Page 20 of Marked By His Touch

“Can I help you?” A woman with bleached blonde hair, her black roots clearly visible, and garish blue eyeshadow stands behind a counter. Her skirt rides high above her knees. Her voice is sharp and impatient.

“Y-yes, I’m looking for a job,” I stammer.

Calm, Ava.

Her eyes, sharp and assessing, sweep over me, lingering on my clothes and the way I stand. "What's your name?" sheasks. My mind goes blank, the carefully rehearsed answer I'd practiced evaporating into thin air.

“Daisy,” I mumble, my eyes falling on the wilted flower in a pot on the counter.

Great, Ava, can you be more creative?

My frustration with myself is mounting. I should have thought this through better. But I’m already here, and turning back feels like admitting defeat.

The woman narrows her eyes, her gaze lingering on my clothes and make-up. “Alright, Daisy, you might do. Let me get my boss,” she says, disappearing into a back room.

A few minutes later, the woman reappears, her head cocked to the side. “He’s not in now,” she says coldly.

I turn to leave, but the woman stops me. “Come by tonight, around 10 pm, and meet him,” she says.

“Are you open so late?” I ask, feeling a tremor creep up my spine.

“Come to the back entrance. There are offices there for the management. He’ll be there,” the woman says, sizing me up.

“Great, see you then,” I say, my teeth gritting together. I shiver, the feeling of unease growing stronger with every passing second.

I’m being thrown into the deep end. I need to return to the safe house and train more with Zara. I don’t feel ready for this. But also, I know I can’t let this opportunity slip away.

As I head for the door, a bony shoulder, sharp as a knife, bumps into me. I feel a small, folded piece of paper slipping into my hand. Looking up, I see the pale woman, her eyes pleading as she passes me on my way to the exit.

“Nita,” the woman calls from the counter, her voice sharp, “Come here. Eyes on me.”

Without thinking, I snatch the note from the pale woman. Something about her, her almost translucent skin and those haunted eyes makes me uneasy.

“Yes, madam,” the young girl answers, her voice a nervous chirp.

“Go get some more towels from the laundry room,” the woman says, her gaze piercing.

I hear Nita scurrying off. I step out of the beauty parlor and inhale deeply. The rain has stopped,thank you, weather gods. Isaac is waiting by the car. His face tenses as he sees me.

He starts the car, his voice a low growl, “Alexander will kill me. I should never have let you persuade me.”

“Relax, Isaac,” I say, forcing a smile, trying to mask the adrenaline still pumping through my veins. “I’m okay—and I won’t tell him.”

He gives me a skeptical look but doesn’t argue as we merge onto the main road, heading towards the edge of Port Haven.

“What were you doing there anyways?”

“Gathering intel—”

“So, did you get any?”

“Not yet—”

Isaac turns his eyes to the road, leaving me staring out the tinted windows.

The silence in the car is heavy, punctuated only by the hum of the engine and the sound of my own racing thoughts. I clutch the note, its paper thin and flimsy in my hand.

Fuck.What just happened? What did I agree to? And what about that girl? Something about her doesn’t feel right. I can’t get that image of her bony shoulder, so sharp against my arm, out of my head.

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