Watching over Erica (#1 COMRAICH GAOIL)

Chapter III: Brent makes an appearance

“Uff.”

Erica collapsed onto the couch as if she had just run a marathon. Well, not exactly, but she had run out of energy. Her legs and arms ached so much that she bet she would wake up tomorrow with shoelaces. But she preferred not to think about it now.

Erica reached out a hand and grabbed the bottle of water she'd left on the mahogany coffee table. She drank greedily as she surveyed her surroundings critically. This already looked more like home, now that it had been thoroughly cleaned. She still had to finish washing some moldy parts of the upstairs walls and then repainting all the walls in the house, but Erica decided to save that last part for when she got a job and saved up a little first. She had no friends or family to invite anyway.

After a little deliberation, she had decided to use the upstairs as a makeshift storage room. She did it for various reasons. In the first place, the top floor was the most damaged by mold, and almost all the furniture and mattresses had succumbed to the insects. She also couldn't get rid of all of it by herself because she didn't have the strength to carry it down the stairs, so Erica decided to leave it there for now. She would figure out what to do later. Anyway, there was a tiny bathroom downstairs and she could sleep on the sofa near the fireplace. What's more, she had already done it.

The dark circles under her eyes indicated that she hadn't slept much. She tried, she really tried. But the forest, and especially the house, which already looked sinister in the daylight, became truly terrifying at night. And it all got on her nerves. The creaking of the wooden floor and furniture, the howling of the wind that filtered through the planks of the walls, the crackling of the fire, the strange sounds that came from the forest... Her own mind had not left her alone either, making her believe that a serial killer was lurking in the woods and was going to break into her house to kill her. Yes, how it sounded.

In short, she was now dead sleepy.

Using the little strength had left, Erica got up and headed to the kitchen, where her laptop rested on the table. She turned it on, and while she waited for it to connect to the Internet, she decided to make herself a cup of coffee. She wasn't hungry, although that was something that was becoming a habit, to her misfortune. She wasn't proud of the fact that she skipped meals, but it was worse that it made her sick to eat and then have a stomach ache. Or that she vomited. With how expensive everything was, she couldn't even afford to waste food like that.

Erica sipped her mug as she took a seat and checked her message tray first. She was glad when she saw it completely empty, except for a few spam messages. She deleted them, too, and then took a look at her savings account. If she didn't overdo her shopping this month, she could still last one more month, but Erica was already thinking about finding a job soon. The problem was that, far from the big cities, her only option was to look for work in the nearest towns. Well, Swansea wasn't too far away, but she wasn't sure if her battered car could handle the two-hour commute to work every day. It was starting to leak oil. And sometimes it was hard to start. Hmm…

Well, I'll post a resume everywhere just in case, she thought.

She spent a couple of hours doing this activity, even forgetting to eat and drink. Not only did she submit her job card in her specialty areas, which was accounting and finance, but also applied for jobs at a few fast food and grocery stores, in case she didn't get a call from anywhere soon.

Knock Knock knock!

Erica jumped out of her chair and nearly had a heart attack. So engrossed was she in what was doing that she didn't notice someone coming up the steps from her patio and pounding on the door. The young woman needed a few seconds to calm down, although her heart was still beating like crazy.

The blows became more insistent.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

“Anyone there?” said the booming voice of a man.

Come on, what are you waiting for to open?, she scolded herself.

Erica forced her legs to move and slowly opened the door a crack, just enough to poke an eye out and see the stranger.

“Yes?” She asked, checking to make sure her voice didn't shake.

The man was broad-shouldered, not an ounce of excess fat on that bracing chest that looked as if it were made of steel, and had jauntily cut hair that was hay-colored and fine. His eyes were a greenish tint, and overall, despite his intimidating height, he had a cheeky and approachable air. He was dressed soberly with a black short-sleeved T-shirt close to his chest, dark-colored pants, and military boots. On his wristbands was an identical black watch.

He smiled good-naturedly.

“Hi, I'm Brent Osborne. And I work for the ESF,” he introduced himself.

Erica did a bit of memory, and then she remembered the mayor's words.

“The Easton Security Forces?” she guessed.

Brent winked at her.

“That's right, my bosses have sent me. I am here on their behalf as they are in London right now and cannot come in person. They say they're sorry.”

Erica froze.

“Um, Brent, sorry for asking, but how do they know I've come here when they're in London?” She tried not to sound scared, but it was a little unsettling. It was literally her second day here.

Brent shrugged, like it wasn't a reason to worry.

“They always manage to find out everything. Maybe Kilgour told them, it wouldn't be the first time.”

Wow, so the mayor didn't know how to keep his mouth shut.

“Anyway, you don't need to go to all that trouble,” she replied briskly.

“It's not a bother. Also, you live alone. That worries us all.”

Why did she get the feeling that Marcus Kilgour was a very nosy and indiscreet man? And why did she get the feeling that all the men were getting a little paranoid? Erica stifled a sigh.

“Thank you for your concern, but as I've told the mayor and Sean before, I'm perfectly fine,” she replied softly.

