He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Five - Madness of The Unmasked

Of course, things could not always be so straight forward.

Now that Harmony's mask had been stripped off, the woman's true character was all that remained.  At first, she was satisfied by observing her target from a far, watching him from a shadowed corner in the Night Life club, not minding who served her drinks... then she could only have him serve her drinks, would not purchase anything unless Adam was her bartender.  Would only buy drinks from the bar that he was working at, upper or lower.  She managed, somehow, to obtain his work schedule so Adam could only request a change to his shifts in order to avoid her.

This was not enough, she soon figured out the situation.  She simply visited the club most nights despite the cost or hung around outside waiting for him to finish.  The woman also managed to find out where he worked during the day.  It had been coincidental, her car had gotten a flat tire and their garage just happened to be nearest available for the tow truck as it wasn't a simple fix.  Adam had treated her as just another customer, despite her acting all sweet and friendly towards him.  His colleagues had teased him, mentioning what they would do if such a beauty came on to them and why not give her a chance.

"Ah, but I have a lover," Adam had retorted.  "One who happens to be very jealous and possessive."

"That's not necessarily a good thing," his boss said worriedly.  His former wife had been possessive and almost cost him his livelihood and mental health before the divorce.

"But I'm the same with him," Adam admitted.  "It makes for a very passionate time.  Besides, there is great trust between us and understanding."

His boss saw the eyes of a lost man and shook his head for a moment before coming to a realisation.  "Him?"  Ah no wonder this boy was not looking or touching such a fine looking, good natured woman!

Good natured?  The boss soon came to realise his mistake.  The woman had booked her car into the garage several times, for its M.O.T, for a service, but then for several trivial nonsense reasons, even to change a working lightbulb in the headlight?  And even when she was not making up excuses to increase their workload, she had started to hang around the garage in the evenings, specifically the time when Adam was due to leave or when they were locking up for the night after the boy had worked overtime. 

"Isn't this considered stalking?"  His boss had asked him after seeing her car registration in his books yet again.  "You know, you should probably consider talking to someone about it."

"Nothing I can do at the moment," Adam shrugged.  "It's not like she's hurting anyone, just wasting her own time."

And then Owen came to work at the bar for a few weekends to lighten the workload over the summer holidays.  He had passed his exams with flying colours and was easily accepted onto his course of first choice, Pharmacy, at his university of choice.  He filled out the paperwork for student loans, his father would have helped pay for his studies, but Owen wanted to stand on his own two feet a bit more and no longer wished to aggravate his stepmother.  He didn't need to fuel her hatred, she was causing herself to suffer by not letting go.  Only if she decided to go against him or his lover personally would he bother to retaliate.  He was also aware that his siblings had come to like him so his stepmother risked alienating her own children if she tried to play tricks.  She could only fume in silence.

But before he began his course, it did not hurt to earn a little pocket money that he could claim his own, plus he and Adam were looking for a small nest that they could officially call their own, especially since Harmony had followed Adam home and had begun pestering his aunt. 

However Owen's presence at the bar caused a confrontation between lover and stalker.  The woman had taken one look at the two men working side by side and noticed a small, sweet exchange of loving smiles between the pair as they worked and she finally flipped.  She smashed the wine glass leaving only a few curved fragments of sharp glass on the fragile stem and had rushed through a sudden gap in the crowd as they had turned to figure out where the noise had come from (and cheer for the idiot who had dropped the glass).  Seeing her bloodlust, they instinctively moved away from her, a few screaming in panic and pushing others in order to get away.  Owen had turned to stare at the fast approaching wraith, only to be pushed out of the way by his lover.