Unsuitable

“Won’t you come in for Daddy?” the mum said to Mia.

Mia shook her head and gave the woman a curl up and die look. It might’ve been the daddy reference or the coming in thing.

He had the same dark colouring as Mia did which was the reason he was mistaken for her father so often. This morning that didn’t bother him. He’d entirely lost the need to correct the impression. This morning nothing would bother him. He closed his eyes a second and saw Audrey trembling in the aftermath her orgasm. He had to wait until the woman moved away to get out of the pool without someone complaining about his inappropriate behaviour.

Back home, he exchanged Mia for a sudden afternoon off. Audrey had given the house a spruce and the fridge was full. She took Mia to get a haircut. He had the place to himself, and no clue what to do with the free time. He changed into running gear, he’d go for an extra long run and slam a workout on top.

Audrey had left her laptop running on the counter. He should shut it down and put it somewhere Mia couldn’t get to it. He should look up the number of the new restaurant complex at the beach or see if he could book online. He’d get Etta to come sit Mia so he could take Audrey out for a night. A proper date like people who met and fell for each other the ordinary way.

He tapped the keyboard and hit the password screen. Hmm. He tried MarvellousMia and laughed as it worked. He scanned for the web browser and then he saw it. Nanny Monitor. He’d clicked it before he stopped to think about it being Audrey’s business.

He got a home page that gave him Audrey’s details, camera locations and recording dates. From where he stood at the kitchen counter he was in the eye of a camera fitted to the fire alarm. A fucking nanny cam. The other camera was fitted to the television. It was motion activated and recorded to files stored on the laptop. He opened the first file at the top of the list.

Shit. There he was barefoot dancing to the fucking Wiggles with Mia. Waving his arms around like a lunatic. He clenched his jaw so hard it made a cracking sound. And Audrey had watched this, there was a mark against the file to show she’d watched it multiple times. She’d watched lots of the files, some simultaneous to recording, some after the fact. They were ranked by number of views and then date recorded.

He pulled a chair under the fire sensor and stood on it. The casing was a fake. He popped the cover and ripped the camera workings out, making an alarm on the laptop beep. He went to the lounge room and stood in front of the TV. It would be recording.

She’d done this, recorded him without telling him. Yeah, maybe that first month while she was uncertain, but it’d gone on and on and she’d been watching him over and over again. Watching him and judging him like his old friends had done in his old life. Cheering him on while he viciously pulverised someone, broke their health, altered them forever. Fuck. Fuck.

His hands were shaking. He needed to calm the fuck down. It was hateful. It was reasonable. It was fucked up and he wanted to put his fist though the screen and rip the TV apart, go back to the other room and smash the laptop. If he looked for this camera he wouldn’t stop till he found it even if that meant tearing the TV electronics apart. He tried to settle his breathing. The housing on the tiny camera he gripped splintered inside his fist.

“This.” He lifted his hand, the camera cords dangling like squid legs. Wherever the sensor was it would record him. “You could’ve told me about this. About why you needed it. About not trusting me. You could’ve stopped it.”

He left the room. He went back to the laptop and turned the beeping off. Put the cover back on the fake fire alarm, put the chair back under the table. He left the mangled camera on the counter, left the laptop open to the nanny cam home page. He went to his room and shoved clothes in his bag. He had to get out. He was clearing the bathroom when he heard Audrey’s car in the drive.

He got to the driveway before Audrey’d unstrapped Mia. She looked around when she heard his footsteps, her smile collapsing the minute they made eye contact.

“I’ll be back in the morning.”

“What happened?” she said, surprised.

“I need to be somewhere else.”

She stepped in front of him, her hand up. He backed up went around the nose of the car to avoid her. He wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled. He caught Mia watching him, her mouth open as he ploughed past.

“Reece.”

He palmed his car keys. The Monaro was parked at the kerb in front of the house. He popped the boot and slung his bag in. Audrey had Mia out of her car.

“Reece, what the hell?”

He couldn’t talk to her. He couldn’t look at her. What would make her hire him if she didn’t trust him? What would make her leave Mia with him if she thought he was a perverted monster who would hurt her? What would watching him do it achieve? It couldn’t undo the harm. He opened the car door. Audrey had let Mia run inside the house.

“Reece. Talk to me.”

“Why did you hire me?”

“Where is this coming from?”

“Answer the question?”

Audrey took a step back. He’d shocked her even though there was a car between them. He didn’t give a fuck. She didn’t love him. She was using him. For child care above and beyond, for sex when it suited her.

Her chin shot up. “Because you were the best candidate.”

“So you had to watch me, record my actions. That must’ve been amusing.”

“What are you talking about?”