More or less. Her house had leaks and the chimney was barely enough to heat the whole house and there was mold on the walls and a thousand other imperfections, but at least it was her house and that was enough.

Brent raised an eyebrow.

“Have you met the Allisters yet?”

“Only Sean.”

“I see. Then you'll be in good hands, although I wouldn't say the same about the other brother.”

“You mean Emerson?”

“Yes, he's surly, borderline, and aggressive,” Brent replied, “although now that I think about it, we have colleagues like that in the barracks, too. Damien, for example.”

“It must be tough.”

The big man sighed.

“Tell me about it. Most are killjoys. I think it's the excess testosterone that makes them more unfriendly. It would be nice to bring a woman to the barracks.”

“Women are not allowed to go in there?”

“Oh no, that's not it. It's that we're all single. Well, Grant and Hunter are together, but they've been wanting to add a woman to their relationship for years. Stephan and Leandon the same. There are some such cases in Comraich Gaoil.”

Erica's eyes widened. Had she heard wrong?

“Ex-excuse me?”

“You did not know? Ups, now you know.”

“I thought that what appeared in the books…”

“...were the wild fantasies of a writer in heat? Well, in some cases it is possible. But polyamorous relationships exist in real life.”

“I didn't know,” Erica answered honestly, and was forced to point out, “It's not that I'm against it or anything, of course, it's just that it caught me off guard.”

“Comraich Gaoil is a more open-minded people than it seems. That's why my bosses decided to settle here.”

“Your bosses?”

“They are triplets and the three rule equally. And they also wish to share a woman one day,” he explained. And then he added very quietly, “And now that I think about it, the Allister brothers have also…”

“Yes?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing. Forget it,” Brent replied quickly, returning to normal. “I don't want to bother you too much. I just came by to say hello and deliver this to you.”

Brent gave her a card with a phone number on it.

“My bosses told me that if you need help or whatever, call this number and any of us will be here in no time. They are serious and I also have to insist,” he explained and suddenly his face took on a hint of severity, like the ex-military man he was. “Since you live out of town, if something happened to you neither Superintendent Williams nor the mayor would be able to help you. The best option would be to go to the Allisters, but we are better prepared in case of an emergency. Give us a ring and in twenty minutes tops you'll have us here, okay?”

Erica opened her mouth to say it wasn't necessary, but fell silent at Brent's unyielding gaze. Protesting wouldn't do any good, so the best thing to do was say thank you and wish him a safe journey back. She put the card in the pocket of her jeans.

“Thanks, Brent. I'll keep that in mind, really,” she said, giving the man a smile.

Although all this attention and overprotection seemed excessive and unnecessary, deep down Erica felt grateful. The last few months hadn't been good for her, and she barely remembered the last time anyone had asked about her well-being. Since her father's death a year or so ago, she supposed. So it took some comfort to have several men looking out for her safety. It wasn't so bad, after all.

Brent smiled back.

“Great. I'm leaving. Nice to meet you, Erica.”

So he already knew her name. It must be the mayor's thing.

“Likewise. See you later, Brent.”

Erica sighed as she closed the door and put all the locks back in order. This place was turning out to be more peculiar than she thought. In just forty-eight hours she had a whole regiment of unknown men ready to take care of her. There must be something strange about the water in this town, she was sure of it. She had never been much in the way of attention in Cardiff, so this was starting to feel a bit strange.

She shrugged and headed back to the kitchen table. She still had work to do.

[...]

Again, Sean's mind was drifting along deep lines.

He had been distracted all day, and even Emerson, who was not particularly known for his wit, had noticed it. Thanks to that, he had made several mistakes, like putting salt instead of sugar in his coffee this morning or forgetting to give Hera her medicine. This was not like him and he was beginning to feel annoyed. But all this had a person responsible.

Erica Goodwin.

He had been thinking about her all day. When he first saw her, he was surprised to see how small and skinny she was. So delicate and so vulnerable looking. He didn't like it at all to see her struggling with the bags as she tried to climb that slope of sharp stones. She could slip very easily and cut her knees. Or sprain an ankle. It was very dangerous, and it bothered him that she was alone and had no one to help her, as the other women of Comraich Gaoil did. He was about to question her about her family and friends, but he knew that was out of the question. And besides, he was nobody to her. Just her nice, polite neighbor.

Hmm, he wasn't satisfied with that.

It was clear that the young woman needed a guardian, someone to watch over her health and safety. Sean had seen the circles under her eyes, her pale, tired face, and the way her clothes made bags everywhere. She wasn't taking care of herself like she should and no one seemed to care. That couldn't be.

But what could he do as his neighbor?

Sean pondered silently for a long time, but he couldn't come up with anything. If he couldn't come up with a solution, then he would have to watch her for now. In a discreet and measured way, of course. He didn't want to scare her or make her think he was some kind of nutcase. He didn't want to cause her any kind of inconvenience, just help her as much as possible as the good neighbor he was. Any man from Comraich Gaoil would do the same, he told himself over and over again.

Sean smiled. Yes, he would do just that.

In his head he was already beginning to plan his next visit.