I Unintentionally Became Her Kitten

Chapter 97: Alisha and Alex

I sat on the curb in front of the starmaids, trying to be both as visible as possible and as invisible as possible for conflicting reasons.

Alex waited with me as cars went by, some pulling in to the Starmaid’s parking lot, and others continuing on their merry way.

“Thanks,” I told them. “For everything.”

“Eh. If she fires me, I’ll just go to the next crappy job. And then the next and the next.” They sighed. “It’s always some bullshit. ‘This generation doesn’t want to work.’ ‘No one has any work ethic anymore.’ ‘Kids are too coddled…’ They don’t realize it's not a generational thing, it's treating people like machines that take an input and produce an output without any training.”

“But even machines need maintenance,” I commented.

“Exactly,” they agreed.

“You’ve worked a lot of places?” I asked. 

They nodded.

We didn’t say much after that, a couple grumblings about Charlotte’s ‘expectations’ as she called them.

And then the Mercai pulled up.

I blinked, surprised. Alisha stepped out from the driver’s seat and I stood.

“What are you–” I cut myself off, realizing Alex would overhear anything I had to say.

Alisha didn’t say anything, just walked up to me, took my face in her hands, examined it.

“Who made you cry?” she asked quietly.

I shook my head. I saw Alisha look through the front windows and glanced back to see Charlotte staring daggers at us. And then Alisha started to pull away but I grabbed her hand before she could go too far.

“They make coffee,” I told her. 

She was tense in my grip, still staring Charlotte down with the rage of a beast.

“Alisha,” I said softly. She turned back to me, and finally relaxed a little. “They just make coffee,” I repeated.

“She’s a terrible manager,” she said.

Alex was awkwardly starting to get up, had a farewell on their tongue, but Alisha saw them for the first time.

“They were sent home for helping me,” I explained softly.

“I see,” Alisha’s gaze was sharp, calculating as she looked them over. “The least I can do is offer you a ride,” she told them.

“No, that’s okay,” Alex said.

“I insist,” Alisha said with a different kind of authority. 

Alex hesitated still, eyed the Mercai. Then asked, almost sheepishly, “Is that the Z63?”

Alisha cracked a small smile. “Yes. Last year’s model.”

She opened the door. Alex was frozen, but finally broke and got in. I climbed in after them, got settled, and put the seatbelt on.

I did my best to relax in the back seat. Alisha’s heels clacked on the pavement as she came around the car and got in the driver’s seat. The Mercai started with its purr, and I saw Alex genuinely smile.

“Does it have the massage seats?” they asked.

Alisha glanced in the rear-view mirror. “Yes. Where should I drop you off?”

“Oh,” Alex said and then gave her the address. I had half a thought to stop them. Giving someone like Alisha your address was scary. But Alisha probably wouldn’t have a hard time getting it out of somebody or something anyway.

Alex chilled, messed with the seat’s comfort settings. It was refreshing to watch someone else fawn over the wealth, to clearly see it as extravagant as I did.  But Alex approached it with exploration and delight, not my anxiety at breaking something.

There was almost disappointment when Alisha pulled to the curb outside a large apartment building.

“Thanks, Alex,” I told them. I got out to wish them goodbye, and then got in the front seat.

“Thanks for the ride. Feel free to come by the cafe anytime, I’ll just stare at your car on my break,” they said as farewell, before going to the front door.

I was quiet as Alisha pulled away and only spoke when we were finally on one of the main roads. “How much did you pay for this car?” I asked.

“About three hundred grand.”

I nodded. I’d stopped getting surprised after the massage seats.

I accompanied Alisha throughout the remainder of the day. I didn't really feel much, to be honest. Maybe tired. My joints were aching again in the deep way that simply sitting still didn't help. I did try. Alisha met with almost a dozen different people. For the most part it was a chill day. Mostly it was checking over back supply rooms of Nico's various captains and dropping in on assets she hadn’t yet gotten familiarized with, but determined that Nico's people were following the rules. Then she turned a little more serious in the back seat of another enforcer’s vehicle.

“Kitten,” she said softly 

“Mm?” I asked, and let my thumb run across her knuckles.

“This next part could turn rather unpleasant,” she explained. “Do you want to get dropped off at the monitoring center or something?”

I shook my head. “I'll be okay.”

“I don't have a guard to bring you outside if things get ugly.”

“I understand,” I told her. “I'll be okay.”

She took my hand in hers, quietly.

The enforcer drove us out of the city, into the rural areas and stopped outside a warehouse. There was nothing surrounding it, only trees looming above in all directions. Which meant it was very secluded.

The car pulled up to the large door, gradually slowing to a stop. Alisha waited as the driver let us out, holding the door gentlemanly and even bowing slightly as she passed.

I felt strange and out of place. I had all day. My clothes still smelled like a coffee shop. I just hoped they wouldn’t smell like gunsmoke by the end of this. 

Alisha approached the building. She stood out in this wild place. Her heels made a clicking sound on the pavement, and that seemed to make the forest go still. 

