First Sighting

Remy sighed as he shopped. He would normally have his assistant do these things. But he had fired her today. She was a good person, but when it came to the office and being his assistant, well not so much.

It's not that he couldn't do his own shopping. He's done it before. But only on the weekends when he didn't have to work or have subordinates do things for him.

He was looking at the meats. He liked coming to this grocery store, it had an actual butcher, and the meats were always fresh, and hand prepared by said butcher. 

Then, a scent caught under his nose. A beautiful scent. But he ignored it. That couldn't be. He had no interest in such things. Not now anyway. But that scent. He growled under his breath. The butcher behind the counter heard him,

" Everything ok there, Boss? " She asked, she had been waiting on him to make a choice, though he usually picked the same thing whenever he come in himself.

She called him 'Boss' because of how he held himself and because he was straight to the point and gave orders like how a boss would do in a work environment.

" Yeah. Uh, my usual. " He finally answered her, trying to ignore that scent and from going after it as it moved away from him. 

The butcher got his usual cuts of beef and wrapped them for him to take with him. Remy thanked her and left to finish his shopping and get the hell out of there, doing his best to ignore the scent that was still calling him. 

But it was all for nothing. The source of that wonderous scent was coming from the woman in front of the man in front of him.

She was a petite woman, five foot, maybe three-four inches, if that. Her hair was in spikey pixie cut, black with red streaks.

Her ears were pierced; eight in total, the side he saw had four earrings, so that meant her other ear was the same. She even had her left eyebrow pierced. He couldn't see her eyes, if he had to guess, they'd be a blue, or green.

In other words, she like a goth. Someone who was the opposite of him.

But, it seemed that that was just for show. As he and the other waited for her to finish, she only needed to pay and gather her bags.

She was currently searching her in her black purse, getting more agitated the longer it on.

Finally she gave up and quietly apologized to the clerk, saying that she had forgotten her wallet and said that he'd have to cancel the items.

Something that the clerk did not look happy about doing. The woman saw it and quickly ducked her head, a submissive move if Remy ever saw one. Something that he didn't like to see her doing.

Unless it was to him.

He mentally shook his head at that. He was not interested in this now. He refused to be. But he also couldn't stand to see a beautiful woman looking like that either

She quietly excused herself and left the store.

He cut line with his cart, glaring at both the man that was in front of him and to the clerk, daring them silently to say something. Using all his will power to not turn his eyes from brown to amber.

He told the clerk to add what the woman left to his things and paid for it all.

He left his things with his driver at the curb, taking out what wasn't his and set out to find the woman, it wasn't hard to do, he has her scent and once he got a scent, he'd never forgot it. This scent, however, was one he'd find in even in the smelliest of places and in the most crowded. 

He followed her scent until it led him to an apartment complex, it was older than most of the buildings surrounding it, at least a hundred or so years old.

He vaguely remembered seeing it or others like it and older back in their hay day, he never been inside them. Even back then he was rich and had no desire to enter them or live in them.

The building wasn't in bad shape and was well maintained. The new landlord obviously wished to bring it back to its former glory but painting it in the colors of its long-gone era. Wanting to bring tenants that shared his or her views of the place.

So, the woman was into old things, was she? Or was she simply here because of the low rent and couldn't afford anywhere else?

And why not simply let the clerk set her items aside and let her return with her wallet and pay? Perhaps she was tired from working and didn't feel like coming here and then going back? Or maybe perhaps, she didn't want to deal with that clerk again in general? Or perhaps she realized she didn't have the money to pay for what she picked up?

Thinking back on it. He realized that she did in fact have her wallet, she had tried to hide what she was doing, counting the money and discreetly looking at the register to check the amount due.

He realized that she had done that when she saw that she was surrounded by men.

She had been nervous with the clerk and the man next to her was helping either, shifting from side to side, getting annoyed and impatient with her.

Had she been robbed before in her past? Or... had she been robbed and raped?

He shook his head. He was only doing this to be nice. Nothing more. He followed her scent inside, thankful, but also mildly concerned that the place didn't have a doorman to watch the door and there wasn't anyone at the desk either. 

Not exactly a safe place for a woman like her to stay at. But maybe she had friends here and trusted them to keep her safe. Or maybe a boyfriend. 

Remy had to bite his lip to stop himself from growling at the thought of another man touching the woman. He didn't need a mate. He was fine on his own, though his mother and father thought otherwise and had tried to set him up on many, many dates. They finally gave up after he had scared the last one away.

But they never stopped asking him if ever found himself a mate or at the very least a girlfriend to bring home to meet the family.

Instead, he huffed loudly and continued on until he found the woman's door. He could hear her in there moving about, probably looking for something to eat instead of fixing what she had obviously been wanting to have tonight.

He set the food down at her door and knocked loud enough for her to hear and then used his supernatural speed to leave the building entirely after he had heard her open the door.

He briefly wondered why she'd willing opened the door like that. She may have thought it was that trusted friend or friends. Surely, she wouldn't open the door just because someone knocked without seeing who it was first. He hadn't smelled any male inside her apartment, so she lived alone, maybe it was because she felt safe in the building itself.

Remy shook his head again, putting the woman and what happened out of his head. He made his way back to his car and ordered the driver to take him home. He had more pressing matters to deal with.

Like finding a new assistant for one.