Page 76 of The Naughty Virgin

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Caden

Our sister did really well. First, she pointed out the obvious discrepancy with pledging. There was no pledging ritual during the fall, all that stuff takes place in the spring when the weather’s warm. Secondly, and more important, was Brenda’s obsession with Cole. I remembered the dude, the sandy haired one who’d been stoned during the party. What was his role?

Evidently Brenda had a crush on him and had put up a high school friend to sing her praises. This already sounded fucked up and I briefed Phipps on the issue.

“So yeah, there’s some dude that the victim was crushing on,” I said into the phone. “Some stoner dude who’s a brother in the frat.”

“I’ve got better news for you than that,” said Phipps dryly. “There’s no high school friend whatsoever.”

“What do you mean?” I asked confusedly.

“Yeah, this girl is way off her rocker,” confirmed Phipps. “She made up a third party to persuade Cole that she was worth dating. It’s fucked up. She was catfishing the poor guy, pretending to be her own high school friend.”

“But how did she do it?” I asked. “I mean, shit, that takes a lot of work.”

I could almost hear Phipps shrug over the phone.

“It’s not that hard,” he said. “She used ISPs which allow you to text without a cell. Lots of people use it to spoof.”

“Man,” I grunted. “This girl is even more fucked up than I thought. What about the married chick, what’s her role in all of this?”

“Ah Vera,” said Phipps. “Yeah, she’s basically dropped off the face of the earth as far as I can tell. She withdrew from the university and isn’t taking any calls, isn’t making any purchases, hasn’t shown her face in public ever since the scandal broke. She should have been interviewed for the Rolling Stone article, but as you can tell, not a lot of due diligence happened,” said Phipps dryly.

“Thanks,” I said, concluding the conversation. “Just send your bill to the usual address.”

I hung up and thought for a moment. As fucked up as it sounded, Brenda had likely concocted the entire scandal in order to get Cole’s attention. She had a crush on the dude, had made up a fake friend in order to convince him to date her, and now things had spiraled out of control. Now a rape scandal engulfed the university … all because she wanted a date.

I sighed. I felt sorry for the poor girl more than anything, she was so messed-up in the head. But actions have consequences and I wasn’t going to stand by doing nothing.

I picked up the phone again.

“Jake,” I growled as soon as he picked up. “I’ve got a request.”

“Anything, my brother,” said the CEO of Sterling Pharma. “We’re at your disposal.”

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