She's The Wild West

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

"Shit!"

Wednesday, 12:30 pm, Ms. Mori and I were on our way back to The Kitaru Organization building. She had another set of client meetings and I was brought along once again to console them, take the attention away from Ms. Mori and shorten the meetings as much as possible. It was three in a row and they were held over lunch at a very fancy restaurant. The restaurant was a German place called "Der Vorgeschmack" and I managed to make Ms. Mori laugh her soft, pretty laugh while she tried to teach me how to pronounce it on the car ride over.

The reason the meetings were being held there specifically was because the restaurant had hired the three clients we met with through The Kitaru Organization's temporary employment department. Two of the people had been living out of their cars, and one had been on the brink before they got their jobs as restaurant staff. They all were extremely eager to express their gratitude and share their appreciation for the chance to get back on their feet. Two of them cried, but I managed to get us out of the restaurant in just under an hour.

It was during the ride back in the SUV when Mr. Alcott suddenly cursed and slammed on the brakes. I felt the sudden stop and shot my arm out to keep Ms. Mori from slamming into back of the driver's seat. She didn't have her seatbelt on properly because she was using her laptop and it always got in her way, so she lurched forward and crashed into my arm. Then we both jerked back in our seats and I turned to check on her.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt at all?"

I looked her over and she seemed fine, if not a bit irritated. She glanced down at the arm I stuck out to catch her, and I slowly pulled it back. Then her gaze trailed up to meet my own and we just stayed like that for a spell, eyes locked until she seemed to blink herself out if it.

"I'm fine, although my coffee spilled everywhere. What the fuck was that Alcott?"

Mr. Alcott peered at the both of us through the rearview mirror, then settled his focus on Ms. Mori. I glanced outside through the front windshield, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. We were going down a pretty quiet side street, and there were nothing but cars parked in front of houses around us.

"My apologies. That child over there ran out in front of the car right before we passed her."

He pointed to the right and when I checked again I finally saw the group of kids. They were looking back at the car laughing, and one girl to the side had her hand over her heart, staring at Mr. Alcott with wide eyes. Then the group noticed we were watching them and they quickly started running down the street.

"She didn't give me much time to stop. I think they were playing a game or something and she did it on purpose. Are you both alright back there?" he asked, even after seeing for himself that we were fine.

"We're okay. Stupid fucking kids were playing chicken." Ms. Mori rolled her eyes and glanced down.

Her laptop was fine but the to-go cup of coffee she got from the restaurant, which she'd been balancing on the flat surface of the laptop near the keyboard, had spilled on her skirt. She set the computer down on the seat between us and there was a big dark stain in the fabric. I picked up the empty cup off the floor and heard her sigh.

"We need to make a stop Alcott. I have to change before returning to the office."

"Understood. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience."

Mr. Alcott quickly grabbed some napkins out of the glovebox, handed them back to Ms. Mori and started driving again. She started wiping the skirt, not doing much to help the stain and I put her laptop into storage pocket behind the passenger seat.