Bad Boy by Night

♱ Chapter 16 ♱

𝓟𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓮𝓻
𝟷𝟼: 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎: 𝙶𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚜

All fucking morning I'd been researching ways to either simulate or induce a heart attack.

"What the fuck are you doing on your phone so much?" Verity asked at one point as we were sat down at a table in the on-campus canteen for some lunch now that I had finished my classes for the day. She had another lecture later in the day which meant she had the next few hours to squander away, but she knew I would be leaving after lunch. She just didn't know the circumstances or the reason why.

"Research for an essay," I lied, immediately locking my phone knowing she was getting suspicious of my excessive phone activity.

Though it was the most believable lie I could conjure up, Verity and I knew one another well enough and I was aware that she was having a hard time being convinced. Regardless, I evaded her gaze and attempted to appear nonchalant as I scoured the canteen, wondering if I could spot a familiar face.

And by that, I meant Adelaide Monroe.

But it was to no avail.

By the time I surrendered to Verity and met her eyes, she had leaned close and I was staggered by the proximity. Up close I could view the speckles of hazel in her dark eyes, and I tried to focus on them instead of her lips as she wore a subtle lip gloss to coat them, adding a slight glimmer. Then she whispered, "Is it for your business?" meaning the business between my friends and I and not my business degree.

My phone vibrated in my hand.

"Yeah," I replied. "I just didn't want to blurt it out." Another lie wouldn't hurt anybody, I thought.

As I glanced at my phone, I saw Chad's name materialise on my screen which was mutually exclusive with his message.

Chad: Given Brody your spare key again and I left it in your bedroom. Ring if you run into problems

Now that Adelaide and I were grouping together and attempting to figure out who NAMELESS was and also determine who murdered Samuel in cold blood, I confided in Chad. I told him that I wanted to experiment with his hardware and see where some texts were originating from, though I kept my preamble ambiguous. He accepted it without hesitation as he knew I was eternally inquisitive with what he did regarding phones, so he borrowed the spare key for my apartment off Brody, deposited the specialised laptop and cables in my bedroom and returned the key to Brody.

Of course, I could only assume NAMELESS had purchased and utilised a burner phone for our messages which would mean that due to the simplicity of that phone, it would not possess a GPS and would therefore be untraceable. What I was aiming for was a long shot, but I was willing to attempt anything at this point. And maybe even Adelaide would be able to suggest some ideas, though I wasn't going to hold my breath on that one. She seemed more clueless than I was.

Verity frowned. "One day that business is going to bite you in the ass," she commented, raising her dark eyebrows at me.

"I think that day already happened," I grumbled in response, glancing down at my phone again and shooting a message of gratitude back at Chad. I asked him to message me normally so I would receive the notification. With that in mind, he had the good sense to keep his message vague and lacking jargon.

For the following half an hour or so, Verity asked me to quiz her on her studies as she had an imminent quiz at the start of next week relating to textiles which was her degree she was working towards. Honestly, she just shuffled over a clump of flashcards, asked me to read out the terminology and then she endeavoured to recite the definition. As far as her testing went, she was doing quite well with her revision, but that was no astonishment. Verity has always been intelligent, especially in an area she excelled in because she is passionate towards it.