35. Chapter 35
35
Sophie
It’s happening more. The little notes that Caleb leaves on my front door, on my windshield, even on the back door by our little patio that’s accessed through the office. I don’t know what Brody has been doing or if his little programs are helping at all, but Caleb just became bolder.
The note on the driver’s seat of my car stares at me while I clutch my purse in fear. I have forty minutes to get to Janey’s place, but I’m frozen. If he got into my car, why hasn’t he tried harder to get into my home? Kicking down our door and then running was a good scare tactic, but that was weeks ago now.
My mouth is dry as I dial Brody’s number. He answers on the first ring as if he’s been waiting for me to call.
“Hey, Soph,” he answers. I can’t speak. “Sophie? Sophie, what’s wrong?”
“C-Caleb.”
“Is he there?” There are faint keyboard clicks in the background.
“No, he-” I swallow and try again. “He left a note in my car. In my car , Brody.” Tears well in my eyes, spilling over seconds later.
“Hold on, Soph.” He’s still typing away.
“What is going on?” I whisper. My voice has all but left me.
“I’m checking something.”
“No, Brody, I mean- What-? ”
“He’s gone,” Brody sighs. “Sophie, he left it over an hour ago.”
What the fuck?
“H-how would you know that?”
“Let me come over. I… I need to explain face to face.”
“I have work,” I choke out, my mind racing.
“You and I both know you’re not in any state to film.”
He’s right.
“Ok.” It’s a weak answer, but I feel weak right now.
Fingers trembling, I send a text to Janey, not trusting the strength of my voice any longer. We’ve filmed together enough that it shouldn’t hurt our working relationship. Making the excuse that my one of my boyfriends–which is fucking weird to say–has an emergency, I ask to reschedule for sometime next week. Her response is almost instant, wishing my ‘man’ well.
When Brody arrives, I’m still standing beside my car. I’m not sure I want him in my home right now. I don’t know what he knows, what he sees. I don’t know what I can trust him with.
He walks briskly up the driveway, reaching out as he nears me, but I take a step back, pressing my back against my car. Seeing my hesitation, Brody stills, dropping his hands.
“Sophie, please,” he begs, his voice hoarse.
“What did you do?” My mind has come up with a thousand ideas in the time it took him to get here. “How did you know Caleb was gone?”
“I haven’t…” Brody’s face falls, a broken man, begging for a last chance at life. “I haven’t told you everything I do for work.” His voice cracks halfway through the sentence.
“What does that have to do with any-?”
“The company I work for has… connections.”
“Connections?” I shake my head, frowning.
“And I have access to programs and systems most companies couldn’t dream of.”
“Brody-”
He holds up a hand to stop me.
“Please, let me explain Sophie. I have to get this out. Hate me or forgive me, but you need to hear everything.”
My mouth snaps shut, lips forming a thin line while I wait for him to continue.
“Harp Solutions,” he goes on, “is focused on security, or anti-security in many cases. We can find our way into virtually any system, any device, any network. That’s my branch of the company. When you first told me about Caleb, it was easy to find a back way into that camera system.” He points to the doorbell.
“A back way?”
“And I’ve been able to watch him come and go and leave those stupid notes,” his voice grows louder, angrier, “and I haven’t been able to do anything about it and it pisses me off because you’re so fucking scared.” Brody takes a ragged breath.
“Why didn’t you just tell me this?”
“That’s not all.” He drops his gaze and takes a steadying breath before meeting my eyes again. Those green orbs hold a plea–to believe him, to forgive him. “My boss, she- I asked her for help. I wanted to protect you.” He falls silent.
“Brody just fucking tell me.” I’m not sure how he hears my whisper. I can’t tell if I’m trembling with rage or fear or perhaps admiration that someone cares so much about me, crazy as that may be. I haven’t had that before.
“Cameras,” he whispers. “I- We put up cameras.”
My stomach drops, knowing the answer to my question before I ask it.
“In my fucking house?” That tremble in my voice is definitely rage. “You put cameras in my fucking house? Where? My bathroom? My bedroom?”
