Chapter Seven: First Errand 2

Rhea's POV

The automatic doors slid open and I stepped inside, already feeling the cold blast of air conditioning hit me through the hoodie.

A woman behind the counter glanced up, did a visible double take at the shades and the cap and the way I had my hoodie strings pulled tight under my chin, and I pretended not to notice.

"Hi." I kept my voice steady. "I'm here to collect an order. Jiles asked me to pick it up."

"Jiles?" She tilted her head, already reaching for a clipboard. "We don't have any order under that name."

"Jiles Ashford," I added quickly.

"You're here to collect Mr. Ashford's goods?"

The voice came from behind me and I turned to find a man in a store uniform walking toward us, already pulling a phone out of his back pocket.

"Yes." I nodded.

"Right, good, you're here." He glanced at his screen. "He just sent the order through, but a few of the items he wanted aren't actually in stock."

My stomach dropped slightly. "What happens now?"

"You will have to wait a moment." He waved me forward, already heading toward a different aisle. "We don't have exactly what he asked for, but we've got some replacements that should work fine."

"Does he know that?"

The man glanced back at me. "No."

I frowned, following him still, and he led me to the medicine aisle. Rows of boxes with names I half recognized, pharmacy labels, a locked case further down.

My phone buzzed in my pocket before I could ask anything.

Did you get it?

I swallowed and typed back, No.

Why.

I explained it as fast as I could, fingers fumbling slightly over the screen. His reply came back almost instantly.

Tell him he gives you exactly what I asked for. If they don't have it, leave and go to another store.

I sighed, looking up at the man still scanning the shelf in front of him. "He wants the exact one. Not a replacement."

"It's the same product, basically." He pulled one box down, turning it over in his hands. "Does the same job. This is for insomnia, right? My parents use this brand. Works just fine for them."

My stomach twisted. Sleeping pills?

My phone started ringing before I could think too hard about it. His name lit up the screen and my heart lurched.

"Hello?"

"Why didn't you reply to my last text."

"I was talking to the man, I…”

"Is that him?" the clerk asked, watching me.

I nodded, covering the phone slightly. "He insists.”

"Tell him if they don't have mine, you leave." Jiles’ voice came flat through the phone, already decided.

The way he sounded made me say this.

“I thought I was just picking something up.” My voice came out quieter. “I need to get back to the house soon. I'm only allowed thirty minutes outside alone."

"You're not leaving that store without getting me the right ones."

The clerk glanced at me, a box in my hand. "Should I pack this one, then?"

I relayed the question, and Jiles' answer came back sharp. "That's not what I want. Why is you even still there."

I pressed my lips together and apologized quietly to the man, telling him we didn't need that one after all, and turned to leave the aisle.

"I can get them after school tomorrow. But I really need to head back now." I said into the phone, already moving toward the doors.

"I need those tomorrow night, mouse. You get them before school tomorrow."

"I have a curfew, Jiles, I can't just…"

"Is that a no. Are you rejecting your first order?"

I didn't answer. The silence stretched long enough that it started to ache, and then he hang up.

I stood there staring at the screen, my chest tight, when a text from Cleo popped up asking where I was.

Will be back soon, I typed quickly, and shoved the phone back into my pocket.

I took a breath and walked back into the store, found the clerk again, and asked him to show me the full list Jiles had sent through. He pulled it up, still trying gently to convince me the substitutes would work just as well but I just took pictures of the list from his phone and thanked him before heading back out.

I pulled my shades off once I was outside, adjusted my hoodie and checked the nearest store. Not there. Two more after that, also nothing, Cleo calling twice in between with her voice getting more worried each time I picked up to tell her I was almost done.

I finally found all four in the fourth store, transferred the money from my upkeep and practically ran the whole way back to the orphanage.

The house mistress was waiting by the door when I slipped inside. “Where have you been, Rhea? This isn't like you."

"I'm so sorry. It won't happen again." I kept my head down, genuinely meaning it, and she let me go with a soft warning.

Upstairs, I pulled the photos up and started typing. Got them. Took way longer than I thought because the first two stores didn't have…

I stopped, stared at it, and deleted the whole thing. It felt like too much. Like I was getting too comfortable explaining myself to him like he actually cared about the details of my night.

I got them, I sent instead.

The message showed as read almost immediately.

Then nothing.

I sat there holding my phone, waiting for the three dots that never came, until I finally gave up and set it face down on my nightstand with a long sigh.

I told myself I had already done him a solid whether he bothered to acknowledge it or not, and that should be enough.

But some small, nagging part of me was worried. Why did he need sleeping pills?