Page 54 of Stalker

“I know. Hold on, are you telling me you hacked me?” I replied, attempting to grasp the significance of her revelation. I stood up and started pacing, “You installed a system on my computer?”

“You knew someone hacked you that wasn’t me and you said nothing?” She argued over me, “Do you have any idea how sophisticated a ghost program is, Peyton? It’s essentially giving someone full remote access to everything in your life. Social medias, bank accounts, logininformation, camera footage, I mean come on! I thought you knew better than to click on fishy email links!” “Stop,” I barked in my best older sister voice. “Stop talking and listen for five seconds. I didn’t click on anything stupid, so shove that idea right up your ass. And yes, I knew that someone had hacked into my computer, and I know the person responsible. It’s fine. But now I want to go back and talk about you and what you’re doing hacking me. How do you even know how to hack people, Olivia? I thought you worked at the bank!”

“You know them?” She screeched, “Peyton, the only people who can run ghost programs this effectively are the kind of people who go bump in the night! They don’t exist in the real world because they’re too fucking dangerous to mingle with normal people!”

“Oh my god,” I groaned, rubbing my forehead in exasperation. “Explain yourself first, and then I’ll go.”

“Fucking hell,” She replied and sighed, “I don’t work at the bank.”

“Obviously.”

“I do IT work for a freelance company. They work in cyber security, so I’ve learned a lot over the last year. I put a program on your computer when I was first starting out, like a practice run. I never had to use it because you live the most boring life possible and you were always right down the road. But then you went completely AWOL, moving away and shutting us all out, so I tried to take a peek into your life through your cyber footprint. But someone else locked it down tighter than Fort Knox.”

I tried to figure out why Dane would not only hack me, but make it impossible for anyone else to do the same in return. Maybe to prevent me from kicking him out of my cyber world? As if I’d have any clue how to do that. Apparently Olivia did, though.

“Say something!” Olivia snapped through the phone.

“I’m very disappointed in you, young lady.” I deadpanned, trying to buy my brain more time to come up with an answer in response to her information throw up.

“Now tell me about the hack.”

I sighed and sat back down in the chair, “I can’t in a way that will make sense to you. But I met someone, and he was the one who hacked my computer or whatever it was he did.”

She paused, and I could almost imagine her mouth opening and closing. “You met someone?”

“Yes.”

“So that means you’ve finally kicked Tyson to the curb? That slimy degrading piece of shit deserves far worse than just that, but I’ll take it as a start.”

I snorted and rested my head in my hand. “Not exactly. But I will.”

She sputtered, “You cheated on him? Peyton Rosa Everett, I didn’t think you had that kind of bad-ass-ery in you!”

I rolled my eyes, “It’s complicated, but I am going to end things for good.”

“When?” She rushed on, “Wait, the guy you met, who is he?”

“I--,” I paused, physically unable to tell her anything about him. “I’ll tell you about him if it lasts. It’s complicated.” I repeated, “But please just know that I’m fine, just busy with work and you don’t have to show up at Hartington to double check.”

“Hmm.” She hummed, not convinced. “Tell me one thing, P.”

“Maybe.”

“Does he treat you the way you deserve to be treated?” she asked, all serious now. “Does he worship you?”

The word attacked my memories from when I threw it in Dane’s face three days ago. Shame and guilt filled my stomach. “He’s treated me better than Ty ever did.”

“Well then,” She whistled, “He gets my seal of approval. Cyber stalking aside, because that’s just weird.”

I chuckled lightly, “Believe me, I’m actually kind of into it.”

“Ew.” She cringed and shuddered, “I’m going to go now.”

“Bye, I love you.”

“I love you too, P. Don’t be such a stranger, okay?”

“Okay.” I grinned, relaxing for the first time in days. “I’ll call you in a day or two.”

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