Chapter 87: Security Deposit
- RAYA -
"Mr. Otis!"
I’m pounding on my landlord’s door on the first floor of the apartment building while a cab waits for me outside. It’s Friday. He should be here. He is typically gone on the weekends, but he’s always home during the week.
"Mr. Otis! It’s important!"
The door opens abruptly with the angry short man glaring back at me.
"What is it? I have a life, you know. Can’t you call?" He barks.
"I need to talk with you. It’s urgent. It’s about the neighbor."
"I don’t get involved in neighbor arguments. Handle it yourself."
He goes to shut the door, but I block it. "It’s not an argument. He drilled a hole in my wall and has been watching me. I’ve moved my stuff out, and I’m here to terminate my lease."
"You still have six months on your lease," he growls. "The penalty is three month’s rent."
"I’m not paying a penalty, Mr. Otis," I insist.
He may be an angry old man all the time, but I’m angry too. I’m angry that this happened. I’m angry about the accident. I’m angry about Grace, and I’m angry at myself for being complacent in this role of the victim while Dex handles everything for me. I have a voice, and I’m going to use it.
Mr. Otis laughs. "Okay, sweetheart. We’ll see."
"This apartment building is in horrible condition, and I’ve never complained. I appreciate having a roof over my head, but he violated my sense of safety and privacy. Do you understand? That’s a felony, Mr. Otis. And if you do nothing about it, then that makes you complicit in that crime."
"Because there is a hole in your wall?" He laughs again, deep and condescending.
"Yes, because that bastard was watching me all this time. So I’m here to tell you that I’m moving out, and I would appreciate you coming with me so I can show you the hole myself."
"Are you taping me?" He asks, his condescending glare dropping to one of sinking suspicion.
"Maybe I am," I cross my arms, wishing now that I would have thought of that. Why didn’t I think of that? Maybe because the thought of doing that without someone’s knowledge makes me extremely uncomfortable unlike the voyeur living next to me.
Mr. Otis grumbles something and looks back into his apartment. "Do you have the keys?" He asks.
"Yes, I have them with me."
I follow him up to my floor and open the door for him, casting an uneasy glance down the hall to where the neighbor’s door is located. I’d love to confront that creep. That was my plan, but I ditched it halfway here. He pulled a shotgun on Dex, so who knows if he’ll do the same to me? Part of me wants to call the asshole’s bluff, because if he’s a big enough coward to hide behind that wall and watch me without my knowledge, then I seriously doubt he’s got the balls to shoot me. But even with the anger I’m harboring now, I can’t bring myself to do it.
Once we get inside, it hits me that the last time I was here was the morning of the accident.
"Where’s this hole?" The landlord asks.
I grab a chair to drag to the refrigerator and climb up, moving cereal boxes so I can see the wall. And sure enough, there it is. My stomach turns at the sight of it.
Thankfully there is something behind the hole on the other side that keeps me from being able to see into the other apartment. If there were an eyeball there, I don’t think I’d ever be able to sleep again. It’s going to be hard enough now that I’m seeing the evidence for myself. My bedroom is in the direct line of sight.
I hop down from the chair and gesture to where the peephole is, feeling nauseous now. Mr. Otis looks at the chair unhappily.
"You want me to climb on that?"
"Do you want to see the hole?"
He makes a few angry grunts and finally gets on to take a look.
"I don’t see anything," he says gruffly.
"The hole? You don’t see that big hole there that’s pointed straight at my bedroom?" I exclaim.
"It’s blocked off."
"Well it wasn’t blocked off before. He was looking through it."
Mr. Otis climbs down awkwardly. "What do you want? Fine, move out. No penalty."
"I want my security deposit back." I cross my arms.
"No penalty and your security deposit back? Are you crazy?" He explodes.
"Look at how nice my apartment is compared to your building. You can probably charge more. But you’re going to have to fix that hole, and I would recommend evicting that guy. If he’s doing it to me, he’s probably doing it to the neighbor on the other side."
Mr. Otis huffs and looks around. "I’ll mail the deposit to you. Give me a forwarding address, and the rest of your stuff needs to be out by the end of the month."
"I want the security deposit now."
He glares at me for a long moment before starting with a deep rolling laugh. "You have a temper. I can appreciate that." Then he groans and rolls his eyes. "Come on. I’ll get you the deposit."
—————
- DEX -
Raya hasn’t answered my texts or calls, and she isn’t at either house. I left work early, giving Lawson some excuse that I’m meeting with a client, but it’s already been two hours now of waiting, alternately staring at my phone and the guest house waiting to see if she’ll reply or arrive. I’m really debating on whether or not to call Grace and ask exactly what the fuck she said.
Instead, I go out to the pool and sink into one of the chairs, tossing my phone on the side table. Why the hell did Grace have to come into town?
That’s when I hear a car driving down the road that winds around both houses. It stops at the gate, a car door closes, and then I hear someone fumbling with the gate lock and cursing softly on the other side.
It’s Raya. She’s back. The relief I feel in that moment is instant. But she’s also locked out. My bet is she left from the main house and didn’t want to come back in that way when she saw my truck.
I get up and jog over to see her on the other side of the gate as a cab pulls away.
"Need some help?" I ask, smiling with relief at seeing her there.
She sighs, and immediately I recognize the barrier that she’s built to keep me out just like this gate that stands between us.
"No," she replies and crosses her arms.
"You don’t need help?"
"I can walk around," she says stubbornly and backs up to do just that.
"Are you serious?" I chuckle, but she walks off, and I reach through the gate to unlock it. "Raya!"
I jog after her and grab her arm so she’ll stop and face me.
"What happened? Why are you being like this? I texted you today. I heard from Liz. She’s so excited to work with you. It sounds like it went great."
"It did," she nods, avoiding my eyes. "I just need you to stop helping me. I’m not some poor, helpless damsel in distress that can’t do anything for herself. And I don’t want hero sex."
"What? What the hell is that?"
Her accusing eyes return to me. "You don’t know what I’m talking about?"
"Hero sex?" I repeat, shaking my head. "No. I don’t know what that is. And I don’t think you’re a damsel in distress. You’re... you. I told you. You’re not just dessert. You’re not something I want to hurry up and get out of my system. You’re literally the woman of my dreams, Raya. I know how fucking crazy that sounds, but... it’s true. Why wouldn’t I help you if I can?"
She’s looking at her feet, arms crossed, because apparently the ground is more interesting than this conversation.
"Can I ask you a question?" I venture. "Wouldn’t you help me if I needed it?"
Finally she glances up, nodding reluctantly.
"Okay. How is this any different?"
"It’s different because I can’t help you. I’m not in a position to," she replies. "Meanwhile, you’ve given me a raise and a place to live and made me dinner and introduced me to Liz and given me avocados..."
"But you’ve already helped me," I interrupt, fighting a smile about the avocados. "Don’t you realize that?"
"How?" She frowns, shaking her head.
"Let me make you dinner, and I’ll tell you about it." I offer her my hand, and she stares at it suspiciously. "Or if you’d prefer, we can make dinner together. But let’s talk about this, because this hero sex thing didn’t just come out of nowhere. What do you say?"
