Page 70 of Web of Lies
Zepp bats his damn eyelashes, pleading with me more, and finally, I decide to hand them over. I’ve never felt like they were a threat. They got under my skin and made me feel secure. They had just defended me in the library, too. But letting him in on her most personal thoughts makes bile rise in my throat.
“I swear, Kaycee, I’m not your enemy,” Zepp says, placing a hand on my forearm, squeezing lightly. “We want to figure this out. But we were there with her last year… let us help?” Reluctantly, I hand Zepp my phone, giving him an all-access pass to Magnolia’s secrets. He doesn’t hesitate and jumps head first into the deep end, burying his nose in my phone.
“So, no one? No one’s going to fucking ask me about my idea. It’s pretty fucking brilliant. I may not be a nerdy computer genius, but you know.” I snort at Seger’s shoulder shrug as he continues to murder the sandwich in his hand. I swear more mayonnaise lines his lips and fingers, than the actual sandwich.
I settle next to him on the cushy couch as he hands over the dinner he brought me. Sushi, the sushi I love, and two more cupcakes.
“What’s your idea?” I ask, moaning into the sushi. They both stop what they’re doing and stare at me.
“See, I fucking told you. “He chokes out, waving a hand at me. “It’s so fucking illegal coming from her.” Zepp’s eyes heat, staring at me, retorting with a snort. My cheeks heat under his scrutiny, making a salacious grin spread across his luscious lips. He gives me a wink and returns to reading the emails.
“You have your suspects? I have my sweet-talking. I’ll get you phones, and you hack through them,” Seger says, bringing my attention back to him. He runs a hand through his hair, shrugging like it’s no big deal.
“You’d do that for me?” I whisper through a mouth full of salmon sushi, most definitely not looking my hottest.
“I’ll get Hadley’s. That’ll be easy. That bitch has been trying to get back into our good graces for a year. Who else?” I bite my lip. Trent’s pale face next to my shit-filled locker floats in my mind.
“Trent. He filled my locker with shit and slipped up, saying he did it. If he’s one of them….” Seger nods, taking in my suggestion.
“He’ll be a little harder to get to. Seger can’t flirt his way into his good graces, but I might be able to lift it in class. He’s my lab partner in chem.” Zepp doesn’t even look up from the emails he’s staring at, but with all this talk, hope blossoms in my chest.
“And Oscar?” I ask, looking between the two.
“We’ll figure it out, Princess. Now eat your damn cupcake.” He smirks at me, basically shoving it in my face, watching intently as I moan, biting into the chocolatey goodness.
We continue like that for an hour. Seger and I end up studying more, while Zepp reads through the emails, studying them. He goes back and forth, reading older ones, and then the newer ones. Over and over again.
“Kaycee,” Zepp breathes through the silence, looking at me with his jaw hanging open and eyes wide. “Maggie didn’t give you a complete list of enemies,” he says, “I don’t know why I didn’t catch on. I thought it was a simple mistake. But it’s so apparent the second time through,” he says, thrusting a finger into the air.
“Care to elaborate?” Seger asks in a bored tone, settling into the couch with his eyes closed.
“She didn’t give you a list of her enemies, no. Fuck, Kaycee. Magnolia gave you a list of her allies.” He breathes. “She knew her emails were tracked and read. She was careful, and she knew what she was doing. She set you up to find us. She wrote to you in code.”
From: [email protected]
September 18th, 2020
Hey Kace,
How are you? I hope you’re doing good. I’m so exciited to see you for Christmas this year! Mom says we might be able to get together for a little while, I got you something anyway. You kknow those paintings I did? Well— nnot so surprise, they’re yoours! They’re flowwers that I think will be perfect for you. For now, they’re hanging on my apartment wall waiting for yyou. I’ll make sure they get too youu anyway.
I know, I know you’re concerned about me. I get it. I really do. If my best friend ssent emails the way I seend them to you, I’d maarch therre to and help out. But just—don’t. Not right now anyway. They may fill my loccker with jelly and lock me to thhe football goals, but I’m stronger than that. I have a goal in mind and I’m going to stick to it. I love you so much, Kaycee. Don’t ever fforget that. You mean the woorld to me. Seriously, you do. You’re the bestest friend I could ever ask for.
We’ve been through so much, haven’t we? Remember my mom’s wedding? Man, we were a pair, weren’t we? The worst flower girrls in the history of the world. My mom laughed so hard when we came down the aisle. We were what? 11? I still don’t know why she married Crowe. He’s just…so not her type. She told me the story of how they met. They went to college together and daated her senior year, before she went off to medical school. She said he wasn’t the best boyfriend then, but decided to give him another chance as an adult. I dunno. He literally blew out of nowhere and much like a stupid hurricanne, uprooted our livess. I still can’t believe we moved to this town and yet I’m sitting lonely in my own apartment. Crowwe said something like…he was born here and that’s why we did it? He wanted to reconnect with his blood brothers or something. I dunno, eveery time he steps onto this campus, which isn’t a lot, he just…. looks so angrry.
But anyways, ssorry, enough about him! I’m doing good still, still in one piece. For now. I’ve been going on dates again, in secret. I really don’t want to jeopardize anything with them. They’re so great, you’d really get along. We had our first kiss too. Just…their lips were so…. amazing. I can’t even describe how AWESOME it is that I’m finally able to be who I am. AHH. I got a date tonight at their apartment, we’re making spaghetti. So that’s one good thing going for us.
I’ll talk to you later, girl. Be good.
Mags. xoxoxox
A code. Did Magnolia write to me in code? I studied those emails for months and months leading up to this. But a code? Why hadn’t I picked up on the simple spelling mistakes? I thought it was a slip of the hand. And now, here I am again, as oblivious as usual. Crap. I can hack into the Whitehouse, but can’t crack my best friend’s code? I’m a complete and utter freaking failure.
“Seek my allies? Trust them?” I ask, taking my phone from Zepp’s hands and scanning the email.
“That’s what it spells out,” he says, leaning his head back onto the couch.
