He had to admit, he didn’t hate the idea of Yas being right next door. Talking to her on the phone last night had been nice. Even if he had ended up staying up later than he’d meant to, it had been worth it.
Still, he didn’t like the idea that she felt so unsafe at home that she’d come stay at Sarah’s. It really was a catch twenty-two.
Shaking his head, Zeus straightened up in his chair and got back to work. He’d text Yas at lunchtime to get her email address so he could send over his recommendations for systems. In the meantime, he had shit to do.
Just in case Claudia came back this afternoon to take him up on body burying.
Chapter 13
Yasmine
Double-checking the locks on her doors for the third time since she’d gotten home, Yasmine tried to tell herself that it would be fine. She would be fine. There was no reason to think that Pete James would come back tonight.
He would be stupid to, in fact.
It would make no sense.
Clearly, his wife wasn’t here, and he’d already been picked up by the cops once.
On the other hand, he’d been drunk last night. Sober people did stupid things. Drunk people sometimes did even stupider things. Especially angry, drunk people.
Letting out a long breath, Yasmine gave herself a shake and went to her fridge. She didn’t realize how long she was standing there, staring at the contents, until the fridge beeped at her because the door had been open for too long.
“Fine,” she muttered, slamming it shut. The satisfying thunk made her feel a little better but only for a moment. She couldn’t remember a single thing that had been inside the fridge, even though she’d been staring at it. Which made it really hard to decide what to eat for dinner when she couldn’t even remember what was there.
“Dammit.” She yanked the door back open. Nothing really jumped out at her as something she wanted to eat right now.
Sighing, Yasmine shut the door again and straightened up. Hope was standing a few feet away, and the dog wagged her tail, cocking her head to the side as if asking what Yasmine was doing.
“I wish I knew,” she told the dog. “You’re easy. Maybe I should just feed you, even if it’s not quite time yet.”
Maybe if she fed Hope, that would give her time to decide what she was going to eat for dinner. She’d been thinking of some kabab with salad or even rice, but right now, that didn’t sound very appetizing. Yasmine tried not to indulge in junk food too often, but right now that was what she wanted.
As soon as she admitted that to herself, visions of French fries, fried chicken, and pizza danced in her head. Shoot. Now that she’d thought of it, nothing else was going to do.
Sighing, she turned around and leaned back against the fridge, looking down at Hope again.
“I deserve it though, don’t I? After?—”
Yasmine shrieked at the loud bang on her door. Her hand was suddenly over her racing heart, her pulse beating rapidly against her fingertips, and she gulped against the pure panic that had flooded her system.
There was no second bang.
It took her a long moment to gather her courage—and calm down enough—to go look out her window. Just in time to see the delivery truck pulling away. It was a box. A box had slammed against her door, and she’d freaked out. Like a pansy.
Hope had known. She hadn’t freaked out at the sound.
Leaning her head against the cool glass, Yasmine closed her eyes for a moment. A heavy weight pressed against her thigh, soft fur brushing her fingers.
“Good girl,” Yasmine murmured.
Okay. New plan. Just for tonight. She was clearly jumpy, and she didn’t like it. Sarah had offered up her home. She would still be alone tonight, so it wasn’t like she was a total wimp, but she wouldn’t be here where Pete James could find her. Zeus had sent her an email with security system suggestions. She would get one of those installed this weekend, then she wouldn’t be so freaked out.
She’d picked up a doorbell camera on the way home, but she needed to figure out how to get it installed, and right now, she wasn’t sure she was in a position to do anything with technology. The doorbell wouldn’t do much, but it might make her feel a little better. If only in part because the next time someone approached her door, she’d know they were coming and who they were. Still. Just for tonight, she didn’t have to be here, and she would feel better being somewhere else.
Grabbing her phone, she sent a quick text to Zeus.
Yasmine