Page 71 of Family (Academy of Misfits 3)

“By escaping Oceanside and getting our friend back.”

Sonny swipes his hand through his hair and starts pacing up and down. “Even if we wanted to do what you suggest, Asia, there’s no getting out of Oceanside without tripping some kind of alarm. This place is rigged.”

Kate grins, her smile would be infectious in better circumstances. “What?” I ask her.

“Are you forgetting who you’ve got on your side?” She points to her chest, rolling her eyes when no one answers. “I’m the genius hacker, remember? If anyone can get you out of this place, I can. You just need to get hold of a laptop for me and I can do the rest.”

I lock eyes with Kate. “You sure you’re up for this?”

“I’ve never been more certain. Pink is my friend too.” Her eyes well with tears but she shuts that shit down, refusing to let them fall.

“Okay then, we need to get you a computer.” I turn to Sonny, my little thief. “Think you could do the honours? I’m pretty sure your lock picking skills are exactly what we need.”

He stops pacing and chews on his bottom lip as he thinks about it. “On one condition,” he eventually says.

“And what’s that?” I ask.

“That no matter what, you don’t resort to murder.”

“Well, that all depends on who you think I’m murdering…” I joke, but it goes down like a lead balloon.

“No one. You’re not murdering anyone.”

I grit my teeth, my lips pressing into a hard line. “Even if doing so means saving Pink’s life and all of yours?”

“Asia…” he warns, watching me carefully.

I’m not sure what he expects from me, honestly, because if it boils down to it and this plan to rescue Pink doesn’t work out and I’m forced to kill Mr Carmichael to free Pink, or the King to free us all, then that’s what I must do. If there’s a way to save us without having to do that, then I’ll take that path every time, of course I will, but I won’t rule murder out just so that my boys can look at me the same way.

“Promise me, Asia,” he pleads.

I look him dead in the eye and do the only thing I can, I lie.

“I promise.”

It’s hard to tell if he believes me or not, either way he nods his head, seemingly satisfied.

“Then I’m in. I’ll deal with the fallout with my foster family once this is over,” he says, gritting his jaw.

A flash of worry crosses his face before he hides it with a fake grin that hurts my heart. Sometimes I find it hard to look at him, he’s that beautiful, even if his smile is fake. Ignoring the flush creeping up my skin, I give him the opportunity to back out. Out of all of us, Sonny has the purest heart and despite me referring to him as the devil all those weeks ago, he is very much the angel wrapped up in a devilish exterior. Beneath the bravado and the innuendo is a boy who cares too much. What’s the saying ‘the harder we love, the harder we fall?’

“I know you’ve got a good thing going with the Freed brothers and I don’t want to fuck that up. Seriously, Sonny, I wouldn’t think any less of you if you didn’t want to get involved in this.”

“They’re good people, I can’t deny that, but Pink’s my friend too. There’s no chance in hell I’m sitting this out. Every day they hesitate is another day she’s closer to ending up like Camden’s mum. We get her out and thentheycan deal with the King.”

“Then we’re agreed. As soon as Camden and Ford are back, we make a solid plan and we go get Pink, yes?”

Nodding their heads in agreement, the three of them start discussing the beginnings of a plan whilst I reach for a cigarette from the pack on my desk. My hands are shaking so badly that I have to turn my back to them, so they don’t see that it takes me a few attempts to light the damn thing. When I finally draw in a deep lungful, I hold the burning smoke in my lungs and stare at my reflection in the window. I look like a ghost, my silhouette bleak against the night sky.

“Want to talk about it, Asia?” Kate asks, stepping up beside me.

I shake my head. “There’s nothing much left to say,” I respond as she slides her arm around my back and leans her head on my shoulder.

“We’ll get Pink back without you having to lose your soul,” she says, her voice filled with certainty even though everything else about her is screaming the exact opposite. She’s putting on a brave face. I’ve known her long enough to realise that.

“We will,” I say firmly, all the while knowing that if our plan to rescue Pink fails, losing my soul will be the least of my worries.

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