Save Riley (2 page)

I sat down and quickly spread the cream cheese on my bagel and opened one of the magazines. As I was eating and flipping pages, I felt someone suddenly standing near me. I looked up slowly and saw my victim standing there.

“Mind if I sit down? It’s a bit crowded in here,” he said gesturing around.

I didn’t realize the sudden explosion of customers in the café area, so I nodded and motioned toward the empty chair across from me with my half eaten bagel.

I went back to magazine as he set his backpack down and opened his bag of food. We sat there in absolute silence as I flipped through the magazine and he read his book. I glanced at the time on my phone. I had five more minutes before I had to punch back in.

I sighed and got to my feet, collecting the magazines when he finally spoke.

“Leaving already?” he asked.

“My lunch is almost over, I kind of have too,” I explained with a small smile.

He nodded, as he shoved half of his food back into the bag and got to his feet. He leaned down for his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

“I’ll throw that stuff away for you,” he offered grabbing my plate and empty plastic cup.

“Thanks,” I said gratefully.

I ran off and put the magazines away before I made my way quickly back to the break room to drop my purse off. I went back to the customer service desk and punched in. I took a deep breath before I turned around to help the waiting customer when I laughed.

“How can I help you?” I asked my victim.

“If you had to recommend one book, any book in the store, what would it be?” he asked with a sexy grin.

I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him for a moment. I couldn’t tell where he was from so that was a bargaining chip.

“Tell me where one comes from with such an accent and I’ll see what I can do,” I replied a little flirtatiously.

“New South Wales,” he replied with a laugh. “I’m Jaxton,” he said extending his hand.

I shook it quickly before I turned my attention to the computer to look up the bestselling books in the store.

“No, don’t be conventional,” he said after he leaned over to see what I was doing. “What would
you
read?”

I moved my hands away from the keyboard and motioned for him to follow me. We walked past the romance section, the fiction section, and the teen section, arriving in Sci-Fi.

“Take your pick,” I said, making a sweeping gesture with my arm.

He looked at the shelves before he turned his attention back to me, “You know what I think, Ms. Riley? I think you’re lying to me right now. I think you brought me to the Sci-Fi section because you think that I look like a Sci-Fi kind of person.”

The way his eyes became so serious and his voice became very quiet was unnerving. I don’t know why, but it was and I didn’t know what to do or say in that moment because he was right. 

“Now, tell me the truth. What would you read?” he asked stepping a little closer to me.

“Riley are you okay?”

I glanced to my left and saw one of the managers standing there looking at us rather curiously. I nodded and she gave Jaxton a stern look before walking away and leaving us there.

“Riley dial 247 at your convenience please,” came the announcement over the PA system.

I reached for the phone that was in my side pocket and dialed my manager.

“Hey,” I said when she answered.

“If you need to get away from him you can come to my office. I’ve been watching you guys on the camera and something doesn’t seem right about him,” she said.

“Okay. Sure, I’ll be right there,” I replied. “Sorry, I’ve got to run. My manager needs me,” I said to Jaxton apologetically.

I watched a small smile start to crease his beautifully full lips.
He knows I’m lying again.

“I’ll see you around then,” he said with a nod as he walked toward the registers to pay for his books.

I
was sitting at home in the dark, with only the television illuminating the living room. I was eating a tuna fish and mayonnaise sandwich while watching reruns of
The Twilight Zone
. My favorite episode was on;
Nick of Time
. Luckily I had all of the episodes on DVD so I could watch them whenever I wanted.

That was my simple night time routine. To sit in my one bedroom apartment, eat a sandwich of sorts and watch
The Twilight Zone.

I glanced at the clock next to the couch and sighed. It was nine fifteen p.m. and I wasn’t tired yet. Not that I had to go to work the next day, it was my day off, I just knew that tonight would be one of those nights where I would struggle to go to sleep and I’d be tired all day tomorrow because of it.

I finished my sandwich and cleaned up the coffee table of crumbs and cup ring marks before I turned off of the TV and went into my bedroom. I climbed into my bed, rolled onto my side and pulled the sheet up over my waist, and closed my eyes.

I opened my eyes again when my cell phone started to ring loudly.
Guess I forgot to shut that off,
I thought with a loud sigh. I closed my eyes when it stopped and angrily threw my sheet off when it happened again.

I stomped into the living room and leaned over the couch to retrieve it.

“Hello?” I barked into the phone.

“Sleeping were you?”

It was Jaxton. Not caring how he got my phone number at that particular moment, I went back into my bedroom and lay down on my bed. His accent was absolutely delicious and I didn’t mind talking to him for a little while.

“Trying, but then my phone rang,” I replied with a loud yawn.

“Should I let you go?” he asked.

I honestly thought about saying yes, but the way he made me feel earlier that day was enough to make me say no.

“Good, so I never did get to pick another book. Do you work tomorrow, Ms. Riley?” he asked.

Ms. Riley?

“Nope. Got the day off,” I replied.

“Then why are you going to bed so early?” he inquired.

I shrugged instead of answering. A chuckle was his response at my verbal silence, which prompted me to ask what I was wondering.

“How did you get my phone number?”

“You can find a wealth of information on the internet. It’s quite amazing really what’s public record and so easy to find. Especially for someone like me who is an immensely talented researcher,” he replied simply.

“For example?” I asked curiously.

“Well your phone number for instance,” he said with a laugh.

“Yeah but you would need my last name to go online snooping,” I pointed out. “I never gave it to you.”

“Ah yes, but the cashier did. I asked her for it and explained that I wanted to write a letter to your manager commending your supreme customer service,” he replied slyly.

“That’s creepy,” I said bluntly. “And I think I’m going to hang up now.”

