Page 93 of Science Project

Me: Can we talk?

Me: It’s important.

While I wanted to protect both Nicole and Imani, I didn’t have time to teach Imani how to behave around my mother. And I really didn’t have time to keep up with Mom’s bullshit. Nicole was still hiding the truth from me, and I had a suspicion who was hurting her.

But I couldn’t act on it until I knew that Kai could handle Imani and my mother.

Me: It’s about Imani and my parents.

Me: Please.

A moment later, my phone buzzed.

Kai: Warehouse. In forty minutes.

Me: Which warehouse?

Kai: Guess.

After gritting my teeth together, I peeled out of the driveway and headed down the road. Darkness lay like a blanket on Redwood tonight, and I was so thankful for it. It was barely six o’clock, and everyone was already at home from school and work, the biting cold too intimidating for anyone to come out.

Once I circled Redwood like a madman for thirty minutes, not wanting to be late, I spotted a motorcycle parked behind one of the abandoned warehouses in the slums. I rolled up beside Kai’s sportbike and shut off the engine.

I hopped out of the car and knocked on the back door, not knowing if he wanted me to just come in or wait out here. I glanced up to see a camera posted above the door, no doubt Poison’s property.

The door swung open, and Kai stood on the other side. “I can’t believe you’re fucking here,” Kai said through gritted teeth.

“Me neither.”

“Get in before someone sees you.”

With caution, I walked into the warehouse and stomped the light snow off my boots near the door. After stuffing my hands into my pockets, I walked through the spacious warehouse and stopped where there was a small puddle of blood.

No doubt Principal Vaughn’s.

This must’ve been where they had beheaded him.

“This is where it went down, huh?” I asked myself. “Where you killed him.”

Instead of answering me, Kai pressed his lips together and walked over to me, his hands suddenly reaching into my jacket, running down the seams, probably to check if I had a wire or a hidden camera on me.

When he didn’t find anything, Kai stepped back and nodded. “It’s where I’ll kill you one day if I find out that you’ve touched Imani. One wrong move, one fucking finger on her body, and I’ll make sure your death is far worse than Vaughn’s.”

I nodded and swallowed hard. “I know.”

“Let’s get one thing straight.” Kai stepped toward me, arms crossed over his chest, and clenched his jaw. “I’m only here this one time because you saved Imani the other day. If it wasn’t for you, she’d be dead.”

“She would be,” I said, which meant that I had some leverage on him.

“What do you want?” Kai growled.

I paced back and forth in front of him and rubbed my palms together. “You shouldn’t have recorded killing Principal Vaughn. People know that you guys did it. They know, and they’re going to target you.”

“They would’ve known anyway,” Kai said. “Nobody has the balls to do shit like that.”

“You don’t understand,” I said, pushing up my glasses. “People are going to target you. And by you, I mean that they won’t target you, but the people you all care about. Who does that leave?”

“Imani.”

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