The Society #StalkerProblems

by Ivy Smoak

  I looked up at him. “So is it time for my surprise? I could really use the distraction.” And I was going to explode from anticipation if he didn’t tell me in the next five seconds. Unless the PI coming was the surprise. Just because he hadn’t found out anything yet, didn’t mean he wouldn’t. And now I just looked super ungrateful.

  Tanner let go of me and stepped back.

  Shit. He thinks I’m a monster.

  “Okay, okay. I guess I’ve tortured you long enough.”

  Thank God. “And…?”

  “Close your eyes.”

  I did. Where is he going with this? It sounded like he was walking behind his desk. Chastity must have gotten in my head, because I was about 80% sure he was gonna climb onto his desk and shove his dick in my mouth. Finally! But I totally should have put some Chapstick on. What had I been thinking coming in here with dry lips?!

  It took all my self-control not to peek. Because it sounded like he was opening a desk drawer. For a condom, perhaps? Or maybe not. The Society contract made it sound like they were a condom-free organization. My heart started beating faster. What sinful things was he about to do to me?

  “Hold out your hands,” said Tanner.

  So we’ll start with a handjob, then. I held out my hands. It wasn’t lost on me that he thought I was gonna need to use both hands to corral him.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  “Yes.” I’d been ready for weeks.

  “You sure?”

  “Yes!”

  Something cold and smooth fell into my hands. Definitely not a penis. Darn.

  “Can I look?”

  “Yup. Open your eyes.”

  Chapter 42 - TOP SECRET

  Wednesday

  I opened my eyes and looked down at my brand new…sunglasses?

  “What exactly am I looking at here?” I asked.

  “Your surprise.”

  “So let me get this straight. My game-changing surprise is a brand-new pair of sunglasses?” They weren’t even normal sunglasses. They were more like a weird futuristic shield for my eyes.

  “Yes.” Tanner looked so pleased with himself.

  “Thanks?”

  “You’re welcome. I figured you’d want to wear them while Spaceboy performs at our launch party.”

  I blinked and then stared at him. “Don’t mess with me like that.” A few days ago I’d jokingly suggested that we invite DJ Spaceboy to our party, knowing full well that it would never happen. I figured he was too busy polishing his Grammys or banging groupies in his ten thousand square foot Beverly Hills mansion.

  “I’m serious,” said Tanner.

  What?! “Just so we’re on the same page. You’re telling me that the DJ Spaceboy agreed to come to some random launch party for a virtually unheard-of winery? Will Taylor Swift be attending as well?”

  “No. Why would we have two headliners? We aren’t throwing a music festival - we’re having a launch party.”

  “Oh my God. You’re being serious. You really got DJ Spaceboy?!” I couldn’t believe him. He was freaking amazing. I was pretty sure I’d single-handedly paid for his aforementioned Beverly Hills mansion with all the ad revenue he got from me watching his videos non-stop on YouTube.

  “I had to call in a favor with an old friend. DJ Spaceboy demanded that we move the party to a yacht, but yes. I got him.”

  I stood on my tippy-toes and gave Tanner a big kiss. I didn’t care that we were supposed to be just friends. It felt like forever ago that I’d told him I wasn’t interested. And he must have known I was lying. Because I was. And this wonderful man deserved a kiss. Actually, he deserved a lot more than a kiss. I didn’t want to scare him off though. And as a cherry on top of my already perfect surprise, he actually kissed me back.

  And kissed me.

  And kissed me some more.

  I had to step backwards to keep from falling over. Tanner used that momentum to push me back against the wall. I opened my mouth wider, letting him in. Yes!

  I wanted it to last forever. But a little voice in the back of my head knew that Tanner was going to come to his senses soon and push me away. Just like he always did. And then things would be painfully awkward for the next week or so.

  I couldn’t let that happen. I bit at his lower lip and then pushed with all my might to force him off of me.