I suddenly didn’t find his accent delicious or the thought of his smile appealing. I did however find that if he could locate my private cell phone number online because he was some sort of super hacker, he might end up at my doorstep. I hung up the phone as he laughed and put it on the table next to my bed.

I reached over for it again and was about to turn the volume off when the little text message box started dancing.

I clicked it open and read the message from Jaxton.

Too soon to call? I just wanted to hear your sexy American accent again.

I rolled my eyes before responding.

I don’t have an accent, New South Wales. And you could have just asked me for my phone number instead of acting like a teenager and sneaking around online to find it.

A few moments passed before he responded again.

Ouch. Good night then.

I didn’t bother responding. Instead I shut the phone completely off and stuck it in the top drawer. If the phone was out of sight, I wouldn’t be tempted to turn it back on and see if he had sent another message.

I
sat up when I woke up the next morning. I yawned and stretched before pushing off the sheets and going into the bathroom to go through my morning ritual; pee, wash hands and face, brush teeth, floss.

I walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. Tossing a couple of brown cinnamon Pop Tarts into the toaster, I went into the living room and switched the TV on. I took the remote back into the kitchen and set it on the counter as I turned on the coffee pot. I leaned on the counter and rubbed my face with my hands. I knew that not going to sleep sooner was going to leave me tired today, I just knew it.

The toaster dinged next to me and my Pop Tarts sprang up. I grabbed a paper plate and quickly threw them on it trying not to burn my fingers. I started to nibble on one while I waited for the coffee to be done, when I realized something felt weird.

I haven’t looked at my phone yet.
I went into the bedroom and pulled it out of the drawer, powering it on, and setting it next to my paper plate in the kitchen.

I had settled on some talk show that I never watched before and became so engrossed in it that I didn’t notice the light blinking on my phone for at least five minutes after I had made my coffee.

When the show went to commercial, I threw away my paper plate and grabbed my phone and coffee. I sat down on the couch and put my coffee down before I brought the phone screen to life.

I had one solitary message waiting to be read, so I shrugged and put my phone back down without reading it.

I spent the next thirty minutes on the couch drinking coffee and flipping through channels. This was my typical day off; sit at home and not do much of anything. To most people that would seem boring, but the prospect of being able to sit and not run all over the place was a nice change for me.

I was getting up to put my cold coffee cup in the sink when I saw the light blinking again. I raised an eyebrow and fell back onto the couch and finally opening my messages.

They were from Jaxton. One was from last night and the other was from five minutes ago.

I didn’t mean to frighten you. I’m sorry if I did.

That was from last night, the one he sent this morning was a picture of himself giving me a sad face.

I smiled and responded:

I’m sorry if I came across as a bitch. It was just weird to meet you and have you get my last name and phone number the same day. No hard feelings?

I put the phone down and went to empty my cup. I washed it and poured fresh coffee in it when I saw my light blinking again. I set the cup down and practically skipped to the couch.

None whatsoever Ms. Riley. :)

He should stop calling me that. I’ll get used to it and expect to hear it from everyone,
I thought wryly.

How is your morning going Mr. Jaxton?

Jax is fine. Better now.

Good.

No response. He wound up staying quiet for the better part of the day and I wound up lounging on my couch happily being lazy for that same amount of time. When he did finally respond it was with a request.

Ms. Riley, I’d like a picture of you please.

I raised an eyebrow and didn’t respond right away. That was starting to cross into weird territory again. I decided to be witty and see if he would go for it.

I’m pretty sure you can Google one.

It wouldn’t be the same silly girl.

As I read that message I realized that I couldn’t remember the last time besides my mother that someone wanted a picture of me, so I got up and went to the bedroom and stood in front of my full length mirror. I was wearing a white camisole top and black panties. As I stared at my reflection for a moment, I wondered if it would be crossing the line to send him a picture dressed like I was, but before I could  ponder it any further I held up the phone, snapped the picture, and hit send.

To say I was nervous about his response would be an understatement. If anything, I really just wanted to throw the phone in the trash can and never look at it again, but my curiosity wouldn’t let me. Instead, I sat on the bed and stared at my messages like a woman obsessed wondering what he had to say.

But he didn’t respond. For the rest of the day and even when I went to bed, the phone never blinked again.

I woke up the next morning and took a shower before getting dressed for work. I wanted to scrub the “stupid” off of me for sending him that damn picture, but unfortunately I couldn’t. The only thing I
could
do was pray that that picture wouldn’t end up online somewhere.

I went into my room after I dried off and grabbed a loose light blue top and my black slacks. I slid on a pair of black ankle socks then reached under my bed for my light blue Mary Jane heels with bows on the side and gave myself a once over in the mirror. I ran my hands quickly through my hair and walked into the living room to grab my purse. Locking the door, I walked away from my apartment oblivious to the knowledge that my life was going to change forever.

W
ork was fairly uneventful. I got stuck at the registers for my shift and spent most of my time looking up books on the computer. I had an evening shift and I didn’t realize it until I had arrived about six hours early, so I decided to go window shopping since I knew I didn’t have any money to spend.  Then I went to eat some lunch, then I window shopped some more,
then
I came back to work.

I yawned and leaned against the shelves behind me as I waited for a customer, any customer, to bring something to the front so I could do something worthwhile. Instead, I saw one of my managers approaching the front with a very serious look on her face.

“Riley, come with me. Nancy is going to cover the rest of your shift,” Anya said.

I’m fired. I’m so fired.

Those were the only thoughts that ran through my head as I followed her back to the break room and into the manager’s office where she closed the door.

“Sit down,” she said softly.

I sat nervously on the edge of the seat across from her and started to wring my hands.

“Did I do something wrong?” I asked, my voice breaking.

“No. Riley, your mother called. Your grandmother just passed away,” she said gently.