CHAPTER 282: CHAPTER 282 - LEFT BEHIND TO TWIDDLE MY THUMBS

Wiping down the area of floor - and her nice seat - with towels and cleaners before spraying it down with scent neutralizer left me a lot of time to really... wonder. Not just how all of the supplies had been privately delivered by a ’real’ assistant or why I’m the one standing here performing these tasks.

More about... how I hadn’t meant to end up here. Not really. A heated encounter with Kyrie, this time in her office. There had been more whim and slight physical desire behind it than anything like proper thought.

Yes, no matter how detailed I planned it all. One can be moved to premeditated looking passion and then realize it was all just a bit of hormonal nonsense later, okay?

She hadn’t gotten upset with me when I told her ’that was all’ for tonight. Just waited a while then asked for these things from Claire to be sent in. Changed her clothing quickly and said she would be back after showering.

"Didn’t even invite me to her apartment this time. I would have refused, but she could have at least offered..."

Rather than a wet wipe, I wanted a shower too! No, not together, stupid wolf. Stop escalating things in interesting ways...

Laying on the couch was not that satisfying. It isn’t comfortable and it smells like other people have used it today to wait in her office. Luca’s scent is here, for one, and a medley of others I assume to be Rimecoat.

Spraying it down next helped calm me... but now it’s damp and I honestly want to just leave. It feels rude to nod when someone says they will be back and then just... disappear.

But I’m feeling very much like the time I was stuffed in an armoire and told to wait until a signal that the path was clear.

Hm? Her brother showed up unexpectedly while... hey, you asked.

I am not above stealing away in trunks or behind heavy drapes if necessary. But I at least expect that to happen within the *bedroom* of the person I was just having a fairly interesting time with!

C: [Busy?]

BK: [Always. What’s up?]

C: [Is there somewhere else I could perhaps wait, where I will not be accused of anything like corporate espionage?]

BK: [Damn. If someone actually put you up to being a honey trap for boss lady, then they did a hell of a job. Is that what’s been going on?]

C: [...No.]

I’ve never ’blocked’ someone before, but my fingers quickly figured out how. Five times. Because apparently trying to prevent messages from someone with such deep access to your phone’s technology is basically impossible.

BK: [Really sorry. It was just a bad joke that *you* started!]

Her final message, after a chain of apologies each time that I enabled a new block, ended this way. I would have went for a sixth time, but she’s right. I’m not sure why the insinuation that using sex as a tool bothered me so much.

My proficiency of the recreational sides of it should logically make me more open to the idea, not less. But the clear transaction part is important to me. I’m generally not just taking whatever I want, but something that has been agreed upon.

I’m a quick liar and not a fully virtuous fox, if such a thing exists, but I’m also not *that* corrupt or dishonest.

"Citra, are you at least decent with everything stashed away before I open the door?"

The robotic sounding voice over the intercom makes me sigh and groan out an affirmative. Claire comes in with a frown to find me sitting right where Kyrie had been when I’d entered. The front of the desk - though I think I pull off casual better than she did.

"You want an interesting spot to kill time in, right? I have... maybe not the perfect idea, but an idea."

"As long as I can get out of this room. I know it’s only been fifteen minutes, but-"

"Oh, no need to go into details. Actually, please don’t. I was glared at and told not to ask for a single piece of information about what went on in there. By serious Kyrie, not ’Claire, I’m serious this time!’ Kyrie..."

Tilting my head, I consider that I get what she is saying - but that it just makes her come off like the ’bad guy’ either way. Not that she ever pretended to be without flaw, but bragging about annoying your supposed friend and boss is a bit much.

Waving me her way, she takes me to a flight of steps outside of her office and next to another security card access lift. Honestly, all of these doors seem to have them. It would really be unfortunate to lose one of those.

"Alright, I’m not going up there. Not allowed after... just not allowed, okay? Enjoy the view."

The brunette left me outside and I heard the door mechanically shut. With no clear way of gaining access back inside. I stare at the steel frame and door for a bit and consider the feasibility of breaking it down if necessary before shrugging and climbing the stairs.

By my guess, they stretched about two stories to another door with a placard that simply read [PRIVATE]. However, it wasn’t locked - and my curiosity, always one of my weaknesses, pushed me through it.

A greenhouse style rooftop garden spread quickly before me, unexpectedly lush despite the autumn chill that had been setting in every evening. Plants cultivated in raised beds formed pathways between numerous comfortable seating areas. String lights twinkled above the interspersed heating lamps that kept the space temperate.

Aside from one or two humans who I assume were the gardeners, only the Alpha’s scent was here. Not even her Beta. This was clearly Kyrie’s private retreat, where the smell layered and lingered over time rather than intentionally marked.

I walked to where the glass barrier protected visitors from the dizzying drop over the edge of the roof, but didn’t much obstruct the panoramic view of Vossden and the hilly, forested regions surrounding it. The lake district, downtown, all at a bit of blurred scale from the height.

"This spot is beautiful. I think I’ll keep it."