Page 96 of Devious Gambit

I sent Rhys a message earlier and she had yet to reply. I knew the conversation on Christmas day was a once off, she was still hurt by my deceit and pretended to hate me. I’ll let her cool off for a while, before I make my move. I planned it all out in my head. I’ll do as she asked and stay away from her until I get back from Maui. That’s five weeks of nothing from my end. I’ll avoid her while I’m back at KVU and she won’t see me for dust when I’m in Maui for two weeks. Although I might send her the odd message, just so she doesn’t forget me altogether. However, when I return from the Pacific, I’ll be on her back like a fucking hungry tiger shark. I won’t back down until she’s mine.

Cody’s phone rang. “Ridge,” he told me before answering. “Sup.” He screwed his face up in confusion as Ridge spoke, shooting me a look. “What the fuck? Are you serious? He’s here with me. We’re back in KV. No, she hasn’t rung me. Hang on.” He turned to me. “Have you heard from Detective Mathias?”

I shook my head. I had an alibi when Liam Greene was stifled with a pillow so she left me alone. I was with Rhys.

“That’s fucked up,” Cody barked as soon as he ended the call with Ridge. “He just got off the phone with the detective. Apparently, Sweeney made contact.”

“Who to?”

“His ma. Sent her a private message from his Facebook account after Liam died. It was like a farewell message as if he was going to go somewhere and never come back. He also, and this is where it gets really weird, confessed to suffocating Liam Greene. Apparently, Sweeney’s sister found the message on her mom’s phone and contacted police about it. Her mom hired a private sleuth to find Adam and got nowhere fast, then this message turned up and she got all hopeful again. But she refused to go to police about it, because she didn’t want him to get into trouble.”

“That doesn’t even make sense. Why would he kill his best mate? They were like two fucked up peas in a pod. What was the motive?”

Cody raised his bulky shoulders. “Ridge said, going by the questions the detective was asking him, the police suspect it’s fake. I mean, his car was found in Lake Superior. How do they explain that?”

“So someone broke into his FB account and pretended to be him? That’s messed up.”

“Totally. But this ain’t going away, man. I mean, the police are already watching us closely.”

“Not to mention the attempted rape,” I added, remembering that I still hadn’t fulfilled my end of the bargain with Rhys. Maybe, if I found something out, she’d forgive me faster.

“Yeah, well, I know nothing about that.” He rubbed his unshaved jaw. “Funny, how two out of the four guys who were accused of that attempted rape are gone and dead.”

“You reckon it might be a feminist vigilante thing going on? Like members of the Worm and Mug society?” The S&C society was fully aware of this group of haters and couldn’t give a rats ass about them. I say good on them. Once they find out how boring the society is they’ll likely back off. Transparency was the key.

“I don’t know. I just reckon the police are looking in the wrong place.”

THIRTY EIGHT

Rhys

Mr. Ed started messaging me every day he was in Maui and I tried hard not to answer him. He asked me to follow him on Tiktok where he’d post a video a couple of times a day. In my foolishness, I set up a Tiktok account just to follow him. After watching two videos I shut my account down.

There he was. On a boat surrounded by turquoise waters, he was topless with messy wet hair, tanned skin shimmering in the tropical sun from water droplets, talking about starfish. I went weak at the knees watching him, but so did thousands of other people and after reading a couple of the comments, mostly from giddy girls, I lost my nerve.

He looked so beautiful. He is beautiful. He belonged on the arm of a tanned bikini goddess and I belonged on the arm of a pale-skinned goth. I loved seeing him so passionate about something, though. I enjoyed his enthusiasm as he explained how starfish catch their prey, knowing how much he hated his business and management studies back at KVU. Knowing that he was dreading working for his father in a stuffy office one day. He’d easily gain thousands of followers just by being himself, cracking that mischievous smile and flexing a smooth arm muscle when he held up a baby green sea turtle.

Be still, my beating heart, be still. There is no hope for thee to-night.

Without a doubt, I’d fallen for him. I’d fallen for him weeks ago and I was punished for my stupidity. It still hurt how he deceived me, but it hurt more that I sensed it was coming and didn’t do a damn thing to stop it. More fool me.

What bothered me the most was the fact he continued to torture me. I thought we had an end. I thought we made a deal that he’d never contact me again and avoid my well-trodden path. I had little contact from him for three weeks while he finished off the football season and suddenly, while he was in Maui, he started messaging me every damn day. Why? You’d think he’d be too occupied with half-naked girls and rum and parties in the sun. Was this another little game, he was playing?

Me: Stop messaging me!

Unknown/SexEd: No!

Damn it!

“Did you hear that Sweeney made contact with his mom?” Gretta enquired, as she wiped ice cream off the counter. It was a painfully slow day in a painfully slow week with students on vacation. I normally adored peace and quiet, except when I’m at work and the day dragged on.

I heard her words, but wasn’t quite registering what she was saying. “Did I just hear right?”

“Apparently, he sent a message to his mom just after he killed Greene.”

I exchange glances with Lise who was completely dumbstruck, just as I was. How was that possible? “Sweeney killed Greene?”

“That’s the rumor.”

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