Page 137 of Two Guys, a Girl, and a Tripod

“Miles, her ex is bad, but his brother is worse. And he’s a cop. I don’t know what his endgame is, but I want her safe.”

“So do I, but can’t you tell her about this?”

“Not-not yet.”

I roll my eyes and let my head fall back on the seat. There’s nothing I can say to change his mind, but it’s going to come out and when it does, I just know Sophie’s going to blame both of us.

“Does her roommate know?”

“What do you think?”

“I’m washing my hands of this.” I hold my hands up as if to show they’re clean. “You’re my friend and I love you, but I’m not going to be a part ofyoustalking her now.”

Brody’s expression freezes and I realize it never occurred to him to see things that way.

“Fuck.” He mutters the curse in defeat. “But what if something happens?”

“Dude, you already hacked-”

“Not hacked.”

“-hackedinto her doorbell cam.”

“Not hacked.”

“Fine, you built yourself a backdoor so you can see when she and her roommate leave or come home, as well as her ex showing up unannounced. What would you call that?”

“It’s already done. Mel has a team trying to track down whatever names they’re using at whatever shithole motel they’re staying at.”

“How do you know they’re staying at a motel? Or even anywhere that would have digital records?”

“I guess- I guess I don’t.”

“You’d make a horrible detective.”

Neither of us see Sophie over the next couple of days. She has collabs set up for most of the week and claims she’s been neglecting her live-stream fans.

Wednesday afternoon, I leave my studio after filming a solo custom video to find Brody napping on the couch. The TV is still on, playing a show he started yesterday morning.

“You have got to find a hobby,” I mutter as I pass the couch.

“Leave me alone to die.”

“Shut up, Lilo. You have plenty to live for.”

“Like you?”

“I would have thought you’d agree that I’m enough after last week.” I turn toward the kitchen. “Obviously there’s Sophie.”

“Obviously.”

“You were always working on little side projects in college,” I recall. “Contract work or something?”

“I haven’t worked on my own programming in a long time. Everything has been for Harp.” Brody sighs and sits up, pausing the show, though I doubt he’s been paying attention.

“Surely Mel will let you dosomething.”

“I had a meeting with her Monday,” he says. “Even though I’m the CIO, I don’t have access to anyone on the tech side of things. I can review any updates to our systems and I can discuss tech-related issues with Mel during our monthly lunches.”

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