The inside of the warehouse wasn’t much more reassuring. I recognized the pattern. Bleach, shovels, duct tape and rope. There were a handful of side rooms, and a woman watching a single camera feed while going through something text based on the screen.

She didn’t turn to look but greeted Alisha with a respectful, “Ms. Takeno,” and finished her thought before turning her chair to face us. Her face was familiar. Someone I’d seen but hadn’t made an impression enough to remember. “I’m glad you could make it. She requested you specifically.”

Alisha nodded. “I’ll speak with her.”

The guard was looming somewhere in my peripheral, ever present. He hadn’t spoken to me even once and his conversations with Alisha were strictly limited to her directing him where to take her.

Still, he followed when she approached one of the side rooms and unlocked the deadbolt. 

Inside was definitely a cell.

And there was a foul smell of body odor and dirt.

A woman, rough looking, homeless scented and definitely on the edge of fight or flight was sitting on the only chair in the room. Her arms were pulled behind her, probably bound somehow.

I guessed I should start asking what ‘unpleasant’ looked like before following Alisha around like this. At least then I'd be able to brace myself.

Alisha pulled a folding chair out from the side wall, unfolded it and pushed it back against the wall, offering it to me.

I hesitated, but accepted and sat down, watching Alisha procede to examine this woman 

“Lyla, correct?” she asked.

The woman nodded. “You must be Ms. Takeno,” she stated, a sense of pride slipping into her voice despite her current condition.

“That's correct,” Alisha agreed. She reached over to a stack of papers and picked them up. “Lyla… you had a contract put on your head by Nico,” Alisha followed along. Whatever notes she was looking at were handwritten, and obviously had been sitting somewhere quite a while. The paper had yellowed and started to curl.

The Lyla woman did not speak.

Alisha looked up. “Why come out now after you've been in hiding so long?”

“Wasn't exactly living,” Lyla pointed out.

“Mm,” Alisha agreed, turned a page, narrowed her eyes at the words. “Contract was because you fled after refusing orders,” she stated.

“Yes.”

Alisha waited. The silence stretched a bit too long before she finally asked. “What order did you refuse?”

Lyla stared at the ground, hard, like it might crack open and drop her out of this situation.

Alisha lowered her papers, shifted her posture just a little.

“It was a child,” Lyla explained finally.

“You were an enforcer,” Alisha followed.

Lyla nodded. “Kid just happened to wander in, saw something he shouldn't have. I told Nico hurting children wasn't something I could do when I joined.”

“And he tried to force you anyway. Hm. Alright, I'll discuss this with my enforcement team, we may be able to give you low level position. You'll have to prove your worth and loyalty again but at least I can lift the contract on you. Is this fair?”

“More than,” Lyla agreed. “I'm just tired of running. With Nico gone, I considered you might listen.”

Alisha took a deep breath. “Don't disappoint me,” she warned. “I don't give second chances often. I'll respect your decision not to harm children as it's not in my nature either. But if you get orders to kill, torture, maim, whatever it may be, you're expected to do it. Am I clear on this?”

“Crystal, Ms. Takeno,” Lyla told her. 

“Alright. Have a good evening,” Alisha said as farewell and beckoned me to follow as she turned to the door.

“Ms. Takeno,” Lyla interjected before she could leave.

I was left standing and Alisha turned her head.

“I have a lot of respect for a woman who's both intelligent and pretty. I know I don't have your trust yet but I owe you a great debt. Please don't be afraid to ask anything of me.”

My hair stood a little bit. And it took me a long moment to understand it wasn't fear. Not in the usual sense, at least. 

Alisha paused to keep her in a steely gaze and simply repeated, “don't disappoint me.”

And then we left, the door closing behind us again.

Alisha told the woman watching the feed to get Lyla comfortable since she’d been pardoned and would be getting reintegrated into enforcement.

The woman agreed and turned back to her computer. “I'll get the word out,” she said.

We left the warehouse.

My skin still crawled a little. Part of me was angry at Lyla. Because she scared me.

We got back in the car and Alisha crossed her legs, looked over at me.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I don't know,” I told her honestly. “Something she said rubbed me the wrong way.”

Alisha waited, letting me think. I had a feeling she already knew what it was.

I blinked. “Is this… jealousy?” I guessed.

Alisha smirked a little and reached over to smooth some of my hair back. “Yes, Kitten. That's jealousy.”

“I've never been jealous before,” I observed. “I don't like it.”

“You're very special to me,” Alisha reassured. “That's not going to go away because a random woman called me pretty “

I looked at my hands, resting on my knees.

“Let’s go home. You’ve had quite a day.”

She leaned even closer, getting next to my ear and whispered something unrepeatable.

I went very still, my face feeling like fire and stared intently down at the floor. Her driver didn't react, probably didn't overhear it but still.

I wished she had at least given me some warning.

An: I'll be changing the cover image around a few times, trying to decide what I like best. There's a few different ones that need exploration. I might, once I get all of them cropped and together, do a poll. But cover images are hard.