Hell's Angel (BK 1)

Repairs

Alison's POV
(bellamysgirl)

I dropped into the office chair in my cubical, deflated, resting my elbows on the edge of my desk. My head fell into my hands and I closed my eyes. Seeing that man again, I almost think, was worse than hearing anything that Wilson Fisk had to say. My skin crawled and the space between my eyes ached now. "Alison," My heart leapt into my throat as I snapped upright, looking left. Ellison eyed me a moment in pause, then he sighed and shook his head. "Do have the recovery piece?"

"Oh...yeah." I grabbed the pages from my desk and held them out to him. He took the small bunch and looked them over. "Good," he nodded. "Have you switched to decaf yet? I think it would help with the jitters." I sighed and shook my head, my eyes feeling heavy.

"Sorry, not yet."

"Is everything alright? You look like you've seen a ghost," his eyes narrowed at me. That's because I did see one. And he was on television, looking as smug as ever. I inhaled and shook my head, waving it away. "I'm fine, just tired," I lied, with a small smile.

"Tired? The day just started," he pointed out. "I think you need to slim down on office hours, Fletcher. There's no time for you or your boy. You've got some vacation days saved up-"

"Thanks, Ellison. I actually already quit my diner job," I explained, lightly.

"Wow, good for you. That must feel nice, not working two jobs?" he commented, making small talk as he leaned into the doorway to the cubical. I nodded with a brief widening of eyes and an exhale. Just then, someone down the aisle called for him and he hurried off. I slouched in my chair as soon as he was gone. The rest of work, I couldn't think. My mind was too busy on other things to be bothered with trivial issues for a paper.

But finally work ended—Ellison let me go an hour early. This was good, because I had someone coming at seven to evaluate the damages of the upstairs in my new building. Mostly so that I can know how long it will take for Chase and me to be able to move in. The downstairs...that would take a lot to fix and I wasn't going to rush it. It would be ready whenever I was able to finish it.

So I got in my car and started driving. I first stopped at my apartment to change into something more comfortable. Then, on the way to the building, I did my best to psych myself up. Try to keep myself together, make myself seem happy, conceal my anger. Just act like nothing happened. I parked my car along the sidewalk and headed inside. Of course, there was no electricity or running water yet, so I couldn't turn on any lights. Not that I had light bulbs for the fixtures anyway.

I dropped my bag and jacket on the counter at the back of the building. Just then, a hollow knock echoed in the empty space. I hurried to the door and pulled it open. The repairman that was scheduled to show up in five minutes stood outside with an easy smile and paint splattered clothes. His name tag read Albert C. I smiled. "Hi. You must be from the repair company?"

"Yes, Ma'am," he nodded once. "You have some repairs you'd like priced?"

"Yeah, come on in. They're upstairs." I pulled the door open all the way and he stepped inside with a thankfully nod. I closed the door behind him and gestured for him to follow as I started up the left stairway. Every board creaked quite loudly as we climbed up to the second level. It was another thing I would need to put on my ever-growing to do list. "What did you want priced?" Albert C. asked.

We stopped mid-living room and I turned to him. "Well...there's a lot to do. It's kind of like those houses on House Flip?" I explained.

He gave a knowing look and glanced around. "The main room doesn't look too bad. You'd probably just want to replace the carpet in case of bugs," he said, thinking aloud. He stepped past me to look at the kitchen setup. I followed an inch or two behind with my hands clasped at my middle. He examined the refrigerator and stove carefully before saying anything else. "You'll want to get these appliances replaced—mostly for safety reasons. They pose fire hazards."