Page 71 of Web of Lies
His moss-green eyes drift, tracking the changing colors. The sun outside sinks in the sky. Sending sneak peeks of pink through the windows, covering our faces and the decorated walls with its gorgeous hue.
“That’s every double letter in the emails after she realized what was happening,” I groan, slamming my head into the back of the couch. “How the hell didn’t I know they tracked every email and read them?” Like, duh! It should have been obvious! Why am I like this?
“Don’t beat yourself up too much. Who would expect that?” Zepp says, patting my arm, drifting his hand in soothing circles.
Goosebumps prickled up my arm at the contact with him, sending pleasant shivers up my spine. “That’s an invasion of privacy in anyone’s eyes,” he says thoughtfully, trying to soothe away the guilt churning in my stomach.
“But in the eyes of the fucking elitist bastards who run this joint, it’s not. They want to make sure their students aren’t sending out fake shit,” Seger grumbles.
“Magnolia said she got in trouble one day, sent to the office, was it?”
“Exactly. It was the first month she was here. Kids started going after her, and the school officials said she was staining the school’s image. They placed her on some sort of internet probation,” Zepp says, running a hand over his forehead.
“Fuck,” I grumble, putting my hands over my face. “I should have noticed! She was so excited that first month and then her emails changed.” My voice trails off as the guilt burrows deeper, like a parasite in my brain. I should have noticed the change in her emails. I should have seen the change in her period. She went from happy to solemn in a short period of time.
“Like you could have fucking known. Seriously,” Seger growls at me, laying out on the opposite couch with his arm over his eyes, shielding out the setting sun.
“I wish she would have had a way to tell me these things, but her stupid step-dad took her phone away.” My hands slam back onto the couch. The frustration builds like magma inside of me, seeping out of the cracks of my body. I’m not sure how many more blows I can take without landing on my ass and not getting up.
“He did?” Zepp asks, raising his eyebrows.
I nod. “Yeah, she told me in her email that he took away her phone so she would focus on studying better.”
I mean, it made sense. Crowe had control issues—major control issues. He had a severe case of OCD with Addison and Magnolia. Anything they did. He watched over them with a scowl on his face and an eagle eye. Practically yelling at them to get it done right, or he’d show them how to do it. At least, that’s how Magnolia made it seem.
“He controlled her like that?” Zepp asks, rubbing his chin, and I nod again.
“He was a freak, expecting everything to be perfect. He was always nice to me, but Magnolia told me some wild stories about him trying to get her to vacuum three times a day or dust. He seemed to control her every move.” I sigh, shaking my head. It seems like a million years ago, all this happened.
“Fucking why?” Seger groans from the other couch. “What’s the fucking point in that?” He asks again, sounding more exhausted than I feel.
“No idea,” I say with a shrug, looking down at the time on my phone. “He always seemed so weird with Dr. Addi, too. But seemed to treat them well? I don’t know.”
“Dr. Addi?” Zepp asks with a raised brow. “Her mom. She was good friends with my mom for a while. She even named me after her. I don’t know what happened to them. They stopped talking suddenly.” I sigh again, a yawn erupting from my mouth.
Zepp nods at the statement, eyes zeroing in on my drooping eyelids. Another yawn rushes through me. Man, this day zapped me more than I thought. The more I sink into the comfortable couch, the more I want to lay my head on Zepp’s shoulder and sleep. Yeah—that sounds nice. A little nap snuggled up to Zepp’s warm body.
“Let me walk you to your apartment? You’re tired.” I nod, no sense in arguing, but I stop in the middle of the room, turning to face the both of them.
“This…. this stays between us. What we’re doing and who I am. Right?” They both nod in agreement, a serious expression settling on their identical faces.
“Cross my heart and hope to die,” Seger snorts from the couch, crossing a finger over his chest.
“Stick a needle in my eye,” I finish with a smile, “I’m trusting you two….” Laying it on thick, I need them to understand how important it is for me to stay anonymous. I can’t have anyone else finding out my plan to lure a murderer out of hiding and expose them. They’d probably kill me faster than they already were with this bullying crap.
“You have our word,” Zepp reassures me with a nod. “We will figure this out together. Especially now, we have more to go on. We always thought—”
“Yeah—I know. You and everyone else, except for Piper. She told me the first day to stay away from Ainsley.” The boys roll their eyes, throwing their heads back to look up at the ceiling.
“We should steal that psycho’s phone, too. She seems like the type of crazy to stab someone in the back.” Seger grumbles, lolling his head to the side. His legs cross at his ankles, and his breathing evens out. I swear if his chest weren’t moving, I’d think he died.
“You think she’d hurt someone?” I ask Zepp, as we walk through the front door together.
The night air engulfs us; as we head through the tall hedges of the maze, the silence surrounding us for once. The moans and groans from frisky students taking advantage of the lack of security are nowhere in sight. Thank God. The last thing I needed was to walk by someone bumping uglies while walking with Zepp. Talk about awkward.
Hmm—I wonder what kind of kisser he is or—you know—in the sack. Probably the dominant type, always in control when under pressure, never letting his feelings show through his expression. Yeah—that’s probably what he’s like. And Seger. Well, Seger is probably wild. A friggin animal in the streets and the sheets. I’ve seen him eat food. He devours it like he’ll never have food again, and that can only mean—
“She hurts herself,” he says, looking toward the ground.