  “Excuse me, sir,” I said. “I think you were getting dangerously close to doing something inappropriate with your favorite employee.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “That was nothing more than a congratulatory peck between coworkers.”

  “Right. A congratulatory peck. Glad we’re on the same page.” I smoothed my skirt out and fixed my hair. And then I shook his hand. Because that seemed like something colleagues would do whilst congratulating each other on a big win.

  Tanner stared at me for a long second and then went to sit behind his desk. Which was probably for the best. Without that space between us, our congratulatory peck easily could have turned into a congratulatory fuck.

  I sat across from him. I needed to compose myself and get us back on track. Because that was the only way to keep him from freaking out. And honestly, I was already freaking out enough for the both of us. He kissed me back! I cleared my throat. “So the launch party we’ve been planning for the last two weeks - a laid back sweatpants-party after hours at a furniture store - is now a yacht party headlined by Spaceboy?”

  “Correct. Why do you think I told you to get that website finished? We have a crap-ton of work to do if we’re gonna pull this off. This is gonna be the party of the century.”

  We went back to the drawing board with our planning. At first I was a little concerned that getting Spaceboy - as amazing as it was - wasn’t going to fit the brand. But Tanner and I put our heads together and came up with a pretty epic plan. It was so tempting to text Chastity to tell her the good news, but it didn’t seem like a text could do this justice. And I really wanted to see her face when she found out. She was going to absolutely lose her shit.

  I was planning out different epic ways to drop the news to her when Tanner’s PI, Marty, walked into the conference room. I was about to have to relive the day Rosalie disappeared. And just like that, all the exciting energy I had immediately switched to nervous energy. Or…actually, I was still kind of excited. Because seeing how closely he resembled Liam Neeson immediately gave me hope that we would find her. And also hope that he would kill everyone involved in a totally epic action sequence and then say some badass line to make the kidnappers look like a bunch of little bitches.

  “Pleasure to meet you, Miss Cooper,” he said. His voice was even deep and gravelly like Liam’s.

  “Thanks for coming,” I said.

  “No problem.” He pulled up a chair and got ready to jot some notes down in a folder labeled TOP SECRET. “So here’s how this works. I don’t know if this case is going to take two days or two years. But I promise you that I will do my very best to find out what happened to your sister. And when I do, I’ll send you the report. When I first started, I used to send weekly updates to my clients. But that just wasted my time and got my clients hopes up for no reason. So until you get my report, assume I have no new information. Got it?”

  I nodded. It was going to drive me crazy waiting, but I’d have to deal.

  “Good. So I’ve read the police reports and have a general sense of what happened, but I’d love to get your take on that day.”

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. It had been three years, but I could still picture the day perfectly. I opened my eyes and tried to focus on Marty instead of Tanner, who was watching me silently. “Okay. So it was May 25th, 2020. Rosalie’s 23rd birthday. I woke up at 5 a.m. sharp, baked Rosalie’s birthday cupcakes, and then biked over to Belvedere Lake. Ever since she’d moved to the city, that was where we would meet on her birthday. We’d hang out all day laughing and having fun.” Those were my favorite days.

  “And when did each of you move to the city?” asked Marty.


  “Um… Joe and I moved here after I graduated from college. Summer of 2017. Rosalie transferred to NYCU that fall.”

  Marty made a few notes. “Got it. And what was the significance of Belvedere Lake?”

  “It was more about the castle than the lake. God, she loved that castle. She always said that someday she’d live in a castle like that.” My voice caught in my throat as I said it. And now she’ll never get the chance.

  Tanner walked over and put his hand on my shoulder. “We’ll find her, Ash. And we’ll find her a castle to live in.”

  The thought made me smile. Even if there was no way he’d actually be able to make good on that promise. Well…he could certainly buy her a castle. But the odds of him finding her were slim.

  “So you baked your cupcakes and headed to the lake,” said Marty. “Then what?”

  “I expected to find her sketching Belvedere Castle, but instead, all I found was her half-finished sketch lying in the grass. And Rosalie was nowhere to be seen.”