“Your office,” Brody replies, speaking over me. “Pointing toward each door. And one above your front door. That’s it.”
“That’s it?” I repeat angrily. “Oh thank you for not putting cameras in my room to watch me sleep.” I try to stomp toward my door, but Brody steps in front of me.
“Sophie, I didn’t know what else to do. You weren’t telling me about the other notes, you weren’t-”
“Confiding in you? I barely knew you!” My neighbors are going to hear if I don’t calm down. “I still barely know you!”
“I know and I violated a trust I never even earned, but please believe me when I say I never intended any harm. I did everything in my power to keep you safe. I even-” He takes a steadying breath. “To convince my boss to help, I basically agreed to retire.”
“I don’t-”
“She’s been trying to get me out of the day-to-day work. I still don’t know why, but in order for her to put up those cameras, to help me track Caleb and his brother, I had to agree to take the promotion.”
“Promotion? You said retirement.”
“I can explain later. ”
“So I should feel sorry for you? You had to retire early to get your boss to help you spy?”
“It’s not spying,” he presses. When he takes another step toward me, I take another step back, once more up against my car. “I should’ve asked, but when you were in Miami, I did some digging. Caleb’s brother is an animal, Sophie.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“But when I read his file-”
“His file?”
“-I knew I had to do something. Sophie, I lo- I care about you.”
My heart breaks. He might as well wave a huge, crimson banner in my face and scream at me not to trust him. But the earnestness in his voice makes me pause. Brody licks his lip, but then falls to his knees, sitting back on his heels, face angled up at me.
I’ve never had someone give a damn about me like this and I’m not so stupid that I’m going to push him away for loving me. I caught his near slip. He almost said the word.
I sink to my knees in front of him as tears flow down my cheeks once more. His hands are trembling when I take them in mine.
“Sophie, I’m so sorry,” he whispers.
I lean forward, pressing my forehead to his and closing my eyes.
“Don’t you dare fucking lie to me again.” I don’t have to finish the threat. He knows he won’t get another chance.
“Never,” Brody agrees, his voice so soft I can barely hear him, even this close. “Never again.”
After kneeling for several minutes together, we make our way upstairs and Brody sets about heating water in the kettle. I direct him around the kitchen and watch his movements, smiling when he pulls out a calming blend that Natalie favors in the evenings.
“So,” I take the mug of tea Brody hands me. “Retirement?”
I’m not totally sure I’ve forgiven him. He can see it in my eyes when he sits next to me on the couch with a mug in his hands. I’m worried he’s going to treat me with kid gloves as if I’m some breakable porcelain doll in need of a glass case for safekeeping.
“Long story short, my boss, Mel, has been trying to get me to quiet retire for two years.”
“Quiet retire?” I snort.
“Like quiet quitting.” He shrugs. “Promote me to CIO and then take all of my day-to-day projects away. I barely do anything now.”
“Why?”
“I think she’s been planning something she doesn’t want me to be a part of. ”
“Something dangerous?”
“Or illegal.” He blows on his tea, seemingly unconcerned by the idea. “Mel has always tried to protect me from the darker parts of the company.”
“Darker parts?”
“Despite the promotion, I feel like I know less than before.”
“Fuck, Brody, why do you work for her?”
“She’s like a sister to me.”
“Thought you had enough of those.” I allow a small smile to grace my lips and Brody returns the grin.
“Mel recruited me right out of college, said she wanted to build a company that helps people by staying in the dark. It all sounded so cool when I was twenty-one. She said I’d get to create all of our programs, design all of our systems, alongside her. How could I say no?”
“I guess if someone came to me and offered to let me build a production company based on my own vision, I wouldn’t be able to say no.”
“That’s what you want?”
“Some day.”
“Got a name for it?”
“Yeah, but I’m keeping it a secret for now.” I smile. It’s a stupid name, but it makes me giggle and sometimes you can’t take yourself seriously.
“Still don’t trust me?”
“What if you steal it?” I tease.
