40. Chapter 40
40
Brody
The room is dark when I wake up next to them. Miles keeps his studio curtains drawn when he films at night. The window faces the back of the house, but we still have neighbors across the fence who would easily be able to see inside with the lights on.
I haven’t slept that well in a very, very long time. I like waking up with Sophie between Miles and me. I like having her so close during the night and warm beside me in the morning.
I love her.
I love him.
I love them .
Miles has been my best friend for years. I’m not sure when I began to see him differently, but I feel freer, lighter, having admitted how I feel about Sophie. Can I say the words out loud to him?
If we were in my well-lit room, I’d happily lie here for hours, watching the two of them sleep. Unfortunately, Sophie’s ex is still at the forefront of my mind. Without the ability to figure out where the bastard is staying while in LA, he feels more dangerous than ever. What gets me is that he hasn’t sent an outright threat to come to her, to hurt her, or to take her. Just insults and acknowledging that he’s found her. It doesn’t make sense.
I slip from beneath the sheet and thin blanket and leave the studio as quietly as possible. In the back of my mind, I wonder if Miles has ever spent the night in there. He works there, films there, does live sessions there, but I don’t think he’s ever slept in that bed. First time for everything, I suppose, and I’ve had a lot of firsts since meeting Sophie.
Walking naked through my own house isn’t exactly at the top of my list of things I enjoy doing, but I didn’t want to wake Miles or Sophie by gathering my clothes. I stop at the pantry for a granola bar and a bottle of water before finding a pair of sweats in my room and then sitting at my desk.
Starting up my laptop seems to take forever, but when I pull up the camera footage from Sophie’s place, things are quiet. There’s no sound, so I can’t hear if Natalie is home. I rewind the footage to the last time stamp I viewed and start watching at three times the speed. Mel has a team of three men watching the feeds, live, in shifts. It’s their only job and they do it well, letting me know each time Caleb appears, within seconds. I still like to review it myself.
There’s nothing new in the footage and I pass the time staring at the feed from all four cameras–the three we added and the doorbell cam. Other than Sophie leaving yesterday to make her way here, an Amazon package delivery, and Natalie going on some kind of shopping trip, the place is quiet.
A knock on my office door startles me from the footage and I turn to find Sophie opening the door slowly. She’s clothed again, damn it, but she’s grinning ear to ear.
“Hey.” Her voice is soft, deeper than usual from having just woken up.
“Morning.” I spin my chair to face her.
“You left us.”
“I didn’t want to wake you, but I,” my hand motions to the monitors, “wanted to review some things.”
Sophie steps into the room, her bare feet sinking into the carpet. She glances at the monitors, but otherwise, her eyes stay on me.
“I gotta go.”
“Work?” I ask as she bends over to place a kiss on my lips.
“Natalie’s leaving for San Francisco in a little bit and I told her I’d see her off.”
Sophie stands and makes to turn for the door, but I lean forward and grab her hips and twist, pulling her backward, between my legs. She giggles, her breasts bouncing in my face and, heaven help me, I want to suffocate myself between them. Saint that I am, I resist the urge.
“Come back tonight?” I ask, running one hand down her thigh.
“If you’re lucky. ”
“Oh, I’ve been very lucky lately.”
“I have to go,” she repeats. “Ask me again in a few hours.”
A few hours later, I send a text asking Sophie to come by tonight, just as she told me to. She doesn’t respond immediately and I assume she’s working. Leaving my phone on my desk, I stand to open my office door and call across the house to Miles, who I know is just sitting in his room, editing.
“Mario Kart?” My voice echoes through the house. A few seconds later, his door opens and he pokes his head out.
“Five minutes?” he calls.
I thrust out my hand with a thumbs up and leave my door open. I figure I can fire up the Switch in preparation and get to the game’s main screen while I wait. The entire time, I’m listening for my phone to buzz with a response from Sophie.
After several minutes of waiting, I wonder where Miles is. He probably got distracted. I stand from my gaming chair, grumbling, just as he walks slowly to my door. He’s staring down at his phone with a look of concern.
“What is it?” I frown and Miles opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out. “Miles?”
“Yeah.” He shakes his head as if to clear it and looks up at me. “Yeah, sorry, it’s Natalie.”
“Sophie’s roommate? You have her number?”
“No, she… she reached out to me on Twitter. Said Sophie was supposed to be home in time to see her off, but wasn’t.”
“Sophie said that’s why she had to leave.”
“Natalie never saw her.” Miles takes a step into my office and turns his phone to show me the messages, but continues to explain. “Natalie didn’t think anything weird was happening til she stopped for gas and didn’t have any messages from Sophie. I haven’t heard from her since she left, have you?”
“I-” I glance at my phone on my desk, dread forming a knot in my stomach. “No.” Before Miles makes his suggestion, I’m back at my computer.
We’re both thinking the same thing. There’s no need to say it out loud.
Caleb .
When reviewing the footage this morning, I didn’t fully catch up, ending a few hours early. I skip to the timeframe when Sophie left, speeding through footage until I see Natalie packing her car. I watch her speedy little black-and-white form waiting on her friend. She sends a text, but doesn’t seem to receive a response, and finally leaves.
Within minutes, I’ve caught up to now–two thirty-three in the afternoon.
“She never made it home.” My choked whisper barely makes it out of my throat as my fingers reach for my phone. “I’m calling Mel.”
She picks up quickly.
“Mel, please, you have to help.” I don’t like having to ask again so soon, but I have no choice.
“What’s wrong?” The genuine concern in her voice does little to thaw the cold fear in my chest.
“It’s Sophie, she’s- She left a few hours ago, but she never made it home. I’m not-” My breathing is coming so quickly, I can’t control it now. Miles steps up to take my phone and put it on speaker while I try to calm down. I run my hands into my hair and drop my elbows to rest on my thighs, my head hanging low.
“Mel, it’s Miles. Sophie was headed straight home.” The fear in his voice matches mine, but it’s not crippling him the way it is me. “Her roommate said she never made it and now she’s not responding to anyone’s texts. Brody needs access to your systems again.”
“No need, I’ll get a team on it.”
“Mel,” my voice breaks as I lift my head, “I need to help. I need to find her.”
“We’ll find her, Brody.”