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She arches an eyebrow, her eyes darting past me for a moment. “You’re here to make sure I won’t get all needy and clingy, aren’t you?” she asks. “You’re worried that because I’m your neighbor, things will get messy. Am I right?”
She’s more right than she knows.
But I’m still not a hundred percent sure that she knows anything. Maybe she has my package, but if she hasn’t opened it yet, I can retrieve it and walk away from her with the situation contained.
“Something like that.”
“Well, like I said, you don’t have to worry about me. I may blush a lot, but I know how casual sex works and I know how men like you work, too. I don’t have any expectations of you. I won’t be knocking at your door tomorrow asking when you’re buying me dinner and meeting my parents.”
I step forward, right into her space. “You have no clue how this works,narushitel. You’ve never met a man like me before now.” I see her cowering, so I tone it down ever so slightly. “Still, I’m glad to see we’re on the same page.”
“So—we’re good?” She sounds hopeful. Her hand on the door is tightening, eager to close it in my face and bring this unexpected chapter of her life to a merciful close.
Not so fast, princess.
“Actually, no.” When I say that, she freezes, the color on her cheeks shifting from blush pink to deep red. “The second reason I came over is to check on you.”
She narrows her eyes. “Did you expect me to fall to pieces or something? Because I’m not gonna lie, you’re very good at sex, but I’m not as much of a fragile, bitter spinstress as my Garfield panties might’ve made it appear.”
The orange cat has a name. Who knew?
“There’s been a spate of break-ins in the area and the cops just issued an alert that there was more suspicious activity around this neighborhood tonight. My security just informed me.”
She recoils in surprise. She looks rattled but I suppose that’s a natural response to hearing of suspicious activity in your neighborhood. Especially if you’re a single woman living on your own. I decide not to read too much into it…
Yet.
“Oh… Uh, okay. I-I should probably go check on Mrs. Heidegger.”
I shake my head. “You shouldn’t be walking around on your own at this time, Alyssa.”
She opens her mouth to say something else, but then her eyes dart past me and she retreats backward into her foyer. “Wait… who’s that?”
I turn to Vincent and feign unfamiliarity. His mustache twitches as he does the same. “Good evening, Officer,” I greet. “Everything alright?”
“Good evening, Mr.—” Vincent makes a show of looking down at this phone before he looks back up at me. “—Bugrov?”
“That’s right.”
“Your home was broken into last night, am I correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Vincent nods. “I’m here because we received a dispatch signal.” He makes eye contact with Alyssa. “Apparently, there’s been some suspicious activity around your house, too, ma’am.”
Alyssa looks borderline panicked now. “S-suspicious activity… what does that mean?”
“It means that there are people skulking around this neighborhood looking for trouble. It’s possible drugs are involved. You live alone, ma’am?”
Alyssa nods. “Yes.”
“Mind if I take a look around the premises?”
“Inside the house?” she balks.
Hiding something in there,kiska?I wonder to myself.While Alyssa is focused on Vincent, I take out my phone and type a quick text to Ratimir.I’m at the front door of the shack. Go around back and break a window. I need a diversion.
“No, ma’am. I’m just gonna do a quick search around your property so I can determine if there’s been any attempted break-ins or movement around the house.”
