Page 14 of Awestruck at Dusk
The elevator doors opened before us, and we walked toward my door. There was a surveillance camera with a bird’s-eye view of my doorstep.
Shit.
I looked up and asked, “Who’s monitoring these cameras?” Apparently, I’ve become a living and breathing character in Orwell’s1984. “Are there any cameras inside my apartment?”
It was best if I asked beforehand. I don’t think I would be able to take it if I found a camera stepping in. I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t knock it down either.
Aaron looked up at the camera with a frown. “Your father insisted—no one’s watching, per se. The intention is to have the opportunity to review if needed,” he explained. “There will be an agent assigned to this specific camera. But he won’t be watching every second of the day. The camera sends alerts when triggered by unusual movement and other parameters that have been integrated into the system. If the agent deems it worthy of reporting, the first flag goes out to me.”
I shot Aaron a side-glance.
“And no, there are no cameras inside your apartment. But three more panic buttons were installed. I’ll show you where they are right now if you want.”
“Is there audio recording in this camera?”
“No, there isn’t. Just video.”
Thank God.
The three of us stepped inside my apartment, and everything was pristine. They’d done an excellent job cleaning, physically speaking. But I’m sure the ghosts were out there hiding, ready to haunt me at night.
Aaron showed me the three new panic button locations: One in the kitchen, one in my bathroom, and one in the guest bedroom. With that, all areas had a panic button now.
“Thanks, Aaron. Nathan’s heading over in a bit. Can we get him one of those keycards for quicker access? Or are you going to have to bring him up every time?” This was getting super annoying.
“Your father doesn’t want anyone coming up unannounced, so one of us will have to give Nathan access from now on,” Aaron replied. “Perhaps you could talk to your father about this in a few weeks. I’m sure he’ll feel more at ease once he sees you’re safely settled here.”
Right.
I thanked Aaron and Amena and shut the door.
Welcome to house arrest.
William was home, and something told me he had company. I hadn’t seen him since I helped him sneak out of the hospital a few days ago. And we hadn’t had thatpendingconversation yet. Alice rode back with us, so thankfully, the conversation had been all fun and games.
I could hear a guitarand his piano simultaneously playing, accompanied by a muffled laugh here and there.
The doorbell rang, startling me as usual and skyrocketing my anxiety. It was a mixture of expecting it to be Nathan but scared about it not being him. Maybe Aaron wanted to tell me something. Or maybe my father decided to show up at the last minute. But I wanted it to be Nathan. I’d been stress-unpacking for the last hour just to kept me distracted.
It was so uncomfortable and scary being alone in my apartment. I knew the threat was gone, but the heavy and traumatizing feeling about what happened wasn’t.
I peeked through the peephole and sighed with relief when I opened the door.
“Hi, love,” Nathan said, walking in. Aaron nodded at me and turned around to leave. Nathan shut the door behind him and kissed my cheek. “I see there’s a new surveillance camera outside your door.”
“I know. It sucks. At least it doesn’t record any audio.” I shrugged, grabbing Nathan’s hand and pulling him toward my bedroom. I wanted to finish unpacking. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if my place was bugged.”
He laughed. “I’m sure it’s not, love. And if it is, we’ll keep an agent entertained,” he said, closing my bedroom door and pinning me against it. “I miss you.”
“I miss you too,” I said, a bit startled. I didn’t mind Nathan’s usual playful roughness, but my mind was playing tricks on me, reminding me of how Thomas physically maltreated me that day.
I swallowed down the feelings. The last thing I needed was for any of that to affect my relationship with Nathan.
And wedidhave audio surveillance—William. He’d already admitted to being able to listen to us having sex. And I didn’t know how to talk to Nathan about how that bothered me without giving him a wrong idea or creating unnecessary drama.
Besides, I wouldn’t wantanyoneto listen to us having sex, but the fact that it was William made it even more mortifying.
Nathan kissed my neck and pulled the hem of my light sweater slightly upward, sliding his hand against my skin. “You’re so soft,” he whispered in my ear. He pulled my face closer to him and brought his lips to mine, kissing me with a claiming hunger.
