Page 66 of Web of Lies
A wide grin spreads across his face. “Mirrored? What the fuck does that mean? I’m so fucking lost,” Seger whines beside his brother, tossing his arms about still like a child.
Zepp throws a hand onto Seger’s chest. “Go get our dinner,” he demands, without breaking eye contact with me.
“What? Dinner? Really? Why me?” He groans, throwing his head back.
“Bring me back another cupcake,” I plead, folding my hands together, begging him to comply with this one tiny request.
Seger reluctantly climbs to his feet, slumping his shoulders. “Fine. I’ll get dinner and a cupcake for my pretty little princess.” He grumbles, ruffling my hair as he walks through the hedges and disappears. “But don’t you dare say anything else until I get back!” He yells through the hedges, making a laugh bubble out of my throat.
“I have something for that,” Zepp points at the bruises on my face. “It’s in the house. Seger likes to hit first and ask questions later.” He gets to his feet, holding out his hand for me to take.
I purse my lips, staring at his awaiting hand. “Once he gets back with our dinner, I’ll tell you what they have on us.” He says in a low voice, shame filling his tone. “But it involves Seger too, so he has to be on board.” I nod, putting my hand into his.
“Is it bad?” I ask, following him through hedges, utterly lost behind him. He looks at me over his shoulder and shrugs.
“What do you think?” He asks, raising a brow.
“Well, it must be bad if you’re consistently being told to deny me access to the dining hall and actually doing it,” I grumble as we finally make it to the middle of the maze. The house is still in the same condition as before.
“We needed somewhere to get away to. So, our dad talked with the school and rented it from them. The school permitted us to repair it. We are in charge of taking care of it, and they won’t bother us. It’s our domain, and they won’t interfere. We just wanted somewhere to escape prying eyes.”
“Where they couldn’t see you, right?” I look over at Zepp as we stand in front of the house. He nods at my questions, running a hand across the back of his neck. “The cameras are down around here and two more spaces. Is that your doing?” I look toward the sky, trying to find the dead camera that had access to the maze.
“Signal blocker,” Zepp says, pointing toward the house, “I got it for this year so that we could have more privacy here—” He trails off with his words.
“Why this year?” I ask, tilting my head to the side. His tongue pokes out to wet his lips.
“Just because….” He shakes his head, locking his lips tight.
“Because of last year?” His gaze snaps to mine, eyes blinking rapidly. He peeks around, grabs my arm, and hauls me inside the house.
“What about last year?” He paces the length of the small, well-decorated living room.
I can’t keep my eyes focused on his constant movements. I’m stuck gawking at the interior of the house. Lightly painted gray walls take up the spacious living room, with colorful paintings and other decorations accenting the walls. A tiny kitchen sits off the living room, stocked full of brand-new appliances. Not a speck of dirt sits on the counters, and everything seems in its place. There are no dirty dishes or smudges on the floor like you’d expect from two guys living here.
“Kaycee?” he snaps his fingers in front of my face, again pulling me from looking around.
Right, I was trying to find out information, not gawk at their professionally decorated home. “I heard about a girl. They bullied her, and…” I swallow the lump in my throat at the thought of her.
Every time I try to talk about her or mention her name, it brings back the ghost of my past. I wasn’t running from her by any means; I was trying to solve her murder. But mentioning her brings back the searing, painful grief that made me want to collapse into a crying heap and never get back up. But I can’t do that right now.
“Maggie,” he whispers, voice cracking at the mention of her name. “She was so great. So nice, we loved her.” He looks away from me, biting the tips of his fingernails.
“Loved her?” I remember the emails about her dates, and she mentioned no names. One went wrong, but one date went so well she saw them again and again.
He waves a hand, pacing the room. “No, not like that. She was special to us, fit into our group so flawlessly it’s like she should have been here all along. She and Ainsley were inseparable until…….” He swallows hard again, connecting our eyes.
“Until they threatened you, right?” I ask, taking a step toward him.
He nods. “Yeah—hey, here’s that cream for your bruises. It’ll take away the stinging pain and help reduce the purple….” He holds up a tiny white jar, shaking it a bit.
Waving me over, he peels off the lid. I stand before him as he dips his fingers into the white cream. With precision and a soft touch, he wipes the cream under my eyes, over my nose, and under it. A hiss escapes my mouth at the coolness of the cream. Much like aloe, a chill spreads across the bruised flesh, bringing much-needed pain relief.
“What happened to Magnolia?” I whisper as his finger travels across the other side, soothing the bruise under my other eye.
He shakes his head back and forth. “We couldn’t save her,” he whispers painfully. “We couldn’t protect her.”
Tears burn at the back of my eyes. Shame fills every inch of him, and he can’t stand to look at me while he thinks about everything that happened. But nothing makes sense to me anymore. I thought, I thought I had it all figured out. I thought she had laid everything out for me so I could find her harassers. But what if she didn’t? I don’t understand.