  “Half-finished? Can you put that in terms of minutes? And what time did you arrive? If you can give me some estimates, then I can put it all together to determine roughly what time Rosalie disappeared.”

  Damn. That was smart. I’d never thought to do that, and the cops investigating her case certainly hadn’t. But there was just one problem. “I know I got there just before 8 a.m. But Rosalie and punctuality were not friends. She was a free spirit. She’d always make plans with me, but I never knew for sure if she’d show up. And don’t get me started about her art… Sometimes she’d work on a piece for twenty minutes and then frame it on her wall. Other times she’d work for days and it would end up in the trash. So I have no idea how long she’d been there.”

  Marty nodded. “No problem. And do you remember if it was particularly windy?”

  “Uh…no. Why?”

  He waved it off. “I can check the forecast from that day. If it was windy, then it’s unlikely that her drawing would have lingered on the ground for very long. Putting her time of disappearance closer to your arrival.”

  Another thing I’d never thought of. I closed my eyes and put myself back at the park on that day. “Actually…I do remember. It was a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky. And just a slight breeze.” Her birthday was always perfect. Just like her.

  Marty took more notes. “Got it. Please continue.”

  I kept my eyes closed and relived the horror of that day. “I texted her. Called her. Waited for her. I wasn’t too worried at that point. Like I said…she was kinda flaky. I assumed she’d forgotten something at home or something. After an hour, I got tired of waiting and went by her apartment.”

  Marty flipped through his notes and asked me to confirm her address and the time that I’d arrived there.

  I nodded. “I tried calling her work and her friends. No one had heard from her all day. And no one…” I stopped and brushed a tear off my cheek. “No one ever heard from her again.”

  Tanner handed me a tissue from his desk.

  “The police got involved that night. They brought out sniffing dogs and made a whole scene of searching the entirety of Central Park. The news picked up the story. The whole city was searching for my sweet, beautiful sister. I’d been so hopeful those first few days. With so many people involved, how could we not find her? But as no clues turned up, the public lost interest. And then the police did too. I think the case is technically still open, but I’m pretty sure it’s just a file in some database. I doubt any cop has thought about Rosalie in years.”

  The look on Marty’s face told me I was right.

  “I haven’t forgotten about her, though. And I still go to the lake every year on her birthday. My stupid ex-husband would come too. We’d eat her favorite cupcakes and I’d sit around telling him all my favorite stories about her. Even if she was gone, telling the stories made it feel like a little part of her was still with me. And then when the sun had set and my voice was hoarse from talking so much, we’d leave one cupcake for her and go home.”

  “Maybe when you go tomorrow she’ll be there waiting for you,” said Tanner to try to cheer me up. It was a nice thought - and that idea was partially why I went back every year - but nothing was going to stop the tears running down my cheeks. It felt like it had just happened yesterday.

  “Do you remember…” started Marty, but Tanner cut him off.

  “I think that’s enough for today,” said Tanner. I’d never heard him sound so stern.

  “No,” I said, sniffing back the snot threatening to run down my face. “I want to answer all his questions.” I needed to be strong for Rosalie. I turned back to Marty. “What do you need to know?”

  “Was Rosalie acting strange at all before she disappeared?”

  “Not really.” I blotted away my tears as quickly as I could. “She’d been distant for a few weeks, but that was nothing out of the ordinary. Depending on how wrapped up in her art she was, I wouldn’t hear from her for weeks. And then she’d call me every day for a month.”

  “Had anyone new come into her life recently?”

  “Yes, but I’d be hard-pressed to tell you who. She was always getting new roommates and dating new boys. Every time I talked to her it seemed like she had a new boyfriend.”

  “From a dating app?”

  “Uh. I know she was on Tinder at one point. But then she got tired of that and tried another. And then she claimed to give up dating apps altogether, but her endless stream of suitors continued.”