“Ah, yes. I know a lot of porn stars wanting to start their own production company. I’d definitely tell them about your brilliant name. You got me.” He winks, the expression so casual and easy. “Miles mentioned wanting the same thing once when he was dating…” Brody trails off and shakes his head. “Hasn’t said anything about it since.”
“A bad relationship can kill dreams easier than most people realize.”
I wanted to marry Caleb. Even after the first time he hit me, I still wanted a life with him. I wanted children with him.
“I’ve seen that.” He nods. “My sister doesn’t seem to be able to find the right guy. Been trying dating apps for a few years and she dated in college, but-” Brody’s eyes widen. “Fuck.”
“What? ”
“She had a date last week,” he groans, setting his tea on the coffee table and running a hand over his face. “I was supposed to give her a call half an hour in, but I forgot.”
“Why you?” That’s much more rude than I want to sound. “I just mean, instead of a friend or-or one of your sisters.”
“Apparently everyone was busy. She’s gonna kill me.”
I can’t help but giggle.
“Well, since she hasn’t made you regret it, I doubt she needed the call anyway.”
“Do women really do that? Set up those calls?”
“Better than telling a man no when the vibes are off.” I nod.
“Given your ex and his brother, I can only imagine.”
The front door opens to announce that Natalie is back from her yoga class this morning. When her head pops up above the half wall and she spots Brody, she smiles at me.
“I thought you had a shoot today.”
“Last-minute cancellation,” I fib.
“Bummer. Hey Brody.”
“Hey Natalie, how’s it going?”
“Oh, don’t mind me. I’m headed straight for a shower and then I gotta leave again.”
And with that, she disappears down the hall to her room.
“Think she’ll forgive me for the cameras?” he asks when we hear the door shut.
“Let’s keep it between us for now.”
A week passes with no new notes. Brody told me he’d keep an eye out and tell me if he saw Caleb or his brother on any footage, but there’s been nothing. I’m not sure if I should be terrified or relieved.
“Yoohoo! Earth to Soph!”
Natalie waves a hand in front of my face, startling me out of my spiraling thoughts. I shake my head and inhale sharply, meeting her gaze. We’ve been sitting on the couch watching a movie from our Halloween list. The closer we get to October, the more often we pick one out. The original Poltergeist holds up surprisingly well.
“Sorry,” I mutter.
“Been doing that a lot lately,” Natalie muses.
“Just a lot on my mind.”
“Juggling two men will do that.” She nudges me with her elbow and I force a smile as we watch the mother get overly excited about an invisible entity sliding her and her family across their kitchen floor. Idiot. It’s always fun and games until your daughter is sucked into the spirit realm.
“I think I’m doing pretty well at juggling,” I comment with a wink.
“Circus freak,” she chuckles.
“Think I should audition for Barnum and Bailey?”
“Only if they’ll let you juggle naked.”
“Probably not.”
“Better skip it, then.”
Natalie’s phone buzzes and she types out a response. She’s been going back and forth with one of her financial subs throughout the movie, draining his account and sending pictures of our television screen instead of herself.
“Lean over here,” she says, holding up the phone and taking a quick selfie.
She doesn’t need to explain that she’s posting on social media, taunting her subs because I get to spend time with her and they don’t. I’m sure there’s a command to send three hundred dollars or something obscene ‘simply for existing’. Once again, I’m reminded that she can afford this apartment four times over on her own.
“How much have you made today?” I ask, knowing she doesn’t find the question crass.
“Only six hundred and…” she trails off adding up the remainder in her head, “thirty-five dollars.”
“ Only ,” I repeat, rolling my eyes. There are days she makes three times that before noon, so I guess it’s appropriate. “When’s your next trip again?”
“It’s on the calendar,” Natalie groans.
“I forget to check the calendar.” I match her groan.
“I leave a week from Monday and I’ll be back Thursday.”
“Quick turnaround.” I frown. “Driving or flying?”
“Driving. No trips to the airport for you, babygirl.”
I throw my arms around her and squeeze. Natalie reaches up to pat my arm, laughing while I squeal.
“You do love me.”