He’d been too busy indulging himself in mindless pleasure.
The figure on the tiny screen closed the drawer. Smiled. Curved his hand over the bulge in his trousers.
“I’m going to kill you,” Zach whispered. “You sick fuck!”
Young turned around.
Walked to the bed.
His gaze fell on the rumpled sheets. His breathing quickened and he bent over them. Took what was clearly a long, deep, appreciative breath.
Young stood straight. Fumbled at his trousers. Stuck his hand inside his fly.
Zach’s field of vision blurred. Went scarlet. His breathing stopped.
“Zacharias?”
Zach’s hands fisted. He told himself to breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.
“Zacharias, where are you? The doorbell’s ringing. It must be the delivery guy.”
Jaimie. God, she could not know about this. She could not see this…
“Zacharias!”
He hand tightened around the cellphone. He wanted to smash it into a thousand pieces, smash it into Young’s face…
Click.
“No!”
The cry was torn from his throat. In his fury, he’d hit the Delete button. A red light came on; Zach hit the button again and again, but it was too late.
It took only a second for all the video footage to vanish.
“‘No’ what? Zacharias What’s the matter?”
Everything inside him seemed to still. His breathing, his heart, his brain. He stared at the phone for what surely was forever. Then he stuffed it his pocket, dragged in a breath, let it out, and swung toward the hall.
“Zacharias?”
“I’m here,” he said, amazed that he could speak at all.
She was leaning into the hall from the bedroom door. She was dressed, wearing jeans and a sweater, drying her hair with a big towel.
“What was that ‘no’ for? And didn’t you hear the bell?”
“Yeah. I heard it. I…” He pulled out his wallet, held it up. “I was having trouble finding my wallet—but I just did..”
The bell rang again. He went quickly to the door, opened it as far as the flimsy chain would permit. A gangly kid with a bad case of acne stood there with a white pizza box in his hands.
Zach undid the chain. “Sorry.”
The kid shrugged. “No problem.”
Zach took two twenties from his wallet, looked at the kid, then dug out two more. “Keep the change.”
“Hey, thanks, dude.”