Page 56 of Mine to Keep

I, on the other hand, had permission to be here. I walked into the living room, rested my butt in the lip of the couch, and waited for her to enter.

Arms crossed, I was pissed. Matt had been through enough. Once the door opened she froze, her eyes meeting mine.

“Well, good morning.” I smiled. “Can I help you?”

“What are you doing in Matt’s apartment?” she asked as she closed the door.

“I should be asking you that question. I was under the impression you had to let the tenant know if you wanted to enter their apartment.”

“Oh, well, Matt knew.”

If he did, he never told me. Was it impossible? No. Did I believe her? Also no, because her lips were moving.

“He never told me, let me just give him a call.” I reached into my pocket, but she took a few steps toward me.

“Wait. Who are you?”

“Me? I’m his boyfriend. I was doing a few things around his apartment today because he was called into work unexpectedly.” I started to dial Matt just as she placed a hand over the phone.

“Okay, he didn’t know I was coming by.”

I put the phone back into my pocket. “Care to explain this, then?”

She sighed. “James told me about Matt’s stalker or whatever they are. I guess Matt explained things to him last night. I heard some banging in here when I went to take out my trash and I guess I’m paranoid. I thought maybe this person was breaking into his apartment.”

“So you thought it was smart to take them on alone…with a key?” I lifted a brow. “Why not call the police?”

“I didn’t think there was time. I wanted to catch them, be able to identify them. Make it end for Matt. He’s such a great guy, I was crushed when James told me this.”

I wished so badly that Four was here. He’d know if she was telling the truth. It was a valid excuse, even if she was violating Matt’s privacy.

“No stalker here, just me. Like I said, I was fixing some things for Matt.”

She darted her eyes around the room. “If something has broken, he simply needs to tell us or open a ticket on the renters app. We, of course, would get it done immediately.”

I smiled. “Nothing with the apartment. A project.”

“I see.” She slipped the keys into her pocket. “Well, I’ll be going. I understand if you need to tell Matt what I did, but I swear there was no ill intent behind it.”

My phone started buzzing in my pocket so I looked and saw it was Matt. “Speak of the Devil.” He’d probably seen her coming in through his Ring camera.

“Say what you need to—I’ll see myself out.”

I answered once she was gone.

“Hello, dear,” I greeted.

“Why was Nicole entering my apartment?” He was livid but I was sure not at me.

I went on to tell him her asinine story. He listened and after I was done, he asked the same thing I was wondering.

“Do you think she’s telling the truth?”

“I don’t know. You mentioned she was nosy, and while it is a fair explanation, with everything going on with you, I can’t rule anyone out.”

He hummed. “I’m glad you were there.”

Warmth filled my belly. “Me too. I’m almost done with the cameras, and then I’ll be able to get it all connected. I can sync them with your phone when you get home, but you can only see one screen at a time on there. I’ll be able to view them all on my computers.”

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