Raw by Jo Davis

right to bed and pull the covers over his head.
    By the time she went inside her apartment, Anna’s feet were killing her. In the foyer, she toed off her heels and gathered them up, then started for her bedroom as her mom did the same. Entering the room, she flipped on the light as Sterling howled for attention. She picked him up and loved on him some, scratching under his chin and behind his ears before setting him down again. She must’ve been more exhausted than she thought, because she had never tripped over the bedside rug before. But this time her foot caught the edge, and she couldn’t stop her fall.
    Anna hit the floor with a thud, smacking her knee and elbow. “Shit. What a klutz.”
    She was about to get up when she spotted something stuck to the side of the wooden bed frame. It was small and round, about the size of a pea. Lying on her stomach, she reached out and scraped at it with her fingernail.
    With some prying, it came off in her hand, and she studied it with growing trepidation. The side that had been stuck to the bed was sticky, and the other . . . Jesus, it looked like a tiny microphone or transmitter. The impact of what she was holding in her hand hit, and she sucked in a breath.
    It was a listening device. Her apartment had been bugged.
    And there was only one person besides her mother who’d been inside lately—Gray.
I even gave him a key!
    Shaking, she conducted a search and found one in the bathroom, one in the living room under the coffee table, and one in the kitchen behind the coffeemaker. Those were all she found, but that didn’t mean there weren’t more.
    Why would anyone do this? Who would think she had something to hide that they needed to know about? Was Gray responsible? She didn’t want to believe that.
    Heartsick, she debated waking her mom, then decided against it. Doing so would just upset her and ruin a nice visit. Best to pretend she hadn’t found them, then contact someone—the police?—after her mother went home. After searching for a good place to stash the devices, she put them in a desk drawer and shut it. Nobody would run across them there, and she’d deal with them later.
    What about Gray, though? It was getting late, but she decided to go over on the pretext of checking to see if he was feeling better. She’d talk to him, gauge his reaction. She didn’t know what to say, but she’d work that out later. She had to know if he had planted the bugs.
    Unfortunately, Gray didn’t answer his door. She knocked again, and nothing. Had he lied to her about being sick? That certainly made him seem guilty.
    But of what? Was he some kind of corporate spy? Her heart seized as she considered something awful—what if he worked for a competing restaurant and had been hired to sabotage her business? What if he was stealing Ethan’s recipes and selling them? To an outsider that might sound ridiculous, but high-end restaurants were a big investment. There were millions to be made and lost. She could be ruined by a rival getting a hold of their recipes.
    With that thought, she realized there was one logical place he might be. Pulse racing, she phoned the lobby of her restaurant’s building and waited.
    â€œMerTower Building, Joel speaking.”
    Thank God her favorite security guard had answered. “Joel, this is Anna Claire.”
    â€œHey, Anna,” he greeted her cheerfully. “What can I do for you?”
    â€œDo you remember the man who’s been walking out with me in the evenings? His name is Grayson James.”
    â€œThe big fellow with the light brown hair?” he asked. “Sure.”
    â€œCan you tell me if you’ve seen him come in tonight?”
    â€œOh, sure. He got here about twenty minutes ago. Said he had some things to do for you tonight while you were visiting with your mother.”
    Another lie.
    â€œIs there a problem?” the guard asked,