  The questions continued like this for at least another hour. I tried to get a read on if my information was helping at all, but Marty was a brick wall. His face betrayed nothing. But his questions gave me hope. There were at least three times when he pulled some obscure detail out of my brain that I had never thought was important.

  “I think that’s everything I need,” said Marty eventually. “As soon as I have conclusive evidence, you’ll be the first to know.” He grabbed his TOP SECRET folder and left as quickly as he’d come.

  I let out a deep sigh. Reliving all that had been so draining.

  “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that,” said Tanner.

  “Marty wasn’t that bad. I’d go through his questioning a million times over if it will help him find Rosalie.”

  Tanner laughed. “I meant Rosalie disappearing. But yeah, Marty can definitely be a little insensitive.” He handed me another tissue. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help make tomorrow a little less painful for you?”

  I shook my head. Having him see me ugly-cry for the past hour had been horrifying enough. I couldn’t deal with him seeing how much of a mess I’d be tomorrow.

  “Okay. Well if you change your mind, just…”

  “Actually,” I said. “There is one thing you could do.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Anything.”

  All my instincts were telling me not to ask. I’d already pushed my luck enough by making out with him. But he’d offered… “I wouldn’t mind going out to dinner tomorrow night.”

  He stared at me.

  Oh shit. Was he about to freak out? I couldn’t handle that on top of everything else. “You know…to work on the launch party,” I added. “We need to take advantage of every second we can get if we’re gonna pull this thing off. And I could use the distraction.” Of you. I could use the distraction of you.

  “You got it,” said Tanner. “I’ll pick you up at your place at 8?”

  “Sure. My address is…”

  “I know your address.”

  “Of course you do. Stalker.”

  “I mean…what do you expect when I have Marty working for me? He’s very thorough.”

  “I’d like to change my answer. Going to dinner tomorrow will be nice, but it would really cheer me up if you admitted that you were the one stalking me.”

  “So you want me to lie to you?”

  I slapped his arm. “You’re ridiculous.”

  “Maybe. But at least I’m not
a stalker.”

  I laughed. Even though he hadn’t admitted his stalkery ways, he’d still managed to cheer me up. And he’d agreed to go on a date! This was freaking huge. It was going to be our first real date outside of the Society.

  Tomorrow was going to be rough. But tomorrow night was going to be everything.

  Chapter 43 - Son of a Dick

  Thursday

  This year I didn’t bring the cupcakes. But I still went to the lake. The grass was slick with dew so I laid out a beach towel and plopped myself down.

  I stared at the castle for a while, thinking about when Rosalie had tried to convince me to sneak in after dark and sleep there as if it were our house. I pulled my knees into my chest. I’d been too lame to do it. Now I really wished I had.

  I rested my chin on one of my knees and I blinked, trying not to cry.

  I felt like I should be telling a story about her, but there was no one to talk to. So instead I decided to talk to her.

  “Hey Ros,” I said to the air. “I miss you.” I paused, choking back the tears. “I miss you so much.”

  Stop. I shouldn’t cry. As her older sister, it was my job to be her shoulder to cry on. Not the other way around. And with all the boys she always had chasing after her, she frequently needed a shoulder to cry on. She’d know what to do about my current boy situation.

  “So I need your advice,” I said. “I met this amazing guy, but he claims it would be too dangerous for us to be together…”

  “Sounds complicated,” said someone behind me.

  I looked over my shoulder and saw Joe standing there, holding a box of Dickson & Son’s Sugarcakes. What the hell? He was the last person I wanted to see ever. And today of all days? I was grieving.

  “Mind if I sit?” he asked. But he didn’t wait for my answer. He just sat down next to me. On my beach towel.

  “Yes, I do mind if you sit,” I snapped, yanking the towel out from under him. I stomped across the clearing and sat down in a new, Joe-free spot. Maybe someone else would find it sweet that he’d remembered how important today was to me. But that someone wasn’t me. I hated him. And he had no right to interrupt Rosalie’s birthday. I just wanted to be alone.