Page 7 of Always Right Here

I circled the room, running my fingers over the furniture Eddie and I moved in for her. A lotof things were still in boxes, but the little decorations here and there were unmistakably Riah.

Reaching her dresser just under the window, I pushed the curtain back to check the driveway again. All clear. My jaw clenched, fingers flexing in front of me as they hovered over the dresser drawer.

Just a peek,I tried to convince myself.Nothing else.

But when I finally pulled the drawer open and found a neat pile of lacey, matching bra and panty sets, I couldn’t help myself. I hooked a pair of panties around my finger, bringing it briefly to my nose and taking in her scent.

I shoved it into my pocket and ran down the stairs, carrying a piece of her with me while I finished my job.

After everything was set up, I connected the system to my phone, checking that everything was working correctly. Each place where I placed a camera flashed over my screen.

Once I was satisfied, my thumb hovered over the button to delete the feed and override function from my phone. The crunch of tires rolling over gravel pulled my attention. I glanced at the phone in my hand, back at the door and back down again, deciding to shove the phone in my pocket, deal with that later and make myself useful.

Chapter 7

Riah

My order wasn’t going to be ready for another 20 minutes, but I needed to get the fuck out of there. I was about two seconds away from ripping my tank down and letting Korie take my nipple between her perfect lips. They still stabbed painfully against my bra as I slid into the car.

I thought what I was feeling was pure lust. Something that would fizzle out eventually. But when Korie brought me my exact coffee and pastry order that she had remembered from over 5 years ago, something warm and safe trickledthrough me. I had never had anyone remember such small things. My own grandmother didn’t even remember how I hated tomatoes and would pile them on my salad every time we had dinner at her house.

Though she was nice to me when we were kids, there was always a lingering coldness about her. Coming from the kind of life she had, I didn’t blame her. I didn’t know the specific details about her parents, but from what I was able to gather, they didn’t care where she was, who she was with or if she had clean clothes to wear or enough food to eat.

My parents were always happy to give those things to her. She was included in our family get-togethers, trips, back-to-school shopping…anything you could imagine, Korie was there. I knew, by the way she always offered her help and thanks, that she appreciated it and was comfortable with us. But I could see how the disappointment of not getting that same love from her own family would be maddening.

Although her body may have hardened with adulthood, it seemed her heart had done the opposite. Unfortunately, that whole ‘hard on the outside, soft on the inside’thing really did it for me.

I sat in the grocery store parking lot for about 15 minutes before it was ready to pick up. When I finally looked over my order, I realized there were a lot of items missing. Before I left back home, I dialed my best friend.

“Hey, Ri. We still on for tonight?” Rayne chimed through the phone. Her upbeat, always excited energy was exactly what I needed.

“Yes! I’m so excited. But I was picking up a grocery order and realized they were out of some of the snacks you wanted…is there anything else you want me to grab?”

“Nah, it’s all good. I’ll bring some extra stuff. I’ll see you tonight! Oh! Wait…should I bring some extra blankets? Blow-up mattress?”

“Uhhhm, if you want to. But I have my bed setup. It's a king…if you just wanted to share.”

“Perfect, I really didn’t want to pack anything else.”

I scoffed. “No, because we both know you will leave half of it at my place anyway.”

With a playful gasp, Rayne hung up. A sleepover with my lifelong best friend was exactly the distraction I needed from my confusing feelings. Taking a deep, long breath, I prepared to drive back and face the confusing feelings currently installing cameras allover my home.

***

The second I pulled up at home, Korie ran from inside and carried in all my groceries in one trip. Since I came home, I really hadn’t lifted a finger.

“At this point, I should just hire you as my assistant.” I needed to make a joke to avoid the thought of how hot her attentiveness was.

“Ahh, just admit you’d like having me around all the time.” Korie popped a grape in her mouth with a wink. All I could do was roll my eyes. I didn’t trust my voice to hide everything I was feeling.

“How’s the security system coming?”

“Finished up a few minutes ago. I just need to get the camera feed set up with your phone and I can show you how everything works.”

Korie took her time setting up the camera stream and alarm settings on my phone beforeshowing me around to every camera, sensor, button and wire she’d set up. She was patient in explaining how everything worked, but in truth, I didn’t absorb much. Tech had always confused me and having her be the one to explain it was that much more distracting. But I knew how to turn the alarm on and off and that was enough to help me feel confident.

Before she left, Korie lingered in the kitchen.