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“The same way I know you’ll keep yours.” Haze pauses. “We both fight for what we want—and you know I always get what I want.”
“And what exactly do you want?” Kendrick glares at Haze with killer eyes. The same killer eyes he gave me when I stole his pudding when we were five. He is not playing.
Haze smirks and walks toward me until he is barely a couple of steps away from me. I find myself trembling in fear.
“Her.”
My heart drops.
“I’m going to ask you one last time. Do we have a deal?”
Kendrick doesn’t say a word, his thoughts probably going a thousand miles an hour.
“Kendrick. Don’t,” I beg.
Haze scoffs. “He doesn’t really have a choice, you see?”
I quiver, my breathing unsteady. It feels like the ground is about to collapse under my feet. I look at him, shaking my head in disapproval. Then he says it. The one word I wish I could forget. The word that’s going to change everything.
“Deal.”
T H R E E
Run Away
“Are you mad?” I ask Kendrick as soon as we enter the kitchen. He hasn’t said a single word to me since we left the alley. He insisted on driving me for “safety reasons” and asked Will to drive Kassidy’s car back. The house is completely silent. I know for a fact Maria is working a night shift again while Kass is probably sleeping like a baby.
“Mad? Why would I be mad? You just became a target to my enemies. No big deal.”
“Are you seriously blaming me right now? How the heck was I supposed to know about any of this? I had no idea you were going to some creepy meeting with Haze Adams.”
“Yes. I am blaming you for this, Winter. None of this would’ve happened if you had just stayed home. What were you thinking?”
“Maria was right. They are bad influences,” I spit.
“Don’t you get it? I’m the leader. Me. Not Will, Blake, or Alex. They’re not bad influences, I am,” he yells.
“Fine. Congratulations. You’re a troubled kid. I still can’t believe you did that to me. Why in the world did you agree to this deal?”
He grows irritated. “Do you really think I would’ve said yes if I had a choice? That’s Haze Adams we’re talking about. You don’t know him like I do. That sneaky bastard.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You heard him. If word gets out…” He pauses midsentence. “Let’s just say if anyone finds out about you, terrible things could happen. In the street fighter world, love is weakness.” He covers his face with his hand, sighing. My blood turns cold.
“What about Kass and Maria? If that’s true, don’t you have to protect them, too?”
“No. Because unlike someone, they never followed me. Nobody knows about them. Or at least, for now.”
“How did you even get yourself in that situation in the first place, Kendrick? What happened to you? How the hell did you become a street fighter?”
He doesn’t answer, staring blankly ahead of him. He reaches for a chair and sits down at the kitchen table, then motions for me to do the same. I obey, uncertain. The tension in the atmosphere is so thick it’s hard to breathe.
He doesn’t speak for a while, obviously wondering if he should tell me everything. Then, after a long and unbearable pause, he breaks the silence.
“It started two years ago.”
I immediately know what time he’s referring to. We thought we’d lost him back then. When his father left, something changed in Kendrick. Something broke. And when he eventually made it through and went back to being the goofy guy he used to be, we thought it was a miracle. Truth is, we never understood the reason behind his sudden recovery. God only knows how anyone could ever recover from what his dad did. I know I wouldn’t.
