Page 81 of Touched By Moonlight
Chapter 23
The insideof my apartment seemed cold and dreary when I finally unlocked the front door. No signs that Kallan had been here, no residual energy orrunes.
The Fae at Crossroads Cass had kicked out had informed on me. Clever as I had been, I wasn’t clever enough. I’d overstayed mywelcome.
By the end of tomorrow, I’d hand in my resignation and leave, hitting the road once more to erase my past. Too risky to remain at my job, in case Kallan sent any more spies afterme.
At least for today I could return to my normal, boring life and normal, boringwork.
Williams Marketing had attracted me for both the money for the entry-level job I sought, and the anonymity of working for a largecompany.
Two hours after showering and dressing, I arrived atwork.
The building housing Williams Marketing in downtown Cheyenne was one of four set around a circular pool of water where four fountains constantly splashed into the water. Wrought iron benches and tables sat beneath shady trees. At lunchtime during the summer, those spaces were filled with workers smoking oreating.
The elevators opened with a quiet swish onto a lobby with elegant brass chandeliers, gleaming black and gold marble walls andfloors.
As I punched the time clock, I felt a twinge of regret. Once I could have worked at a high profile company like this as a mid-level manager. Working my way to the top, using my skillset to advance my career instead of life in the cube farm. The BMW and Lexus vehicles in the parking lot gleamed with the tale of managers who were going places, while my sad little sedan had clearly seen better days. The movers and shakers of Williams Marketing could drive home at day’s end, secure in their world, knowing their biggest problem was what gourmet meal to plan for the weekend. Or decide on winepairings.
Not how to evade beings that wanted to killthem.
These humans had little idea of the hidden dangers in the paranormal world. Maybe if they knew, they’d bolt from their comfortable leather chairs and Macs screaming, instead of sipping expensive Starbucks lattes and doling out orders like medievalkings.
I lapsed into a daydream where I’d strut into work in Jimmy Choos wearing a Calvin Klein suit, talking on my company-issued phone as I cooed to Grayson and admitted how much I missedhim.
Not dragging my sorry self, alone again, to my fifth floor cube in polyester and spandex navy pants and a blue floral flutter sleeve blouse I’d found at a garage sale, complete with blackflats.
But the secondhand clothing was essential. Even washed, it smelled like the former owners to shapeshifters and Fae. While out in public, I always wore secondhand clothing, muting my own scent through a daily application of lotion, courtesy of the same witch who provided me with the leather magickgloves.
Williams Marketing was currently the only tenant occupying building. Shortly after I was hired, the building’s owner raised the rent on the other tenants, so Iheard.
The firm took up the entire third and fourth floors. Banks of tall cubicles set squarely in the second floor took up the center, and afforded the rank and file a modicum of privacy. Offices of junior executives, data analysts and computer programmers ringed the floor, with windows that overlooked downtown Cheyenne. Posters of the company’s past successful campaigns adorned tasteful gray and powder blue walls. It was a slick, luxurious office hinting ofmoney.
When I fled my colony in the dark night, I had only the clothes on my back and a little cash, just enough for a bus ticket west. I settled for jobs in large cities where I could blend in, and didn’t need a blizzard of references to satisfy my humanemployers.
They believed the fake ones I provided, and the jobs I took were mainly entry level. But here, my boss had raised my salary after only a month after I provided him with an idea that nailed a multi-million dollaraccount.
Guess he didn’t want to loseme.
The office typically bustled with activity, but today my floor was quiet, probably because many of the junior execs and managers were still at the retreat at the CEO’s privateranch.
Part of my guise of blending in as a human meant acting as a human, not a Fae on the run. I kept a big jar of M&M candies at my desk, and invited anyone to partake in them. It made others friendly, see me as human, at least Ihoped.
I liked the candy. It fed my high-speed metabolism. To add further to the guise of being human, I ate only the red and blue M&M’s. Once someone asked why only those colors and I told them, “Because those are the colors of theflag.”
They seemed to believeme.
After powering up my computer, I sorted out the stack of marketing data to input into spreadsheets. The director, a micromanaging anal retentive, liked to analyze minutia. My cube was powder gray, with only two computer monitors and a keyboard decoratingit.
Others had adorned their work spaces with photos, stuffed animals, bobble heads, you name it. Lavender, a young trippy hippie type who worked two cubes down from me, had a gorgeous purple orchid on her desk. The orchid was the largest I’d seen, and I’d seen plenty in my previous life. She’d named it Maurice. Even put a name card before it with Maurice etched in big purpleletters.
Her cube was empty this morning, typical for Lavender. Usually she graced us with her presence around ten o’clock, if she felt like it. Others in the company got written up if they were five minuteslate.
NotLavender.
She was probably screwing one of thebosses.
Sunshine filtered through windows directly across from me. Another reason I’d chosen this company – the work space offered so much natural light. I might pretend to be human, but my real self craved the outdoors and a connection to the earth andsky.
