8 #2
“There’s a guy I’ve been hooking up with since last year.
” She sounded like it wasn’t something she was exactly proud of.
“He studies computer science. He’s one of the few people here on a scholarship, and he works nights in the Tagus surveillance area.
” She took a breath and continued to explain that three days after Eli vanished, Artie had gone to the surveillance area to, let’s say, spend some quality time with that guy, you know, handholding, kissing, keeping each other warm .
. . Well, the horny Artie showed up out of the blue while the guy was going over the library footage.
She climbed on top of him in the swivel chair, in front of the screens, and they started kissing.
Artie broke away from the kiss for a minute to take off her shirt, and that’s when her eyes caught the exact moment that Eli was printing something out.
“And I stole the footage,” she explained, not exactly proud of herself. “I wasn’t going to tell on her. I hid the video because I thought Eli was pulling some sort of prank or doing something to get better grades. I had no idea that she would vanish for good.”
I was genuinely surprised that Artie had so many secrets. And now all I could think about was Eli.
Now I understood why Artie thought Aegan was involved in her disappearance, or whatever had happened to her.
You could infer a lot by watching that frightened girl in the footage.
But remembering that Aegan often inspired fear, intentionally or not, made it hard not to link her behavior to him and their relationship.
His posture, his commanding voice, his self-confidence, his family’s reputation, his knack for getting what he wanted—everything about him made him seem untouchable, someone who thought they were above everyone else. Somebody with a dark side.
Had Eli been afraid of Aegan?
“What did Aegan do when she disappeared?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Artie responded. “The next day he showed up to all his classes as usual. He never looked troubled or concerned, walking around like nothing had happened. Nobody questioned him. It was like Eli had never been his girlfriend. Do you think that’s normal?
Is it normal to ignore the fact that the girl you used to hold hands with every day suddenly vanishes? ”
No, it isn’t.
Nothing I was seeing and hearing was normal.
There was something really strange about Eli’s disappearance, about the footage, about Artie seeing Aegan kissing another girl . . . They were scattered fragments of an event that nobody had bothered to piece together. Fascinating, tempting fragments.
“Does anyone else know about this?” I asked.
“No, and nobody should,” said Artie nervously. “This footage proves nothing, and the Cash family has more than enough resources to cover up any scandal.”
“But . . .”
Then Artie stood in front of me, wearing a serious expression. With her smudged eyeliner and red eyes, she looked like a girl profoundly affected by things nobody could even begin to imagine.
“I haven’t said anything and I won’t say anything,” she said. “I don’t care if that makes me a coward.”
I tried to cheer her up. “You’re not a coward; you just lack a little courage.”
“That’s just a nice way of calling someone a coward,” she shot back, rolling her eyes. “But here’s the thing, Jude, I’ve told you all this because he’s getting closer to you every day; you can see he’s interested, and I have a bad feeling it’s not because he likes you.”
I had that feeling too. Aegan didn’t like me—of course he didn’t—but his reasons for wanting to go out with me remained a mystery. Maybe just because I stood up to him?
“I’m not afraid of him,” I said. I wanted to make that clear.
“Well, I am,” she replied straight back, her voice about to crack. “I don’t want you to vanish one day just like Eli. You’ve got to keep your distance from the Cash brothers.”
I could see she was concerned. It was genuine. However, after this bombshell, she couldn’t expect someone like me to just do nothing.
“No, Artie, no. Look, I’ve only been here two weeks, and I believe what you’re saying about Aegan,” I said. “You don’t need to know him well to see right through him.”
Artie let her arms fall, slumped back on the bed in defeat, and stared at the floor. She looked like she was about to cry again.
“Not just Aegan,” she said, trying to back her nervousness. “The three Cash brothers are like a well of lies that keeps filling up yet never overflows.” Her courage, however, didn’t last long. “Maybe I’m blowing things out of proportion and Aegan has nothing to do with it . . .”
“Do you think you’re overreacting?” I asked her, crossing my arms.
She bit the nail of her index finger, thought for a minute, and then grew frustrated.
“I don’t know what I feel!” she blurted out, and starting restlessly pacing around the room.
“I don’t want anything to happen to you and I don’t want anything to happen to me, but I also .
. . I almost wish he’d done something to Eli so he’d pay for it and never have the power to treat people like crap again! ”
My instincts told me that Artie knew more than she was letting on, which could be dangerous, but who was I to judge her?
The only one thing that mattered now was solving the mystery surrounding Aegan.
A mystery he’d gone to great lengths to cover up.
Not mentioning Eli after she went missing definitely should’ve sent alarm bells ringing, but apparently no one noticed or cared.
Fuck, there’s seriously no way all that could’ve been a coincidence. And I loved that it wasn’t.
Artie stopped abruptly, her face pale.
“Jude, swear you won’t tell anyone?” she asked me out of the blue, as if she’d just realized that she’d let something really serious slip. “Swear to me that no matter how mad you are at Aegan, you won’t tell him.”
Of course, I wouldn’t say a word to anyone, least of all him. Because I’d do something better: I was going to investigate it.
“I swear I won’t tell anyone,” I said seriously.
Artie got some color back in her face, trusting my words. But promises are easy when you word them strategically.
“What I can’t swear is that I won’t do anything to him,” I added. She turned pale again.
“What do you mean?” she asked with a whisper.
“Remember Kiana’s idea?” I said. “That one about me dating Aegan just to then break up with him.”
Artie looked startled, instantly understanding where I was going with this.
“Oh, Jude, you’re not thinking that . . .”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m thinking.”
Well, that, and a few other tricks I had up my sleeve, but she didn’t need to know about those, especially not with that frightened expression.
“But why?”
I took her by the shoulders. “Because he treated you like crap, cheated on Eli, and put me on a list like a piece of meat.” By doing that he’d attacking me and my gender, so I’d strike back. I just had to plan things carefully; if I did, I was sure I could topple the Cash empire.
“It’s a suicide mission.” Artie shook her head. “You’re not going to get anywhere on your own. You’ll only make Aegan angrier, and then you might have to leave Tagus. Is that what you want?”
“I won’t be doing it alone.” I smiled confidently. “I’m counting on you, Kiana, and Dash.”
Artie started nervously taking another cigarette out of the packet.
“I don’t know, Jude, we’re just run-of-the-mill girls . . . and Dash.”
“Yeah, but I’ve had enough. Haven’t you had enough?” I said each word slowly, wanting her to understand.
“Yeah,” she whispered, trying to light her cigarette with her trembling hands.
“It pissed you off how Aegan treated you, didn’t it?” I reminded her.
“Yeah.”
“So, what do we have to lose?”
A whole lot, I supposed, but what did I know.
Artie plopped down on the bed, smoking. She sighed.
“This could go really badly,” she muttered.
“Just imagine Aegan’s humiliated face,” I said, trying to make her see things differently. “You said yourself, he has to realize he can’t treat people like shit.”
To my surprise, I saw a hint of a smile. She was imagining it. Then she let out a nervous laugh and shook her head, looking at me.
“You really aren’t afraid of being destroyed by Aegan,” she said.
With a rush of adrenaline, I gave her a mischievous smile. “And that’s why I’m going to be the one to bring him down.”
How amazing and foolproof that plan seemed to me at the time. Seemed being the key word.