Page 8 of Not Your Hero

“But I’m your favorite brother.”

“My only brother.”

“Exactly. Now let me get back to planning this shit. It’s taken a lot of work to pull all this together, so you better not skip out on me,” he warns.

“I don’t like the sound of this.”

“You’re going to love what I have planned for you. Trust me,” he says.

“I’ll be there. Send me the information.”

“I will when it’s all ready. Talk to you soon.”

“Yeah. See you.” I hang up and wonder what the hell Gary is planning. We don’t do parties, never have, but I wouldn’t tell him no. He is my only brother, no matter how strange he is. Not that I’m much different from him. We grew up the same way.

I sit back in my chair and sigh. In a few hours, Emerson will have cameras all over her house, and I’ll feel slightly more at ease. However, not knowing who has been watching her is bothering me. It could very well be nothing, and I’m overacting. The kids next door do fuck around and mess with her a lot, and it may be only them, but now we will know for sure.

Chapter 6

Emerson

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing?” I snap at the man standing on the ladder at the corner of my house.

“I’m here to install your cameras,” he answers.

“I didn’t order any cameras! Get the fuck down,” I yell at him this time. He seems to be pissed at the world as he climbs down the ladder and grabs a piece of paper, passing it to me.

“See right there? This is your address, right?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t order this.”

“Well, it was paid in full, and now I’m here,” he tells me.

“I don’t give a shit. I don’t want them!”

“They’re paid for, lady. Just let me do my job,” he almost begs as I look over the paper.

“It doesn’t say who paid for it.”

“It wasn’t made available to us. You’ll have to call the company,” he replies, trying to climb back up the ladder. I reach for his tool belt and pull on it until he steps back down.

“You can’t just put these up without my permission.”

“Listen, lady. If we didn’t have permission from someone here, we wouldn’t be here.”

“I’m the only one who lives here!”

“Call the company. That’s all I can tell you.” I let out a frustrated sigh and head back inside with the paper in hand and grab my phone. This is unbelievable. Who the hell would have paid for the cameras? And why?

I dial the number and listen as it rings until I finally get someone to answer, and all they give me is the same bullshit answers as the man outside. Someone paid and agreed to have them placed. Even after I try multiple times to get them to understand I did not agree to this, they still won’t listen.

I slam the phone down on the table when someone knocks on the door. I shove out of my chair and stomp over, whipping the door open before I see the poor mailman. He passes me a package and an envelope before smiling and leaving.

I close the door and walk back to the table, setting the box down. I grab the envelope and tear it open to find a letter. Unfolding the paper, I read it out loud.

“Leave the cameras alone. Someone has been watching you.” What the fuck? Who the fuck? How does this person know? Have they been watching me, too? A shiver runs up my spine at the thought.

I sit and debate my options. I could leave them and have some weirdo watching my house, or I could call the police. What would the police really do, though? Everything the man outside told me shows that I or someone else, has given permission for this.

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