Chapter Fifty-Four
Xavier
Her car is barely in park when I pull in behind her. Headlights sweep across the side of the house, catching the stretch of siding I already know isn’t covered well enough. The part of the driveway I missed.
I kill the engine and move before the quiet takes over. Tailgate down. Toolbox out. Two cameras. Drill. Mounting hardware. No point waiting. She’s standing beside her car when I grab the toolbox.
“You have extra cameras lying around?”
“Yeah.” I don’t look at her. If I do, I’ll start thinking about the fact that she called Emily. Bella. Anyone but me. “Go inside.”
She huffs but doesn’t argue. The front door opens a minute later. I follow her in. The second I cross the threshold, my attention starts moving. Locks. Windows. Sightlines. The angle of the back door. Nothing looks disturbed.
Doesn’t matter. Someone got close enough. I set the toolbox on the counter and start opening drawers.
“You don’t have to act as if you live here.”
“Didn’t say I did.” Flashlight. There. I grab it and click it on. The beam sweeps across the kitchen.
“What’re you doing?”
“Fixing what I screwed up.” The words come out harder than I intend. She goes silent. Good. I don’t trust myself not to say something worse.
A few minutes later we’re outside again, thunder rumbling in the distance. The ladder leans against the side of the house. The first camera goes up near the corner. Covering the driveway. The area the original system missed. “Hold this.”
Ruby grabs the bracket before I finish the sentence. I shouldn’t notice her hands. I do anyway. Warm. Small. Steady.
I adjust her grip. Mine sliding over hers for a beat. Maybe two. Then I step back. Drill up. Trigger down. The screw bites into wood.
The first camera clicks into place. Ruby studies it from beneath the ladder. “That one covers the driveway?”
“Yeah.”
I tighten the bracket.
“And the other?”
“The side yard.”
She turns her head in that direction. “The part nobody could see before.”
The reminder twists something ugly in my gut. Not now. Already had that conversation. Already know I screwed up. No point dwelling on it while I’m fixing it.
She watches me adjust the angle. “You always do this?”
“Do what?”
“Decide something’s a problem and immediately start rebuilding it.”
A short laugh escapes me. “Usually.”
“Sounds exhausting.”
“Probably.” The second camera goes up faster. Bracket. Screws. Wiring. Done.
I pull up the feed on my phone. Two new views stare back at me. Upper driveway and more of the side yard. Ruby steps beside me. Close enough for me to catch the scent of her shampoo. Close enough to be distracting.
She studies the screen. “So now what?”
The dark edge of the property. The trees. The fence. The places someone thought they could stand unseen. “Now we wait.”
The words settle between us. Not dramatic. Just true. Because whoever this is already made their move. They’re either going to stop. Or they’re going to try again. And I highly doubt that they’re going to stop at this point.
Ruby folds her arms as a flash of lightning cracks in the sky. “You think they’ll come back?”
“Yeah, I do.”
The motion light clicks on overhead. Neither of us moves. The yard glows white before fading again.
“I’ll stay on the couch.”
Her gaze flicks toward me. I don’t look back. Just keep staring into the darkness beyond the fence. Watching. Waiting. Making sure nobody else gets the chance. Not again.