Chapter 6
Kai
THREE HOURS LATER, after too many empty beer bottles and a quickie in the storage room, I am sitting behind the counter, looking at the empty space.
The shift is officially over; Leo is cleaning tables, and I am watching my new favorite show.
Rachel has been home for a while now and is sitting in her living room, drinking wine and reading a book called Their Deadly Game—a red cover with a skull displayed on it.
Noah is on the other side of the couch with a book of his own, eating pizza and reading happily.
I wonder if that’s a normal night for them.
It’s Saturday, and they have had a full day, but is this really how they spend their nights? Reading books and drinking wine.
Leo comes up behind me silently, and when he speaks, I almost drop my phone onto the floor.
“Is this you not stalking the girl?” Come on, man, give me a break. We had a hard shift. I just want to entertain myself.
“No. It’s a TV show.” I pretend to act normal, but my normal screams guilty with a neon sign, a billboard, and a megaphone announcing it to the world.
“Sure it is,” Leo smirks. “And there she is, the leading star of the show,” he continues. “What do you know? It’s actually Rachel.”
“And Noah,” I add, as if this would make it better.
“Noah?” Leo’s focus shifts, and he practically snatches the phone from my grip. “Are they together? What’s his deal? Why is he always there?”
“Dude, Noah is gay. He was asking about you this morning,” I say, snatching my phone back.
“Really?” Leo is now invested, and I think I’m in the clear for the little stalking I’m doing.
“Yes, really, and no, I don’t think they live together if that’s your next question.” I can tell it was by the way he looks at me.
“He’s there a lot,” he murmurs, more to himself than to me, but I choose to reply anyway—the more he’s hooked, the more I can get away with this.
“From what I can tell, she lives alone, but he spends a good amount of time there.” Leo’s eyes widen.
“So, he’s there a lot,” he repeats.
“Do you want access to the feed?” I ask with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
“No,” he quickly spits out. Then he looks at my phone again. “Yes. I want access to the stupid feed,” he admits in a low tone, guilt already filling his little head. I take his phone and open the security app we also use for our house and bar. I add her feed and hand the phone to him.
“There, now we can both stalk people like the good guys we are,” I joke.
“Fuck you,” Leo spits back at me as he takes a stool and gets comfortable with his phone.
I slide the bowl of chips I was eating to his side, and he takes one without looking away from the phone.
“You’ve turned me into a criminal,” he says as he puts another chip in his mouth without looking away from his phone.
“Yes, buddy, now eat your chips like a good boy and watch the show,” I joke as I get comfortable in my previous position.
“What happened when they came here earlier?” This man can’t shut up to save his life.
“Nothing.” I grab a handful of chips, playing it cool. I’m not cool.
“You know we have cameras in the storage room, right?” Leo smirks at me like he discovered the secret of the century.
“Please tell me you did not watch me fuck Rachel.” I turn to look at him in disbelief. This is not cool, man.
“I deleted the footage the moment I figured out where it was going.” Good boy.
“Noah really asked about me?”
“Yes. Do you want his phone number?” Leo’s face lights up like a Christmas tree. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Time to talk to my little criminal again.