how Mr. Cavendish disliked incompetent bootlickers like Iris, and that he’d considered firing her just last week, but this note contradicted that sentiment.
It didn’t make sense for the same man who was willing to rescue her from Mr. and Mrs. Maker’s tantrums, and who drove her all the way home one night, would be so fickle. He was kind to her, even friendly, and this flew in the face of what Warren warned against. Despite her efforts to avoid it, hope began to take root within Iris. It was possible that Mr. Cavendish wasn’t as capricious or cruel as Mr. Maker had warned, but she wanted to be careful all the same. She knew too well about the price exacted for having too much unrestrained hope.
What if it’s a façade? I did see him get angry earlier, and Mr. Maker warned me about his temper. Would it be better to stay away from him?
Iris shivered in the rain-pelted bus shelter outside the GC&S building, mulling questions over in her head while waiting for the bus to take her home. She simply couldn’t place the unusual behavior of friendliness mixed with hostility from misters Cavendish and Maker. Warren was the most difficult to navigate, as his mood would swing from affable superior to domineering tyrant, which often sent her reeling. It was fortunate that Warren had stepped in to protect her job, but she kept making mistakes and angering him, much to his understandable annoyance.
She felt the presence of a stranger approach the buffeted glass shelter from the pitch-dark of the icy evening rains. The trench coat and hat were a dead giveaway; it was the passenger she’d tried to meet several times before. Iris scooched over and gave a couple of gentle pats on the bench to welcome the stranger. Her smile was warm but strained, and the stranger sidled close to the bench to sit beside Iris.
“Plenty of room here.” Iris struggled to sound all right. “You must be drenched. Here, if you sit on the edge, there’s a heater on that side. You’ll dry your feet and legs at least.”
“Thank you,” the gruff, gravelly-voiced stranger nodded as they descended to sit. “Just getting off work?”
“Yeah. Tough day today.” Iris admitted absentmindedly to the stranger. “I can’t wait to be home.”
“With your family?”
“Yeah, you?” Iris smiled wistfully.
“Something like that.”
Despite the short replies and low voice, the stranger was friendly enough, and responsive to Iris’s bids for company. It was odd though, that the stranger should be so soaked through but not at all shivering or cold. Iris had been out in the downpour for the time it took to trot from her building to the shelter, and her whole body trembled from the frigid rains.
“You cold?” The stranger asked.
“A little bit. But it’ll be nice and warm on the bus.” Iris rubbed her hands together, hoping the friction would help her from shivering. “If Mr. Fowler is driving tonight, we can ask him to turn the heat up. He’s a nice man.”
A tall woman with a familiar, tattered umbrella and green bolero jacket paused as she passed the glass bus station. It was difficult through the rain, but Khazmine detected a strange presence emanating from the booth. Turning to see Iris’s familiar vibrant purple hair, she snaked to the entrance and closed the umbrella.
“There you are, dearest.” Khazmine announced to the bus station as Iris startled at her appearance. “What luck. I’ve just finished my errands downtown and was hoping to spot a friendly face.”
“Cass? What are you—”
“As I said, running errands, dear heart.” Khazmine played up the role of affectionate friend from Byxx’s example from when he met Curtis. “Come, give your old friend a hug!”
Khazmine was not the sort of person to initiate physical contact, so Iris deduced that it must have been for a good reason to ask now. Iris eyed Khazmine with a curious expression of tented brows and a tilted head, but obeyed her request, and stood up for a hug. Khazmine scooped her into a tight embrace and whispered delicately into her ear with lips that grazed the sensitive flesh.
“We need to get away from him, as fast as possible.” Khazmine warned as she saw the stranger’s ears twitch from the bench. “Don’t argue, don’t ask, just run.”
The sharp-eyed stranger removed their ragged hat, revealing a striking, hard-featured face. A flicker of light from the pummeled overhead fixture cast a beam of bright light against his cheek. In that brief moment, Khazmine spied the familiar seams of imperfectly aligned camouflage plates. The booth flooded with the scent of ozone, but it wasn’t coming from Khazmine.
“Asteras…” the stranger growled intensely at Khazmine, who shuddered enough for Iris to feel it in their protracted hug. “You miserable bi—”
“NOW, MISTRESS! RUN!” Khazmine bellowed before shoving Iris out of the booth with both hands. “HAIL A CAB AND GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!”
Iris stumbled for her footing at the forceful push, and turned to see the blur of two titans trading punishing blows. A crackle of bluish electricity flashed inside the booth, killing all three of the overhead lights and leaving the entangled pair shrouded in darkness. Iris froze where she stood, trying to see if Khazmine needed help, but was soon startled by another desperate plea.
“MISTRESS, PLEASE!” Khazmine strained between sounds of anguish. “YOU HAVE TO RUN! LEAVE ME! GREAT MAKERS, LEAVE ME!”
