Ulterior Motives

Uninvited Guest

Has Reagan gotten in over her head? With bait like Oliver how could she resist?

Happy Reading.

Love
NJ
XOXO

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Reagan didn't have a car. She'd never needed one. She had access to other means of transportation. Although blinking made her want to throw up but that was more of a last resort option. Magic has its benefits.

Stepping out of the taxi she notice the food cart that was usually on her street was gone too. Days like this one that had her crisscrossing back and forth around the city usually wore her out and she tended to stop by the cart to grab some food instead of making her own dinner. It was highly unusual for the cart to be gone. This was his regular spot, his turf. Every street vender knew this was his corner. Glancing around to check and make sure he wasn't across the street or maybe on one of the other corners, she handed the cabby a bill and closed the door.

Had she known he wasn't going to be around she would have stopped at the corner deli near her office before she flagged down a cab. She tried to remember what she had in the refrigerator as she adjusted her jacket and headed towards the glass doors and up the stairs. The mace was in her pocket so she could check her mail in the entry way before stepping into the foyer.

The doorman grinned at her, looking up from his newspaper as she walked into her apartment building. Smiling back at him, she headed towards the elevator and swiped her key fob before she could select her floor. She had checked around before she got the place. Everyone here was human. She didn't want to mix her work and her personal life. Not that she really had much of a personal life but she didn't want her work following her home. Figuratively or otherwise.

She pulled her keys out of her pocket as she walked up to her door and let herself in. She heard the familiar sound of a soft bell tinkle down the hallway as she took off her wet raincoat and hung it in the closet. A perfectly normal, nothing special about her, black cat trotted towards her and rubbed its head against the toe of her shoe. Reagan smiled and bent down to pick her up. The bell on the cat's collar chimed softly.

"Hello, Wednesday." She cooed softly while the cat licked her nose and she set her back down. Maybe it was in rebellion against superstitions, they were, for the most part not true, but Reagan had always had a soft spot for black cats.

The cat followed her into the main part of the loft. Open kitchen, dining room and living room overlooking the city. It was a one bedroom, one and a half bath corner unit with glass walls and a small but comfortable balcony that was big by New York standards. If she peaked far enough over and around the corner she could see a small sliver of the harbor; even smell the ocean if the wind was right. She loved it here and it was all hers. Her room wasn't a master bedroom but the walk in closet made up for it and the vintage steel tub with eagle claw legs was too much to pass over. That and she got it for a bargain.

She grabbed a quick shower to wash the rain out of her hair and then went to the kitchen going back over Oliver's case in her head. The egg roll from before barely tied her over so she walked to the fridge and pulled out the fish she had been marinating and prepared the stovetop. She planned on having this tomorrow but she was starving.

She'd been working all week so she decided to pour herself a glass of wine. She hadn't had a drink since the night she told Oliver her suspicions. It would be a while before she could stomach scotch again. The smell of it made her queasy for days afterward. She'd had a little bit more than she should have had that night and ended up sleeping on the couch in the office instead of going home.