LINGERING SCENT

I knew that in truth I wasn't really late, the food hadn't been served yet, but I was supposed to have been at EZ's house by ten and it was almost eleven already. Man, I hated it when his sisters made fun of me for being late.

The last time that I was late Sapphire, his oldest sister, ragged on me for three months. Granted I didn't see his sisters all that often, but they did still come to the family brunches that happened once a month. And since I was unofficially adopted, those included me.

The only way I ever got out of the brunches was if I was away on work. And that only happened when I took cases in other states. As we can plainly see, I was not away for work right now so I really needed to hurry.

Right now I was just worried about getting there at all. I hadn't even left my bedroom yet and I was letting my mind wander every five seconds. I had noticed the man's scent in my bed before I had even left the sheets. The smell lingered in my room, and my bathroom which he must have used before he left.

When I finally opened my door and went into the main part of the condo I smelled him again. But that scent went to more than just the front door. Well I guess it would, he went and got me the water and coffee before he left. I followed his scent through the house, into the living room, into the kitchen, and beyond.

The second bedroom on the other side of the house, the one that I had turned into my office and kept all my case files in, that was all that there was beyond the main part of the house. And his scent lingered there too.

Was he trying to snoop, to spy on me somehow? Thankfully I always kept that room locked.

I opened the door and entered the most private of my spaces. And I was relieved to see that his scent stopped at the door. He hadn't made it into the room. It would have been really bad, and really weird if he had.

Still though, why had he come down here? Was he just curious? Did he just snoop because I was asleep and he wanted to know what I was like?

I put it out of my mind though. I needed to leave, I needed to get to EZ's. So, I grabbed my purse, the real one this time, not the pretend little thing that went with the hooker dress, and out the door I went.

That scent was there again, thick and strong in the hallway outside my door. How much time had we spent in the hall last night? How much time did he spend there this morning? I was truly intrigued, but also a little put off by this. At least I had memorized his scent, though. Now I would know if I ever came across him again.

I tried my best to put him out of my mind though, as I took the elevator down to the garage. I had one memory flash in there as well, of a pair of orange eyes that held my attention as someone's body pushed me up against the wall. Just the memory of that had heat flooding to my core.

"Dammit." I swore under my breath. I needed to get a hold of myself.

I got into my truck, well it was an SUV really, an Escalade. Not something I can take with me everywhere because it stuck out a little more. I didn't always have a say in these matters. I was always making sure to leave as few traces as possible, and for that matter, EZ's family took care of most of my financial business.

His parents could tell from the beginning that I was trying to stay hidden from someone. Given the type of attitude I took toward work they had their own guesses as to what that entailed. But they also never pried.

For the past seven years they have put everything in my life in their name. I try my best to pay for myself, but they don't usually accept it. So, instead, I just deposit most of my money into a joint account with them, a way to tell them they can use it if or when they needed to.

For these seven years they have gotten me a new leased vehicle every three months. When I asked why so frequently they said that it's harder to track me over a long period of time if my car kept changing. Since then, I made sure not to get too used to the cars that I drove. They also put my condo in their name, gave me credit cards so it was all linked back to them instead of me.

I liked to live my life honestly, and to the law. Considering what my job is, that's kind of unbelievable. But in truth, I don't want fake names and fake IDs, they're too hard to keep up with. But I did have an escape pack, and if it came down to it I would leave the country to get away. I just hoped it never came to that.

I kept my mind blissfully blank while I drove to the house. I lived in a nice place in the heart of the city's seaport district, but EZ's family lived in a large estate out in Brookline. It usually didn't take me long to get there, that is unless I got caught in traffic, like I did today.

Thankfully, none of those intense memories popped up into my head while I was driving. Finally, after nearly forty minutes, I pulled onto the large estate and to my impending doom. I just knew that EZ's three sisters Sapphire, Emerald, and Amethyst were going to give me a massive amount of hell for this.