Page 107 of The Guy Next Door

This is ridiculous! You’re losing it again, Zane.

But this image of Jason…

And if that was Isaac, how did he fucking know we’d be at Caribou Coffee?

“That would definitely prove you really saw him last night,” Leif says.

“I love your waffles, but—”

“Get your ass upstairs and tell me what you find.”

I hop to my feet and plant a fat kiss on him before dashing up to my room. Sitting at my computer, I do a quick scan for any programs I don’t recognize. I’m on a mission. But during my search, another thought springs to mind: spyware isn’t the only way he could have found out about our plans that night.

“Dman messaged me back…”

I initially told Leif about the message in the shower, but we were in the bedroom when I told him Dman wanted to meet us at Caribou Coffee near campus. What if he’d planted a recording device in here?

As soon as the thought crosses my mind, I’m back to doubting myself. But another thought quickly follows:“Weshould go to the Nights of Lights.”We had that conversation in the bedroom as well, and the night we went, I believed someone was watching us. At the time, I’d talked myself out of it. But what if I’d been right?

I jump up from my desk, searching around the monitor for an attachment…anything. Where the fuck could he have planted a mic?

As I begin a hunt around my room, I’m obsessed with my mission, trying to set aside that voice in me that whispers,This proves you’re losing it. You need help. There’s something wrong with you. But I persist in my search.

After checking behind my TV, under the bed, and in the closet, I stop.Think, Zane.If I were bugging someone, what would I need to consider?

It’d have to be wireless to transmit somewhere. It’d need to be voice activated so that I only picked up when people were talking. A battery wouldn’t be reliable, not for how long it’d have to function for him to have heard us talking about Dman, which means he would either need a way to get back in…or…leach off my electricity. The ceiling fan would take too long, but maybe the electric sockets?

I open my desk drawer, retrieve a screwdriver, and soon I’m unscrewing my outlets, and if that doesn’t make me feel like I’m losing my goddamn mind, I don’t know what will.

I’ve removed five before I get to the last one—at the nightstand on Leif’s side of the bed.

I’m all tension and suspense as I unscrew the frame.

Maybe once I’ve torn my room the fuck apart and seen there’s nothing here, maybe then I’ll have the confirmation I need that I’m fucking wrong and that all these connections in my head are just part of some manic state. I’ll be forced to face the truth.

As the screw comes loose, I hesitate to take the frame off.

Even before I pull it off, I accept that all this nonsense can only lead to an ER visit.

So I take that final step, and I see, tucked beside the socket, a mini green circuit board. The wiring from the socket has been rerouted to the device.

Tears well in my eyes as my jaw drops.

It wasn’t only in my head.

I was right. I was fucking right.

The relief is palpable as I put my hand to my chest, fighting back tears.

The bastard’s been listening in on our conversations. He knew we were meeting with Wes because he heard us making plans to meet up with him. And it’s very possible he knew about the Nights of Lights and followed us there.

The relief sweeping through me is so powerful, but nearly as fast as it came, it’s replaced by a new tension. Because he hasn’t only been listening in on what we were doing, but every fuck. Every sweet moment we shared in my bedroom, even last night when we exchanged I-love-yous.

Chills rush across my body as this sick feeling settles in my gut.

I feel so fucking violated.

So fucking pissed.

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