The Mechanic

FOUR

"You sure you don't want to go with us?"

I shook my head. "Next time, Les. I promise. I need to babysit tonight."

Leslie pouted her mouth. "Fine."

Marty sighed. "Well. I'll just bring my boyfriend again with me next time so you could meet him," he said, disappointment obvious on his tone.

"I'm really sorry, Marts," I told him, hugging his right arm.

"I understand," he replied with a smile. "But hun, don't overwork yourself, okay?"

"I won't."

He hugged me. "Take care. See you tomorrow."

Leslie gave me an embrace as well, then they walked away to go to the mall and see a movie. Marty's new boyfriend, Alex, would meet them there. I was supposed to join them but I need to set my priorities. Tomorrow is the deadline for my story.

Instead of heading home, I went to the gadget shop nearby. It was empty and the only person there was an old salesman.

"Afternoon," he greeted once I got inside. "What can I do for you?"

I smiled shyly, my chest pounding a little. "Uhm. I was just wondering if....if you have something like...like a...hidden camera?"

I was expecting him to give me a judging look, but he just smiled. "You mean a spy camera? Yes, we have them!" he answered in glee and my pulse calmed down because of his friendliness.

"Right. A spy camera," I muttered like I really knew what I was talking about. "Uhm, I need something that's really small, unnoticeable and could be used even in the dark."

"A wireless camera with night vision," he said, nodding. "'Course we have 'em." He walked to the shelves nearby and took a small box. He placed it in front of me. "Planning to catch a cheating boyfriend?"

"What? Uh, no, no. It's just for the house. For security."

"I see. Good decision. You can't trust people nowadays." He showed me the device, which was just as big as a piece of Oreo. "You can easily attach this to walls or hide it in shelves. It's tiny so it's hard to notice. There's a sd card inside. You just have to pull it out from the device and connect it to your laptop to watch the videos."

He continued in explaining how it works, how to properly attach it to the wall, and also discussed their rules in warranty. In the end, I was convinced that it's what I needed so I purchased it.

I went home and the first thing I did was to put the camera in its place. I stood at my favorite spot in the window, checking where I should put it. After seconds of thinking hard, I decided to place it outside the window frame. It blended well with the frame because it matched the brown shade of the wood, so it wasn't noticeable.

You're probably judging me really hard right now. I can't blame you. I'm judging myself, too. But the point is, Harry helps me heaps even if he's not aware of it. Believe me, I tried to write by myself without his help, but the outcome was tragic. A published erotic writer once said— "If you're writing your sexy scenes and you don't have to stop for a while to cool yourself down, you're not doing it right."

And that's what happened last night when I wrote a scene without Harry's help. I decided to try since he wasn't home yet. I thought I could do it, but while I was writing it, there was no excitement. No shivers, no heat rising in my skin, no tension building between my legs.

I tried to visualize Harry while I was writing. I forced myself to imagine him in a different scene. But it didn't work. I sat in front of my laptop for hours with a trashy story without any effect even to me.