Strings of Fate

68- Laundry and loneliness Their work done for the day, Shaun and Alex head off, although Shaun takes a moment to call out to Maggie as she waves at them from her window.

“We will be back in the morning, bright and early!” | don’t hear Maggie's answer, but Shauns response is to let out a piercing wolf whistle and wink at her.

“Oh now I'm going to be up all night dreaming about tomorrow morning.” He blows her a kiss out the car window as they drive off. He is really laying it on thick, she must have offered to make something really nice tomorrow morning. | find Aaron examining my windows. After poking and prodding at them for a few minutes he seems content. He pulls out his own phone and checks the camera system. He is set up as a second user. From what | understand he can’t set the code to turn off the alarm, but he can check the cameras and if the alarm goes off it alerts his phone. As my guard he is apparently responsible for making sure the security system is working and getting it fixed if something is wrong. Which is a good thing because | would have no idea. Finally content with the situation he givesa nod and makes a phone call. | can only hear his side of the conversation.

“Alpha Kane... Yes... Yes... Understood. Thank you.” He hangs up. Well all | got from that is that he was talking to Bellamy.

“That was Bellamy?” | confirm. Aaron nods.

“You confirmed the security is set up?” Another single nod.

“Does that mean you can go hnow? Not that I'm trying to chase you out or anything, but | don’t want to keep you here for no reason, you have a life too I'm sure.” Aaron shrugs one shoulder and givesa slight smile.

“Okay | have no idea what that means. Are you staying or not?” He shrugs again and I roll my eyes.

“You are totally doing this on purpose. | know you can talk. But whatever, if you wanna stay silent that’s completely up to you. So, | start work at eleven am tomorrow. | don’t intend to go anywhere else tonight. So if you're allowed to leave then feel free. Be here by ten thirty at 1/4 68- Laundry and loneliness the latest, ten if you want to get brunch together before my shift. You can hang out here or leave. Whatever you want. As | said earlier, make yourself at home.” | stare at him with my arms crossed waiting for his response. | think | see a glimmer of a smile before his serious. expression slides back into place.

“Goodnight Miss Gale.” With that, he turns and sees himself out. | go to lock the door behind him but apparently it automatically locks itself now. That's cool | suppose. After all the power tools and chattering from Shaun and Alex today, it is actually almost creepy in here, too quiet. It's also starting to get dark but | haven't turned on any lights so it’s hard to see. | hadn't realised how dark it was. | head into my room and flick on my light. | sigh when | see the pile of unfolded laundry and my unmade bed. | take a few minutes to make my bed. neatly, although it seems like a waste because I'll probably mess it up soon going to sleep. Still, there’s something satisfying about a freshly laundered and made up bed. Giving in, | finally start folding my laundry. | use the term folding loosely as what | do can barely be considered folding. It's not neat and probably crumples the clothes more than anything, but | can’t be bothered doing a better job. I've only folded a few items when my phone rings. It takesa second to find my phone, | apparently have been stacking my ‘folded’ laundry on top of it. A glance showsit’s Bellamy calling. | quickly answer before it rings out.

“Hi Bellamy.” “Hello there, beautiful. How has your day been?” he asks.

“Not bad. I've almost finished all the cleaning | meant to do, I'm just folding my laundry now. How about yours?” | swap him to speaker phone and place the phone on my bedside table so | can continue folding. Bellamy sighs.

“It was fine. Nothing special, just a lot of very dull meetings today. I'm jealous you've gotten everything done. | have so much left to do tonight and another appointment arriving soon. A Vampire representative is stopping by but of course they only cfor late appointments. In the meantime, I'm procrastinating paperwork. Although paperwork isn’t nearly as awful when you're here with me. | don’t suppose I'm going to see you tonight though.

Aaron has signed out so | assyou don’t plan to cover.” He lets out a deep sigh.

“Oh. Were you expectingto?” It didn’t occur tothat Bellamy might have been wantingto cover again this evening. He didn’t askto, and | saw him this morning already.

2/4 68. Laundry and loneliness “No, no it's okay” he quickly assures me.

“I didn’t mean it in a pushy way. | was hoping | would be able to stop by your place and bring you dinner or something. This meeting was a last minute thing. Have you eaten dinner yet?” “No but | picked up ingredients. I'll make something in a bit. | just want to finish putting away my laundry.” Bellamy and | keep chatting while | put away my badly folded clothes. | tell him about Shaun and Alex flirting with Maggie and he tellsmore about his work and the businesses he is responsible for. He mostly delegates the day to day matters but seems to have a lot of big picture decisions and paperwork to take care of. Plus the duties as Alpha. We keep talking while | make dinner and he stays on the line while | eat. Tired, | drop my dishes in the sink and go collapse into my bed. | notice a low power notification on my phone.

“Oh one one second, we've been on the phone a while and it’s going flat. Ill plug it in by my bed. You know it is so weirdly quiet here now that there's no one else hanging around. I'd almost gotten used to it. Although it’s nice not to feel babysat for once.” Bellamy is quiet.

“Is everything alright?” | ask. He sighs.

“You know | don’t love the idea of you being alone. | know it's what you want but it makes worry.” He admits.

“Isn't that the whole point of this new fancy security set up? So you don’t have to worry about me?” | remind him.

“I can’t help myself. It’s just how | am.” He says, frustration clear in his tone.

“Is there anything | can do to make it easier for you, other than just having a babysitter twenty four seven?” | offer. Bellamy is quiet a moment and | can practically hear the wheels. in his brain turning.

5 “In your securitycan you program it so your alarm system will alertif there's a problem? You should just need to add my phone number.” He suggests quietly.

“Sure, | don’t see why not. I'll do that now.” I fiddle with the settings until | successfully add Bellamy to the alert system.

3/4 68- Laundry and loneliness.

“Is there anything else?” | question. This the answers almost too fast.

“I want you to check in with me.” I'm not quite sure what he’s asking for.

“Check in when? How? | need more information than that.” | prompt him.

“I wan want to establish regular times for us to check in with each other so | know you're okay. Then if | don’t hear from you | can csearching for you.” He explains. That doesn’t sound super unreasonable, but something about Bellamy’s tone tellsthere's something | won't like about the idea.