Chapter 7
The next day, Recker spent the entire afternoon following Alex around town.
The previous night, he’d tailed her beat-up Pinto all the way home just to make sure she made it okay. It was a small town after all, and he didn’t know if Fitz and his fucks knew where Alex lived or not. When she’d pulled her car up alongside a giant old Victorian that was at least four-thousand square feet, he’d felt duped. He’d thought all her talk about needing a job at StoneCrow because the tips at the restaurant were shit was a lie. It wasn’t until she got out and circled around the house to take the back staircase all the way up to a door at the very top of the house that he realized she must have been renting a room. It had to be a shit room at that too because no matter how much he circled the building, he was only able to find one tiny window that could potentially look into Alex’s apartment. It was covered with a thick curtain and was so small that Recker wondered what she planned on doing in case of a fire.
Deflated, he flew back the diner, retrieved his truck from where he’d parked it down the street from Alex’s diner and then drove back to Alex’s place where he parked on the street a few houses down from hers. Sleeping in the truck wasn’t comfortable, but Amanda had texted him Alex ’s work schedule, and he knew tomorrow was her day off. What better way to get to know punchy lil’ Miss Hayworth then by following her in her free time.
Now, at practically noon, he’d followed her to a small coffee shop where she’d had a cup of coffee and nothing to eat for breakfast. Through the glass, he eyed her from the tinted windows of his truck and wondered if she was one of those ‘starve yourself to be thin’ women.
After coffee, she’d taken her old ass Pinto—who even still drove those anyway—to the grocery store. Honestly, he was surprised her car made it because it sounded like it was on its last leg. At the grocery store, he didn’t follow her in, figuring she’d be slow and take her time like most females would. Nope. She was in and out in about ten minutes. She was mesmerizing to watch. She’d come out with her fists burdened with a few bags. That didn’t stop her from walking straight up to an elderly woman who’d just finished loading bags into her trunk and offering to return the older woman’s cart.
“Thank you, dear, that’s awfully kind of you.”
Alex grinned at the woman and returned the cart before going to her own vehicle and loading up. As she was leaving the parking lot, she stopped her car to have a conversation with a man standing near the exit of the parking lot holding a sign that said he had a family in need and anything would help. Recker listened as Alex explained, “I don’t have any cash, but I’ve got some food I can share. It ain’t much, but it’s something.”
She passed one of her few grocery bags out the window to the enthusiastic appreciation of the man who waved Alex off with a, “God bless you!”
Interesting. Turns out punchy little Alex had a soft little heart.
From the grocery store, Recker followed her a few car lengths back as she trekked back to her apartment, dropped off her groceries, and then piled back into her car. That’s where shit got boring. He tailed her to the local bookstore where Alex purchased hot cocoa and then spent the next four hours reading a book in one of the corners. Honestly, it was the biggest waste of a day off Recker had ever witnessed and when Alex finally closed her book, Recker adjusted in the driver’s seat of his truck where he’d been watching her from the parking lot. To his utter dismay, Alex took the book back to the shelf, grabbed another, and then reclaimed her seat. It was then that he decided that he couldn’t stand waiting any longer.
Fifteen minutes later, his truck was parked in the rapidly darkening woods just a few blocks from Alex’s place. Exiting the vehicle, he scanned the area before shifting to crow form and taking flight. Because it was dark now, he was practically invisible, which made it easy to fly up to the landing outside of Alex’s front door where he dropped and then shifted. Looking over his shoulder to ensure no one saw, Recker palmed the doorknob and used brute strength to twist it open. Metal clicked and then snapped before the door swung open.
Inside, Recker was shocked at what he saw. The apartment, if it could even be called that, was tiny as shit. It was basically one room with a cot against one wall and a small stove, mini fridge, and a one-person table set up in a corner like a tiny kitchen. The table housed a basin and a large pitcher of what Recker assumed was water because there was no sink in the wanna-be kitchen. A shower curtain shielded another small corner of the room.
Stalking to the curtain, Recker cursed low when he bumped his head on the pitched ceiling. Ducking low, he peeled the curtain back and saw a toilette seated next to a shower that had another clear plastic shower curtain blocking it from the toilette area. No sink, no door, no locks. Just a corner where Alex showered and did her business.
Flinging the curtain back in place, Recker seethed. Not only was the place too small for anyone to live comfortably, but it was cold as hell too. Even now, Recker could see his breath coming out in great puffs.
Partially shifting, he let his cat’s eyes scan the floor and the walls. There was no thermostat anywhere. Worse, there were no vents in the floor or hot water heaters mounted to the wall. Circling the tiny space, he stilled when he saw an electric space heater plugged into an outlet near the tiny cot.
Fuck! Why was Alex living in this ice-cold shit-hole that relied on a damn space heater to keep her warm? No wonder there wasn't a sink in the place. The fucking pipes would probably freeze.
Curious now, Recker made his way to the fridge and opened it up. It was empty except for one bottle of water and a half-eaten sandwich that was wrapped in the same red and white checkered paper he’d seen in Alex’s diner yesterday. Closing the fridge, he growled as he looked for cupboards. There were only two, and when he searched them, he discovered one held dishes and the other cleaning supplies. His eyes snagged on bags by the floor. He recognized them from the grocery store earlier. Stooping, he rifled through the bags and was annoyed to find one held a bottle of Coke and a twelve pack of Ramen noodles. The other bag held a large box of instant rice.
Good and pissed at her shitty situation, his head swiveled around and his angry eyes locked on the door. Shhhhit! He’d only broken the doorknob because he figured her landlord would fix it first thing tomorrow. Now though, after seeing her place, Recker doubted the fucker cared one way or the other if Alex’s locks worked.
“Fuck!”
Exiting her apartment, he closed the door as best he could and then strained to listen, his eyes searching for anybody watching. Because the door to Alex’s apartment was at the back of the large Victorian house and faced a field thick with trees, Recker was satisfied that no one was watching.
He shifted quick and not even bothering to head back to his truck, he flew straight toward the heart of town. Great Falls was the closest city to StoneCrow Estates, so Recker had come to town often. He knew the town pretty well and because some of the Walkers and human staff resided in the city, it was up to Walker Sentries to get as acquainted with the city as they could. Recker knew exactly which buildings downtown had surveillance cameras and which ones didn’t. He knew the darkest and best recesses for shifting. He flew to one close to a hardware shop downtown. He’d be pushing it for time, but he prayed Alex was still at the bookstore cozied up with another hot chocolate and a good book. Guilt bit hard as he realized her choice for her day off made sense now. The bookstore would be warm. She could get something to eat or drink, and no one would bother her about how much time she spent there.
Something about the realization of her situation gave him a hollow feeling right in his middle. It wasn’t a feeling he enjoyed, so after buying a new doorknob, he made his way back to his secret shifting spot and let a shift shuttle through him. His eagle had larger talons than his raven did and his wingspan was much bigger, so that’s the animal he chose as he beat his wings and lifted into the air, heading back to the trees behind Alex’s place.
He’d just shifted back to human form and was stepping out of the tree line when Alex’s pos Pinto pulled up beside the house.
Sonofa…