Page 2 of Science Project

Tears burned my eyes, and my chin quivered. But I didn’t want to get any enhancement. If anything, I needed a reduction. I always mentioned to him how much my back fucking hurt me every day because he … because he hadn’t gotten me a brace for my scoliosis when I was growing. It wasn’t that bad, but some days … it killed me.

“I don’t think they’re becoming uninterested,” I said in an attempt for him to reconsider.

“I’m becoming uninterested in them.” He turned around, headed into his bedroom, and grabbed his uniform for work at the police station, then walked back out. “And if I’m becoming uninterested in them, then everyone else will surely follow. Besides, Pope’s daughter has bigger ones than you.”

I turned away so he couldn’t see my tears and bit back a sob. “Please, I don’t want it.”

“I’m not asking you, Nicole. I’ve already made the appointment for the first consultation.”

My fists tightened so hard that my nails split through the skin on my palms. I inhaled deeply in an attempt to calm my racing heart. But I … I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to do any of this anymore. I never did.

“Yui’s son,” Dad said, buttoning up his shirt. “You know him?”

Yui, as in the leader of the Redwood mob?

“What’s his name?” I asked quietly.

“Akio. You have Anatomy and Physiology with him.”

“I don’t know him.”

It wasn’t my fault that I didn’t know anyone else in my class besides the people Dad wanted me to know. Between cheer and … following all his orders, I didn’t have time for much else, never mind make friends.

“Well, get to know him,” Dad said. “I want information on Yui. I don’t trust her.”

“But you’re work?—”

Before I could finish my sentence, Dad’s hand collided with my cheek. I stumbled back and grasped my burning flesh, immediately dropping my gaze and pressing my lips together so he wouldn’t hit me again.

“Don’t fucking talk back to me,” he growled, spinning around and heading through his bedroom door while he buckled his belt and pulled up his zipper. “Do your job, like the good little bitch you’ve always been.”

My eyes stung with tears, but I hurried toward my vanity in my bedroom to cover the light swelling and redness so nobody would suspect a thing. But it wasn’t even like anyone would care. Everyone at Redwood hated me anyway. Nobody would believe me if I told them what really happened behind closed doors, what my father actually did to me, and what my fate would end up being.

Dumped into the Atlantic Ocean. Pimped out, used up, and dead.

Just like he had done with Hannah.

Or maybe I’d end up killing myself like Mom had because she couldn’t handle the thought of what Dad did to his own daughters. Maybe I’d take the easy way out and end it all myself. Because the thought of this being the rest of my life …

I dabbed the corner of my eyes with a tissue so my mascara wouldn’t run. Couldn’t have that happen and ruin Dad’s perfect image with Yui, the rest of the police force, or the town. To him, we were the flawless family who had tragically lost two of their loved ones.

The only thing that I was holding out for was Jace or Carter, two of Redwood’s football players, or someone to see my pain, ask what was wrong, and rescue me from this living hell. But that’d never happen because nobody at Redwood cared about anyone but themselves.

Maybe it’d be better if I was dead.

CHAPTER

TWO

AKIO

“Where the fuck is it, Akio?” João—the leader of Poison, Redwood’s most feared student-led gang—asked after he, Landon Caddell, and Kai Koh had cornered me in an empty hallway before school started Tuesday morning.

“I don’t have it.”

Landon—the brawn of Poison—grabbed ahold of my jacket and hurled me against the lockers. Then, his fist followed, slamming square against my jaw. “Where’s the fucking shit?” he asked through gritted teeth. “We gave you a fucking job.”

With blood spraying out of my nose, I threw my fist back at him in a weak attempt to protect myself. My fist barely landed on Landon’s lower lip. They could kill me and make it look like an accident, but I had something that they needed, so they wouldn’t murder me.

---