Page 4 of His Every Move

“Right, but at what cost?”

“I know, I know. It’s not ideal. I’m making the most money I’ve ever made in my life. Is it exactly what I thought I’d be doing? Obviously, no. I thought I’d be acting and singing my gay ass across a Broadway stage. But I know I want to keep doing this, but I don’t know how to get rid of this person.”

Zack rubbed his shoulder. “What if you hire someone? Like protection?”

“I’m making money, but notbodyguardmoney. Especially not here in New York. Not if I want to keep living in an apartment with a washer and dryer.”

“True, true.”

“ButI am going to be hiring someone. A detective. Someone to look into this for me.”

Zack raised a brow at that. “That sounds… hot?”

I scoffed. “My life’s not a soap opera. I’m sure the detective is going to be some half-balding guy with Cheeto dust covering his fingers, at least with my luck. That or a boss-ass woman who I’d rather be best friends with than hook up with.”

“You never know, dude. It’s like in those romance novels I read all the time.”

“Damn, you’re bouncing from true crime to romance?”

“It’s dark romance.”

“Ah, gotcha.” I chuckled and glanced at my watch. “Speaking of detectives, this one agency I found closes in like thirty minutes. I think I want to drop in.”

“They close by?”

I nodded and stood. The pigeons near my feet bounced away on their hunt for my crumbs. A busker played with a deck of cards laid out on a table in front of him. He made a few of them disappear in his sleeve, a pair of young kids watching the magic show with wide eyes. “Yeah, I can walk it from here. Want to come with?”

Zack sighed and dropped his head back. “Nah, I’ve got to study. I have a midterm coming up.”

“What class?”

“Pharmacology,” Zack replied. He grabbed his book bag from between his legs and tossed it over his shoulder. I was pretty damn proud of my bestie. He’d been struggling with finding a purpose lately. He’d worked a dead-end job in retail ever since I knew him and always hated the idea of going back to school or pursuing bigger opportunities. But something changed in him about two years ago. He enrolled in a couple of classes at a community college and applied to nursing school, getting accepted a few months ago. I could already sense there was a shift happening in him. He finally had direction, no longer staying inside his apartment, passing around bong hits with his roommates and chasing meaningless relationships with trashy guys. Instead, he spent his weekends at the library or studying with classmates.

It was an inspiring change to witness.

“Alright, I’ll hit you up after my meeting with the detective. Let you know how it went.”

“Sounds good. Stay safe, Eli.”

“I will.”

We walked toward the arch and separated, Zack heading for the subway station. I continued down the street, wondering if this was even worth it. Was I overreacting? This “Nomad” person was annoying—no doubt about that—but were they ultimately harmless? The threats sounded toothless to me.

But… well, what if it wasn’t? Itwasunsettling that this person kept coming back to my live streams. They were clearly dedicated to their cause, whatever cause that happened to be. And the messages were pretty benign at first, almost comical, but they’d progressively gotten more and more unhinged.

You deserve more than this.

I’ll find you and stop you myself.

You’ll regret ever coming on this website.

You’re mine.

I didn’t want to give up camming, either. I came from a rough childhood, with a lot of money insecurity. My mom, sister and I had bounced between shelters for most of my early life. I remember spending Christmas morning around a bunch of kids I’d only just met the night before. Volunteers came and dropped off donated gifts that were all snatched up in minutes, before I could get anything I actually wanted. My mom had saved a couple of dollars and taken me to the zoo that day.

We were back in the shelter that night. It wasn’t until a year after that Christmas, when I was turning twelve, that my mom found us some permanent housing. She started getting us back on our feet, hustling hard every day. She started off cleaning office buildings before she realized she could handle more, that shewantedmore, and so she started the process of opening up her own cleaning business. My sister and I definitely butted heads, but my mom and I were best friends, she was a superhero. An inspiration.

And even though she was gone, I still strived to make her proud of me.

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