Page 86 of Science Project

Dad: He stole files from my house when you had him over a few weeks ago, then leaked them. Now, that punk killed one of my business partners. If I find out that you knew about this, you’re going to be in so much fucking trouble, Nicole.

After forcing myself to ignore his messages—because I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about anymore—I texted Jace. Someone laid on their horn behind me, and I dropped my phone in my lap to continue driving. My mind wandered to Akio. I had seen him halfway through the game, and then he’d vanished.

Right before everything happened.

Where was he? I hope he didn’t get trampled in the herd.

Once I dropped off Imani and Allie and ensured they were okay, I would go back to Redwood to find him. It was the least I could do for him, even if that meant possibly seeing Dad or Pick on the way there.

CHAPTER

FORTY-EIGHT

NICOLE

“Landon’s place is up there to the right,” Imani said, cracking her knuckles.

The moment I pulled into the small dirt driveway, Imani jumped out of the car and went barreling toward a back door. I parked, grabbed my purse, and hopped out after her, walking with Allie toward the door. Imani swung the door open.

“What the hell was that?!” she screamed, halfway down the steps.

When we reached the bottom stair, I spotted Imani shoving João, who had a cigarette between his lips, against a wall. “Are you guys dumb?!” Another push. “You are the stupidest fucking people I’ve met!”

Allie left my side and hurried to Jace, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and melting into him the way I wanted to melt into Akio. “I lost my phone in the crowd. Everyone was going crazy. Sorry for making you worry.”

After kissing her forehead, Jace guided her toward a stained couch.

The basement was larger than I had expected, but still fairly small with a heavy stench of weed. I glanced around, noticing holes in the walls, glass scattered in the corner, and crayons and a coloring book on the coffee table.

João grasped Imani’s hands and shoved her off. “Don’t push me.”

Yet Imani continued to scream at all three of the Poison boys now. “What’s wrong with you guys?! You can be thrown in jail. You can’t just send out a video to everyone around! Then throw a head into a football game?! Are you serious?!”

“Relax, Imani,” João said.

“Nobody is going to jail,” Landon continued, taking the pack of cigarettes from João and lighting one up. He puffed on it once and blew out a cloud of smoke, slumping down on a couch and sighing. “Nothing will happen.”

“You don’t know that!” Imani continued.

Kai placed a hand on her shoulder and glanced at Allie for the quickest second. I pressed my lips together, kinda wishing that Akio were here with me, comforting me like that.

“We’ve done this before,” Kai said. “We know how to clean shit up and hide the evidence. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

Imani widened her eyes, shook her head, and backed away. “All three of you are insane.” She looked at Allie and me. “Why aren’t you both freaking out more?! We just saw our principal’s head in the middle of the football field.”

Instead of freaking out like I’d thought she would, Allie blew out a long breath and shrugged her shoulders. She looked tired, and I didn’t blame her. From what I had gathered from the video released tonight and from her and Jace’s conversation in the hallway the other day, it seemed like Principal Vaughn had been using Allie to get off.

And I was glad that Poison had killed him.

One last guy who would bother me.

Imani huffed. “You guys can’t just?—”

“Calm the fuck down!” João shouted, putting out his cigarette. “You know what we did when you got involved with us. I gave you a chance to leave. You didn’t. So, sit down and keep your mouth shut before someone hears you screaming at us for what happened.”

Imani marched right up to him and smacked him right across the face, leaving a big fat red handprint on his cheek. João clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes at her as she muttered something under her breath.

“You want to say that a little louder?” he asked, gritting his teeth in annoyance at her. “Because you’re one more mistake away from me teaching you a fucking lesson on how to behave, Imani.”

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