“I think the food is burning.” I know he seems to hate that I can distract him like that, but I love that I can do to him what he does to me.
“Shit.” He jumps up and places me back on my chair before rushing over to the stove. He pulls a pan off and mumbles something about a distraction.
8
Drake
When I finish cleaning up after our meal, I go to the bar and put Zoey back in my lap. I had to recook everything, but I didn’t mind because it gave me a chance to watch her work as she watched me cook.
“Tell me what you’re working on,” I say, leaning in and kissing her neck.
“I do data research for a couple of firms in and out of the country, oh, God, that feels good. Right there.”
I smile against her skin “What was that?”
“Your mouth is very distracting. Don’t stop. I’ll keep talking.”
I continue to kiss her as she wraps her arms and legs around me.
“Essentially, I collect financial information on people. Sometimes I’m hired by the government, and sometimes I’m hired by bad guys.”
I tense at her usage of the term “bad guys.” “What do you mean by that?”
“It’s nothing really. I just take on cases I like. If I find something interesting, I do that.”
She says it so nonchalantly. I’m not sure she understands the dangers of working for criminals when it comes to money.
“Cupcake, don’t you think this could have something to do with your stalker now?”
She looks at me and cocks her head to the side as if contemplating it.
“No. I’m careful.”
Just as I’m about to open my mouth and ask her some more questions, I hear the alert go off on my phone. I jump up, taking Zoey with me as I go to the other side of the counter and grab it.
Before Zoey walked in on me, I set up some things in her apartment. Hidden cameras, motion sensors, the works. If someone entered the apartment, I could monitor it. I had the alert set up on my phone.
I carry Zoey over to my laptop and set her down on the counter beside it. I open it up, put in my passcode, and wait a second for all the security cameras to come up to speed.
“That’s my home,” she says, leaning over and watching with me.
“Yes. It looks like someone got inside. The front door was opened, but there’s no sign of forced entry.” I zoom in on the image and see that the door knob and locks don’t look damaged. I double-check the keypad system on my phone and see that the correct code was entered. “Whoever did this had a key and code.”
“That’s impossible. Only Elle and I have that.”
I switch through cameras around the house, but I can’t find any movement. I can’t figure it out. Someone opened her door and turned off the alarm. I have a motion sensor going off at the entrance but nowhere else. Whoever was there must have seen something to scare them off.
I pull Zoey close to my side as I go through the camera footage. Finally, I get to the point when the sensors went off, and I see a dark shadow at the front door. The two of us lean closer to my laptop screen to try to make out the figure, but it’s too dark and too grainy.
“Goddamn it,” I curse, wishing I would have had more time to test out the equipment I put in place before we left. I was so concerned with getting Zoey here that I didn’t test the sensors and cameras properly. “I’m sorry, Zoey. This is my fault.”
“Why are you sorry? You’re the one who got me out of there. I’m safe because of you.”
I look into her eyes, and I see that she means it with all her heart. She’s partly right. I did get her out of there before the person came back, but I can’t help but feel a little guilty for not making sure we caught them at the same time.
“Do you recognize the person on the screen?” I have little hope she does. She would’ve told me already. With Zoey, I always know what’s on her mind. And it’s quite possibly my favorite thing about her.
“No. It’s so fuzzy. It could be a man or a woman, and I can’t even make out what they’re wearing. It looks like they open the door, enter the code, and stand there for seven seconds before they turn around and leave. I don’t think they even locked it behind them.”
“That’s an accurate description,” I say, leaning over and kissing her cheek. “I’ll pull the cameras from the lobby, but the system your building uses is less than adequate, and I’m not hopeful. It will take me some time to get the request back. They weren’t very cooperative when I talked to them before. They said that unless a police report of harassment had been filed, they weren’t required to tell us shit.”