Page 99 of My Brother's Best Friend

We sat in Imani’s living room while Mrs. Abara, her mother, checked out Alec, Oliver, and Blaise. The girls chatted quietly to themselves by the door, probably waiting to be picked up by their boyfriends.

“Get rid of him?” Imani said, like it was obvious.

“You want me to take care of another”—he glanced over at Mrs. Abara and lowered his voice—“body for you? I already told you that I wasn’t doing this again. We can’t be doing your dirty work after you kill a man.”

Imani crossed her arms and glared at João, who matched her stare.

“Another successful night with the Redwood Girl Gang,” Nicole said, slinging her arm over João’s shoulders.

“Get the fuck out of here,” he said to her between gritted teeth, shoving her back a couple of feet. “And don’t pick up a fucking water pressure again. Shit’s too messy to clean up from the carpet.”

“So …” Imani rocked forward on her heels and batted her lashes. “You’ll clean it up.”

After glaring at her for another moment, João shoved by her to the front door, slipped out into the night, and slammed the door behind him. Imani dusted her hands off and smirked as she turned toward us.

“Told you that I have him wrapped around my finger,” she said. “He’s whipped.”

Allie snickered, then sat down beside me. “How’re you doing?”

“Okay. Glad that Spencer is finally gone.”

“That asshole deserved more than what we gave him,” Nicole said.

Someone banged on the door, and Imani walked over to answer it. Callan Avery stood in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest and scanned the room, his gaze landing on Sakura, who stood with her hands full of his gardening supplies.

“Damn, Avery!” Blaise called. “Should’ve seen your girl earlier.”

Callan grabbed the supplies from Sakura, jaw clenched hard. “You could’ve hurt yourself, Sakura,” he scolded, his gaze dropping to her belly. “Or the?—”

Sakura slapped him in the center of the chest, cheeks reddening. “Shh.”

“Or the what?” Nicole asked.

The girls all looked at each other, then at Sakura, who blushed even deeper. Callan blew out a heavy sigh and exited the house with all the gardening supplies to put them into his car.

Sakura rocked back on her heels. “You girls promise not to say anything?” she whispered.

“Come on. We basically just kill—” Imani stopped short and glanced over at Mrs. Abara, who arched her brow hard at her daughter. “We basically did all that bad stuff tonight, which definitely didn’t involve murdering anyone …”

“Yeah, we won’t say anything,” Vera said.

Sakura gulped, then pulled up her baggy sweatshirt enough for us to see a small bump.

“Shut up,” I said breathlessly, my eyes widening. “You’re not pregnant.”

“Holy shit,” Allie said beside me.

“You guys can’t tell anyone!” Sakura begged. “Please.”

“How many months?” Imani asked.

Sakura smiled. “I’m due a few weeks after graduation.”

Nicole shrieked. “Oh my God. I’m so excited!”

“Me too!” Vera grinned.

Callan cleared his throat by the door. “You told them?”

---