Page 11 of Web of Lies
I plaster my best smile on and agree with her. She’s either naïve enough to believe what she’s saying, or she’s talking his work up. I mean, no one wants to out their flesh and blood as the real sadistic asshole he is. He’s stolen more from his clients than he lets on, cooking his books to make them appear in perfect order. And those charities he hosts to bring in more money for more unsuspecting families? All a sham. Her father is a cheating, manipulative scumbag. He uses his charities as a front for some rather disturbing parties, if you would even consider them parties.
“Well, here we are! The best of the best is behind these doors, Kaycee. From your congressmen’s children to the president’s cousin’s children, to the actors and models, they all reside behind these massive doors.” Piper claps her hands again. Her blue eyes sparkle with excitement and pride before they land right back on me.
“Just a little piece of advice, and you didn’t hear it from me. Stay as far away from Ainsley Benoit as possible.” She leans down and whispers closer to my ear, “She’s a bona fide murderer.” That statement is said with bright, wide eyes as she throws the door open like she didn’t just admit her classmate is a killer on the loose.
My jaw hangs open at her admission because everyone on this campus is so hell-bent on Magnolia’s death being self-inflicted. But even Piper says Ainsley did it, and not just the bullying. I wonder how many other people believe the same thing.
“Piper,” I whisper, striding beside her. “What do you mean mur—” she quickly puts a hand over my mouth and leads me toward a table.
“Bouncing bananas, Kaycee, you can’t.” Her eyes run up and down the dining hall, searching for listeners. “You can’t go around saying that word!” She hisses, removing her hand from my mouth. Her blue eyes stay glued to my every move like I’m a loose cannon about to shout Ainsley is a murderer to the school. Pfft, no. I keep that information to myself for now.
The skin around my lips burns and itches with a painful need to scratch them. But—I can’t. All I can manage to do is stare at her in awe. I don’t want to be reckless with this information. I need to play everything smart. “Who? What happened?” I whisper, leaning towards Piper, trying to soak up any information I can squeeze out of her.
She shakes her head, looking over her shoulder multiple times. “Some new girl last year, Ainsley didn’t like her one bit, and splash! She squashed her beautiful soul out of existence.” Bringing her fist to her mouth, she squeaks out a cry.
A table over shakes their heads at Piper’s outburst, quickly returning to their breakfast like this is a common occurrence. Magnolia never mentioned Piper more than once in her weekly correspondences. Were they better friends than she let on? Or did Magnolia leave out details? I need to find her journal ASAP.
“That’s so awful. How—how did she kill her?” My eyes burn with unshed tears as my lips move.
Holding back all these emotions sitting in the back of my throat is more challenging than I thought it would be. I’ve held them in for months, refusing to cry. To everyone else, Magnolia’s a nobody to me, and that’s how it needs to stay. No one can catch wind that I’m stirring the pot without finding answers, especially my five primary suspects.
“Oh—” Piper starts, wiping away the tears from her eyes, as we make our way back from the breakfast line. Food fills our trays, and we take a seat near the doors. “Oh, it was a boat party, the Benoit’s family yacht, it was so magical, and then we all heard the fight. And then she—” I jump out of my skin as a fist connects with our table.
Our breakfast trays jump a mile, forcing my wide eyes to travel up the responsible party’s tattooed arm—landing square on the familiar face of pawn number four. Glaring brown eyes filled to the brim with hate, stare down at me like I pissed in his favorite shoes, and then back to Piper.
His face hardens more, leaning forward. “Family fucking meeting,” he growls like a wild wolf about to devour his meal. His face twists and contorts into pure evil, eyeing her every movement. The muscles in his jaw repeatedly tick, folding his muscled arms across his chest.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Carter, no need to be so brash. It’s very unbecoming of you.” Piper chirps back, collecting her tray, and stands.
“I don’t have time for your fucked up wordy bullshit. He called a fucking family meeting about somefamilybullshit. So fucking attend it and quit your shit,” he growls again, scowling at her like she’s smelly dog shit on his shoes.