Iris needed no further inducement, and started running towards a nearby cab stand in abject terror. The rain soaked her through in seconds, causing her clothing to chafe uncomfortably as she sprinted towards the intersection for the crosswalk. She wheezed painfully and turned back to see if anyone was following her, causing her to crash into Mr. Cavendish who came out the southern door with his umbrella in hand. Iris ricocheted off of his body and pitched backwards, only to be caught with his unoccupied hand before falling to the ground.
“Hey now, are you okay?” Mr. Cavendish asked between coughs. “Wait, Iris? What are you doing out here?”
“Please help, sir.” Iris shivered in his grasp and her tears melded with the deluge of harsh waters. “He’s after me.”
“What? Who is?” Alden cast a wide glance around the intersection to scan for pursuers, but had no luck seeing very clearly through the thick curtains of rain. “I don’t see anyone out there. Are you hurt?”
“N-no.” Iris's trembling worsened. “But he’s still out there.”
“Come on, my car’s right over here.” Alden motioned to the sleek and now freshly washed black SUV. “Hop in.”
Alden unlocked the doors and helped Iris inside. She resisted sitting on its luxurious interior, but eventually gave in to exhaustion and plopped down on the heated seat. The doors automatically locked when he shifted into drive, which comforted Iris enough to exhale a ragged sigh of relief. Alden peered over at her with piercing blue eyes as he crept out of the parking space and tried to figure out what had happened.
“So, you’re telling me a strange man in a trench coat followed you to the bus station?” Alden merged with the flow of traffic and took off with a throaty rumble of his luxury vehicle. “And he was going to attack you?”
“I-I don’t know, sir. I ran into a friend at the bus shelter, and she held him off so I could get away.” Iris directed Alden back to the bus shelter to see if Khazmine was still there. “There’s the shelter, but I don’t see Cassie.”
“Cassie?”
“One of my roommates.” Iris explained. “It was someone she knew. I, I just don’t know…”
Iris buried her head in her hands and wept fearfully. Alden reached over with a hesitant hand to comfort Iris but stopped just before touching her. Instead, he motioned over to his console on the dash and dialed a phone number. He waited for Iris to calm herself before connecting the call.
“Hello? Riley? This is Mr. Cavendish from GC&S.” Alden spoke sternly and fought off another coughing fit. “Yes, that’s right. I want you to send two security guards downstairs right now to the western entrance and look for a man in a trench coat. He just tried to attack one of my people.”
“Yes, I’m perfectly serious.” Alden pressed as they neared the outskirts of the city. “Figure it out, man. I’m not the head of personnel, just do your job.”
Alden hung up the phone and was about to dial the police when Iris’s phone rang. The familiar ringtone was the one she’d assigned for the emergency phone she’d given to the roommates to share. Iris fumbled while answering the call, finally managing to connect on the last ring.
“Iris, are you alright?” Khazmine crackled on the other end of the line.
“Yes, Khaz! What about you?” Iris frantically replied.
“I am intact. Where are you?”
“Hello, Cassie?” Cavendish interjected. “This is Alden Cavendish. I work with Iris at GC&S. We’re on our way to your apartment now. Do you need a lift?”
“No, thank you.” Khazmine recalibrated her responses before continuing. “I am almost at the apartment now. Iris, he went after me, not you, okay? It’s not your fault.”
“But he came over to the station and—”
“I’ll explain when you get home, I promise.” Khazmine assured her between worrisome pauses. “Mr. Cavendish? Please take Iris home safely. And there’s no need to call the authorities. I’ve already taken care of everything on this end.”
Khazmine hung up the phone first, leaving Alden and Iris in silence for the next leg of their journey home. Iris kept replaying the events in the shelter repeatedly in her mind, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. Alden broke the silence first to distract her from ruminating on it.
“Sounds like your roommate has a stalker ex.” Alden volunteered. “They must be trying to get to her through you… I’ll have security increased around the building, starting first thing tomorrow morning. He won’t bother you again.”
“But, what if he follows me home on the bus?” Iris asked while fidgeting weakly with her thumbs. “He’ll find out where we live and then—”
“I’ll just have to take you to and from the office then, if that’s alright with you.” Alden offered. “It’s no trouble, and I’d feel better knowing you were safe. That is, I mean, you should be safe whether I’d feel better, or—”
“I understand, sir.” Iris cracked a small, fragile smile and allowed her shoulders to droop from their tensed position near her ears. “I’d like that, thank you.”
The black SUV pulled into Iris’s dingy apartment lot and the pair huddled under Alden’s umbrella to shelter themselves from the rain. Alden took Iris’s hand and helped escort her up the slippery stairs to her door, which was opened by a tall, handsome stranger with blue hair and inquisitive, aloe-green eyes.
“Hello there.” Alden greeted. “Who are you?”
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