“Izzy, is he gone?” she asked softly.
“Yes Piper, are you alright? Where did you go? He sounded very annoyed that you just left.”
“I don’t care Izzy. He left is all I care about. Did you see him drive away at all?”
“No, Piper. What is going on?”
“Nothing. Don’t worry about it. Just…I will not be working for him, for that woman or anyone from his company. It’s Drake Industries, the answer is no.”
“Piper if you are in trouble.”
“I’m not Izzy.” she reassured her “New protocol though, no taking any appointments without knowing the company they work from alright.”
“Okay Piper.” Izzy sounded a bit more than confused, but Piper knew that the woman would follow instructions. Was nothing but professional all the time. Had been working for Piper now 6 years, helped her to open her other two boutiques one in Olympia, Washington and the other in Los Angeles, California.
Izzy was also about to help start preparations for the first international store, in Sydney, Australia. She had been to a fashion show out there and presented her gowns, and they had sold out, she had orders for more already. Izzy would be opening and going to run that store, a full manager of her own store. There was no-one else that Piper trusted to do so, she and Brandon would be going for a three month period of time. Perhaps longer, depending on how things went, smooth or not.
Got up off the ground finally and headed inside by the back entrance to the ground floor, made her way through the storage area, passed the dressing rooms and to the front of the store. Saw Izzy looking at her somewhat worriedly as she walked towards the front window and looked outside.
Looked both ways up and down the street, could not see his car or anything like what his car had been back then. It could have changed she supposed but did know he would be driving a 4?4 of some sort, all his pack cars were, had to be due to the size of wolves, all large and imposing.
Saw nothing that would pass for a pack car. Then realized this far from his pack, it was likely that he would be driving a rental car, but there was no sign of him or his unit that she could see, turned away from the window to find Izzy still watching her.
“It’s nothing.” Piper told her.
It was obvious that Izzy didn’t believe her “I’ve known you for a long time Piper. It’s not nothing, because nothing rattles you, ever. Not even the big billionaire’s that waltz in here thinking it’s their way or the highway. Now twice this week, I’ve seen you reject that woman and both her? Whatever they are, the men escorting her. Both of them left annoyed and seemed angry about your response to them.”
“Let it go Izzy.” Piper sighed.
“Piper!” Izzy sighed right back “Come on, it’s your past, I know that much. You never said where you were from. You never talk about it, like you just appeared here in Portland fully grown.”
“I did.” Piper stated a little annoyed with her prying.
Saw Izzy actually laugh, “Yeah right…You know them…but, they didn’t seem to know you, right?”
“Correct and we’ll leave it at that, alright.”
“Fine…and if they come back?” Izzy huffed, giving up on trying to pull information out of her.
“I’m not here. Pure and simple.” Piper murmured.
“I don’t think, that either of those guys will believe that.”
“I don’t care, I’ll be away on holidays anyway and hopefully that will solve the issue. Then I can work from home for the next week.”
“Avoidance isn’t always the key, Piper.” Izzy commented casually.
Piper snort, there was not key, she didn’t scent to anyone. She was invisible even to her own kind and to others as well, and she had come across a few Vampires, they were fashion addicts, a few fairies and a Bear shifter once, that man had damned near knocked her over, put his hands on her to steady her, and had then looked right at her, smelled her up close, frowned deeply at her. She’d politely apologized to him, he’d continued to stare at her, obviously uncertain as to what to make of her, but had stepped aside and allowed her to pass after a minute.
It was the reaction she got from most other worldly creatures, humans detected nothing at all, and it was likely most other worldly creatures thought she was just human, which is how she lived her life anyhow.
Piper went and picked Brandon up from the bus stop like normal, walked back to the boutique, and the hire car to take them to the airport was just arriving as they got back, very punctual. Didn’t waste any time in grabbing their luggage. Told Izzy she’d see her in a few weeks, just in case there were other around listening.
Didn’t want to risk it, got in the car and they were off, saw Brandon look right at her, “Mum what’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing.” she smiled at him.
“Weeks?” he queried.
“Oh that, I’m going to be working from home when we get back is all.”
“Okay.” he nodded smiling now. Their home was a lot closer to the school and meant less time on the bus, always made him happier, it also meant he could hang out with his friends and have them over as well. He had a good social life for a 7-year-old.
Piper had no idea how she was going to explain to him about his first shift, she was raising him human, it was better this way, especially if he turned out to be just like her, to have no scent. She could smell him, but he was her child.
Both her parents had never said they couldn’t smell her, and they always seemed to know when she was about, so presumably they had been able to smell her. Just no-one else could as far as she knew.
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