Then as quickly as he came, he throws open the dining hall doors with a bang, making his escape without a backward glance. Stomping down the pathway outside, he knocks kids out of his way with a shove or a hard glare. Or a better description, kids go out of their way to not run into him, terror sparking in their eyes.
Carter Cunningham did not disappoint on the mean factor. From what Magnolia told me through her emails, he’s crueler than cruel. If there is a murderer lurking in this school, Carter Cunningham is suspect number one. And judging by the one hate-filled look he gave me, he looked like he could wrap his hands around my throat with one squeeze and snuff the life out of me.
Piper looks over at his exit and sighs. Something foreign, resembling deep-seated hate, flashes in her perfect little eyes. “Oh, salt and sugar, so sorry to run off like an ostrich, but duty calls,” she says with a smile, but with how tight it is on her perfect face, I can tell she’s forcing it.
“That’s all right, we can catch up later.” Or never, I’m okay with that too. But I’d never say it. She seems like the kind of person to shove a knife in my gut when I least expect it.
Her grin takes over her face again, bouncing on her toes. “Don’t think you can get off that easy, silly! I have so much to show you!” She walks away, dumping her tray in the process, and hurries after Carter.
My eyes wander out the window, narrowing in on Carter. He takes a deep drag of a cigarette, blowing the smoke into the air, smirking as an enraged Piper approaches. I never thought such a deep scowl could form on her face, but as her arms wave and her mouth moves, I see the anger radiating off her. She stomps her foot like a child and places her hands on her hips. Carter rolls his eyes like he’s seen her theatrics a million times before and couldn’t be paid to care. He gestures for her to follow him and pulls his phone from his pocket. He dials a number, and they both walk off out of sight.
At that moment, I wish I could tap into phones like the FBI. I can access your computer through back doors and steal every piece of information, but phones are a little trickier than computers. I have a lot of ammo in my skill set, but with phones, they need to be in my possession. I can unlock them without a code and mirror them to my computer for further surveillance. But for me, there’s no back door wirelessly, which makes this much trickier. If I could do it, I’d find out who they were talking to and why they are suddenly family? Last I checked, they weren’t cousins. I wonder? I’ll go back and—
“Piece of advice, New Girl.” My body stiffens at the sound of his husky voice.
His fiery breaths roll over the flesh of my ear, sending goosebumps down my arms, and a shiver down my spine. The heat of his body penetrates through my clothes.
“Stay as far away from that cracked-out psycho as possible. Don’t want you getting into the wrong kind of trouble,” he whispers again, guiding my eyes towards him like a beacon. His moss-green eyes scrutinize my moves. Finally, settling on eyeing my tongue, darting out to wet my dry lips. “Just a friendly warning,” he whispers again before his body jerks back.
“For god’s sake, Seger, don’t terrify the new girl. We want her to feel welcome! Do you feel welcomed yet, New girl?” Chase asks with a lop-sided grin. He spreads his empty arms wide like he wants to embrace me in a very welcoming hug.
I shrug and stare up at him and Seger as they stand next to each other. Seger stands like a statue, glaring hate into Chase like knives. If his green eyes could murder souls, Chase would writhe on the floor now soulless. His twin Zeppelin, yes freaking Zeppelin like the band, strides up to them. Zepp eyes me and then his twin with confusion written on his face.
“Just welcoming the new girl with solid advice,” Seger says with a shrug and then pulls his brother with him to a table. “Also, don’t let Chase into your panties just yet. He’s a slippery fucker. I’m Seger by the way, and this is Zepp.” I snap my eyes to Seger again as he sits at a table behind me, nodding his head towards his brother. I stay silent once again, not bothering to introduce myself.
Chase rolls his eyes dramatically and sits beside me. “It’s not very often we get new kids around here. Admissions cost is high, and they limit spots. You know they have to keep all of us important people safe from weirdos.” He says through the biggest grin I’ve ever seen.
