- RAYA -
"Mr. Otis!"
I’m pounding on my landlord’s door on the first floor of the apartnt building while a cab waits for outside. It’s Friday. He should be here. He is typically gone on the weekends, but he’s always ho during the week.
"Mr. Otis! It’s important!"
The door opens abruptly with the angry short man glaring back at .
"What is it? I have a life, you know. Can’t you call?" He barks.
"I need to talk with you. It’s urgent. It’s about the neighbor."
"I don’t get involved in neighbor argunts. Handle it yourself."
He goes to shut the door, but I block it. "It’s not an argunt. He drilled a hole in my wall and has been watching . I’ve moved my stuff out, and I’m here to terminate my lease."
"You still have six months on your lease," he growls. "The penalty is three month’s rent."
"I’m not paying a penalty, Mr. Otis," I insist.
He may be an angry old man all the ti, but I’m angry too. I’m angry that this happened. I’m angry about the accident. I’m angry about Grace, and I’m angry at myself for being complacent in this role of the victim while Dex handles everything for . I have a voice, and I’m going to use it.
Mr. Otis laughs. "Okay, sweetheart. We’ll see."
"This apartnt building is in horrible condition, and I’ve never complained. I appreciate having a roof over my head, but he violated my sense of safety and privacy. Do you understand? That’s a felony, Mr. Otis. And if you do nothing about it, then that makes you complicit in that cri."
"Because there is a hole in your wall?" He laughs again, deep and condescending.
"Yes, because that bastard was watching all this ti. So I’m here to tell you that I’m moving out, and I would appreciate you coming with so I can show you the hole myself."
"Are you taping ?" He asks, his condescending glare dropping to one of sinking suspicion.
"Maybe I am," I cross my arms, wishing now that I would have thought of that. Why didn’t I think of that? Maybe because the thought of doing that without soone’s knowledge makes extrely uncomfortable unlike the voyeur living next to .
Mr. Otis grumbles sothing and looks back into his apartnt. "Do you have the keys?" He asks.
"Yes, I have them with ."
I follow him up to my floor and open the door for him, casting an uneasy glance down the hall to where the neighbor’s door is located. I’d love to confront that creep. That was my plan, but I ditched it halfway here. He pulled a shotgun on Dex, so who knows if he’ll do the sa to ? Part of wants to call the asshole’s bluff, because if he’s a big enough coward to hide behind that wall and watch without my knowledge, then I seriously doubt he’s got the balls to shoot . But even with the anger I’m harboring now, I can’t bring myself to do it.
Once we get inside, it hits that the last ti I was here was the morning of the accident.
"Where’s this hole?" The landlord asks.
I grab a chair to drag to the refrigerator and climb up, moving cereal boxes so I can see the wall. And sure enough, there it is. My stomach turns at the sight of it.
Thankfully there is sothing behind the hole on the other side that keeps from being able to see into the other apartnt. If there were an eyeball there, I don’t think I’d ever be able to sleep again. It’s going to be hard enough now that I’m seeing the evidence for myself. My bedroom is in the direct line of sight.
I hop down from the chair and gesture to where the peephole is, feeling nauseous now. Mr. Otis looks at the chair unhappily.
"You want to climb on that?"
"Do you want to see the hole?"
He makes a few angry grunts and finally gets on to take a look.
"I don’t see anything," he says gruffly.
"The hole? You don’t see that big hole there that’s pointed straight at my bedroom?" I exclaim.
"It’s blocked off."
"Well it wasn’t blocked off before. He was looking through it."
Mr. Otis climbs down awkwardly. "What do you want? Fine, move out. No penalty."
"I want my security deposit back." I cross my arms.
"No penalty and your security deposit back? Are you crazy?" He explodes.
"Look at how nice my apartnt is compared to your building. You can probably charge more. But you’re going to have to fix that hole, and I would recomnd evicting that guy. If he’s doing it to , he’s probably doing it to the neighbor on the other side."
Mr. Otis huffs and looks around. "I’ll mail the deposit to you. Give a forwarding address, and the rest of your stuff needs to be out by the end of the month."
"I want the security deposit now."
He glares at for a long mont before starting with a deep rolling laugh. "You have a temper. I can appreciate that." Then he groans and rolls his eyes. "Co on. I’ll get you the deposit."
—————
- DEX -
Raya hasn’t answered my texts or calls, and she isn’t at either house. I left work early, giving Lawson so excuse that I’m eting with a client, but it’s already been two hours now of waiting, alternately staring at my phone and the guest house waiting to see if she’ll reply or arrive. I’m really debating on whether or not to call Grace and ask exactly what the fuck she said.
Instead, I go out to the pool and sink into one of the chairs, tossing my phone on the side table. Why the hell did Grace have to co into town?
That’s when I hear a car driving down the road that winds around both houses. It stops at the gate, a car door closes, and then I hear soone fumbling with the gate lock and cursing softly on the other side.
It’s Raya. She’s back. The relief I feel in that mont is instant. But she’s also locked out. My bet is she left from the main house and didn’t want to co back in that way when she saw my truck.
I get up and jog over to see her on the other side of the gate as a cab pulls away.
"Need so help?" I ask, smiling with relief at seeing her there.
She sighs, and imdiately I recognize the barrier that she’s built to keep out just like this gate that stands between us.
"No," she replies and crosses her arms.
"You don’t need help?"
"I can walk around," she says stubbornly and backs up to do just that.
"Are you serious?" I chuckle, but she walks off, and I reach through the gate to unlock it. "Raya!"
I jog after her and grab her arm so she’ll stop and face .
"What happened? Why are you being like this? I texted you today. I heard from Liz. She’s so excited to work with you. It sounds like it went great."
"It did," she nods, avoiding my eyes. "I just need you to stop helping . I’m not so poor, helpless damsel in distress that can’t do anything for herself. And I don’t want hero sex."
"What? What the hell is that?"
Her accusing eyes return to . "You don’t know what I’m talking about?"
"Hero sex?" I repeat, shaking my head. "No. I don’t know what that is. And I don’t think you’re a damsel in distress. You’re... you. I told you. You’re not just dessert. You’re not sothing I want to hurry up and get out of my system. You’re literally the woman of my dreams, Raya. I know how fucking crazy that sounds, but... it’s true. Why wouldn’t I help you if I can?"
She’s looking at her feet, arms crossed, because apparently the ground is more interesting than this conversation.
"Can I ask you a question?" I venture. "Wouldn’t you help if I needed it?"
Finally she glances up, nodding reluctantly.
"Okay. How is this any different?"
"It’s different because I can’t help you. I’m not in a position to," she replies. "anwhile, you’ve given a raise and a place to live and made dinner and introduced to Liz and given avocados..."
"But you’ve already helped ," I interrupt, fighting a smile about the avocados. "Don’t you realize that?"
"How?" She frowns, shaking her head.
"Let make you dinner, and I’ll tell you about it." I offer her my hand, and she stares at it suspiciously. "Or if you’d prefer, we can make dinner together. But let’s talk about this, because this hero sex thing didn’t just co out of nowhere. What do you say?"
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