Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 269(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 269(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
“Oh, you’re Aspen Randolph. There was some guy here looking for you this morning. He said he had some of your stuff and needed to return it. We couldn’t let him in without clearance. You’re new, right? You have to get visitors a pass in the main building.”
“What did he look like?” she asked, feeling her mood instantly shift from loving the day to anxiety.
“A beater of a black car. He looked rough. Brown hair and eyes. I’d say two-fifty at least. I would have questioned sending him in with a pass,” the guard admitted.
“Don’t. He’s not here for a good reason.”
“Gotcha. You should report that at the main building too, so all the entry points will get the word.”
“Thank you.”
Aspen kept herself together until she got parked. Then she started shaking. Why would Eddie come here? She had left nothing behind. Surely, he’d just move on and forget about the dog he’d obviously hated.
She shook her head. Guys like Eddie didn’t have a life to distract them. Without joy and happiness somewhere in his existence, the jerk would work to make sure she couldn’t have joy in her life, either. Unless he found someone else to become his victim, he would continue to try to ruin her life and Rexy’s.
What should she do?
Checking her watch, she saw she had ten minutes before her shift. She found the human resources office where she’d applied for the job and paused outside the door. No one wanted a troublemaker on their payroll. She was on a thirty-day probation period.
Whirling on her heels, she headed to the maintenance area and walked inside. Aspen clocked in and stowed her lunch in the fridge. She wouldn’t risk her job. The guys at the gate looked big enough to deal with Eddie.
Should she tell Jerico? She didn’t want him to think that she always brought a continual stream of trouble into his life. How had Eddie found out where she worked?
“Hey, Aspen. You okay?” a concerned deep voice asked, dragging her from her worries. She looked up and recognized him immediately. Pulling a name from her memory, she took a guess.
“Hi. Zale, right?”
When the handsome soldier confirmed her guess, she answered, “I’m good.” She pushed her worry away and changed the subject. “Is the team in the building today?”
“Unfortunately, just me. I have some field training today. The rest of the team is out there at target practice.”
His voice told Aspen he was committed to being inside, but his heart was with the team. She was glad they had such a dedicated medic.
“I’m glad to see you,” Aspen said.
“I’m glad to see you, too. I better get in there. They’re closing the doors. See you on Saturday. Text Jerico if you need to share something with him,” Zale called over his shoulder as he jogged toward the last set of open doors.
“Hey, Aspen. There’s a mess in the large conference room. Would you start there?” her shift leader called as she pulled out her phone to text Jerico.
“Of course.”
After grabbing her supplies, Aspen headed for the assigned space. She’d have to report it and talk to Jerico later. Maybe. It might be better to see if anything else happened. Eddie could have gotten the message that she was protected here. She crossed her fingers and grabbed a broom to gather all the scraps of paper on the floor.
At lunchtime, she debated whether she should ask her coworkers where she could report Eddie. Again afraid they would decide she was a problem, Aspen decided not to do anything. The guys at the gate had stopped him once. They’d make sure someone without documentation couldn’t get on the base.
She crossed her fingers.
Walking out of the break room, she tackled the next area her boss had given her to clean. The men’s restroom. While the military staff took better care to aim more carefully than the toilets she’d cleaned in the past and didn’t just drop tissue and paper towels all over the floor, it was not her favorite job.
Rapping on the door, she called inside, “Anyone in the men’s room?”
When no one answered, she propped the door open and set a sign up, closing the bathroom for service before heading inside. Aspen was in the last stall when the door banged closed. She darted backward and saw a man at the urinal.
“Sir, this restroom is closed for cleaning.”
“I’ll finish in a minute.”
Aspen hesitated. She didn’t want to walk closer. The man held his cock in his hand. From the sound, she couldn’t help noticing he’d needed to go. “Please leave, sir, as quickly as possible,” she requested and turned back to finish in the stall.
Silence followed a few seconds later, and she listened for the door to open. Nothing.
“What’s your name?”
The deep voice made her jump and squeak with surprise. She looked at the leering face of the man now leaning on the stall door frame, pinning her inside. She felt for the radio she wore to communicate with the others and realized it was on her cart.