Lottie needed a drink or five after the day she had endured. Her classes had been bad enough but the visit from the commander to the university had shaken her to the core and she was thoroughly miserable. She slid into a seat at the bar far earlier that she should of and trying not to mourn the loss of The Apothecary, which she hoped would only be temporary. She ordered herself a double vodka and had only just started it when she saw a familiar figure. “Jim, hey. How are you?” she called, catching his attention.
Valentine’s eyes looked the girl over the edge of his sun glasses, the knowing smile that touched the Commander’s lips spelled an amused warning that wasn’t easy to miss.
“They will wait.” The man said, amused by the obvious way the people in her group slowed down their step, curious to hear what was about to happen. Valentine stepped closer to the girl speaking quiet enough for his words to remain private: “I think if you don’ t keep my attention occupied I’ll just have to go see the Dean. Maybe he’ll be more interested in my time. What do you say?”
Lottie may be a brat but she wasn’t completely stupid and she certainly recognised the warning in that look. His words implied he wasn’t joking around as well. With a clear sigh and rolling of the eyes to express her displeasure and what an inconvenience it was she gave an over the top sweet smile, “What can I do for you Commander?”
It was getting harder and harder to see in here as the smoke increased, and the slim protection of the wet shirt over his face was already starting to fail. But he felt Lottie speed up next to him, and then realized she’d caught a glimpse of the air outside. As they made it close to the exit, he unwrapped his arm from around her and gently shoved her forward. “Get out, call a cab, and get yourself home. Now.”
Lottie felt huge relief as the air got even cooler and she was within a few steps of the exit. His actions though caught her by surprise. Staggering forward a little as he pushed her it took a second to register what he said. The clear order and tone of his voice made her waver and as she turned to reply she saw him rush back into the burning building. There was nothing else she could do but get herself out as he instructed. She didn’t head home straight away, speaking to a few people first and hanging around long enough to hear that he had made it out safely before she headed away from the whole hideous scene.
It wasn’t hard to spot a watch car, the glaring blue and white made it stand out, and if that wasn’t enough of a give, certainly the man leaning against the side was a dead giveaway something was up. In his uniform, the Commander was an exclamation point amongst the casually dressed bystanders. His glasses sat perched on his nose, tipping down just slightly when he gave his phone a quick glance.
Just in time as the spotty mid noon crowd of students in front of the exit doubled. People poured out and Valentine pushed himself off his car when he spotted Lottie’s petite figure, he caught up with the girl just as she was saying her goodbyes with her classmates.
“Miss Berdini, a moment of your time if I may.” His words, polite as they might have been, were nothing if a cool reminder.
Lottie was not having a good day. Apparently she hadn’t charged her phone properly overnight and it had died on her as she made her way to class that morning. She’d forgotten to read a paper for her first class of the morning and as she came out of her second class her head was buzzing and she was desperate for coffee, sugar or alcohol and didn’t care in which order.
Preferring to blend in with the crowd on occasions like this she kept pace with the little group in front and turned quickly when she heard her name. Pursing her lips she stepped aside towards the commander, his uniform causing him to stick out like a sore thumb in among the students. “I’m afraid I have very important things to do Commander but it was sweet of you to drop by.”
“Fucking hell,” Spencer muttered, glaring at the young submissive sitting across from him. “What in God’s name would make you go skulk outside the one place you knew would be crawling with Watchmen? Seriously, Lottie…” he trailed off, running a hand over his face. “You were already on his radar.” He sighed. “So he kept you to be vindictive. Did he seem like he was going to come after you again?”
“I didn’t exactly plan it,” she cried out. “I couldn’t sleep and just wanted to get some air….and just kind of ended up there.” She knew that would be his reaction and would no doubt be Oz’s too when he found out but for now the feeling of disapproval from Spencer was bad enough. She nodded at his reasoning about the commander though his next question made her pause for a moment. “He ….he asked about my parents and said he would only have to turn up at the university, not even say anything beyond my name and he could get me kicked off my course.” Lottie glanced over, “He couldn’t could he? I’ve never been charged with anything. He doesn’t have the power to get me thrown off just for the hell of it?” That single thought was the only thing that kept playing round her head, making her think she had no option but to go through with the deal. When she didn’t consider that point she was fine.
“A job offer,” Damian said with a shrug. He smiled at her question. “Can’t it be both? I don’t know, I think it’s the cherries they use, they’re nice and tart.”
“Head hunted from afar, you must be something special,” Lottie teased with a smirk. “I’m starting to think you must be on commission, I swear I’ve never had such an indepth conversation about a pastry before.”
Daniella glanced back at the building. “I hope that there aren’t.” She sighed. “It’s just that I thought that I heard something being thrown and breaking the windows. I don’t know if it was or not, but it worries me.”
“I’m sure someone will be asking questions so you could tell them that although I’m surprised you could hear that over the music. Are you sure it wasn’t just something on a track that you heard and your mind is now playing tricks?”
Jim heard the cough and paused long enough to switch his grip so his arm was wrapped around her waist. This way he could support her if she fell or anything like that. “Move your feet forward. I’ve got the direction. Trust me.” With as well as he knew the building, he didn’t worry about trying to find any particular direction and instead moved towards the closest exit.
Lottie felt his arm around her, guiding her forward. It was terrifying but she just had to trust him and go with it. “Ok,” she gasped as she stepped forward. It was terrifying not being able to see while the alarms were going off around and she couldn’t hear anything beyond them. As they neared the exit she could see the glimmer of light from the streetlights and feel the breeze hitting her skin. Spurred on by the knowledge they were getting closer Lottie sped up her steps.
Sebastian laughed quite a bit at that. “That’s an excellent idea. The person to bring me the best coffee gets the highest grade. I’ll get fired, it’ll be great.”
“You may be fired but you’d be the most popular teacher on campus until that point plus you’d be having a great time for a few months with great coffee and treats.”
Daniella could not look back at the building, afraid of what she might see. Instead she focused her attention on the woman besides her. “I hope so too.” She bit her lip, worrying about those close to her. “We are lucky that the alarm went off when it did.”
“We know that the alarm system works well if nothing else,” Lottie agreed with a wry laugh. “I haven’t heard anything suggesting there have been any serious injuries, have you?”
Lottie's wild adventure 