AllFreeNovel
Share Us
IMANI
“We need to talk, Imani,” Mom said, sitting beside me in the waiting room. She intertwined her fingers together, fidgeting more than she ever had with me before, and gave Kai a tense smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Can I have a minute alone with my daughter?” After Kai left, she turned back toward me. “We need to talk about that boy.”
I pushed tears off my cheeks. “His name is Landon.”
“Landon,” Mom repeated. “He’s part of that Poison gang, isn’t he?”
Anxiety rushed through my body. I tightened my hands into fists, not wanting to listen to her lecture me right now. “If you want to ground me for loving someone, then ground me, Mom. Don’t fucking sugarcoat it. But as hard as you try, you’re not going to stop me from seeing him or being with him or loving him.”
“Sweetie …” Mom glanced around at the doctors and nurses at the front desk, and then she sighed. “All I wanted to say was that you could’ve gotten hurt. That could be you in that emergency room, with a bullet through your organs.”
“But it isn’t.”
“No, but it could’ve been,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “If that happened to you, I would never ever forgive myself. Your father and I tried for years to get pregnant with you; we struggled with so many fertility issues … I wanted us to have a perfect life. I can’t lose you, Imani. That’s why I push you so hard. I want you to have a life like your father’s and mine. I don’t want you mixed up with guns and drugs.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and bit back my tears. Logically, I knew that Mom was right. I didn’t want to be mixed up with the wrong people and didn’t want to fear something like this happening once or twice every week. But … I wouldn’t leave Landon.
“I love him,” I whispered, tightening my grip around myself. “He didn’t ask to be born into his family. He deserves to live and to have a life too; it’s not only the rich who deserve to be happy and healthy, Mom. Everyone matters despite his or her upbringing. You should know that better than anyone.”
Mom stayed silent and stared down at her lap, a pained expression on her picture-perfect face. “Tell me about him.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“Tell me about … Landon.”
Breath caught in my throat, I stared at her and couldn’t fathom what she was asking me. She never ever asked me to talk about anyone other than the top five students in Redwood’s senior class. But I wouldn’t pass up the chance to show her that Landon—despite him being part of Poison—was a good guy.
“His parents physically abuse him, mainly his father, but today, I saw his mother do it too,” I sobbed. Pain shot through me, and I couldn’t stop myself from curling into a ball and leaning on her for support. “Why would someone do that? How could he live like that, Mom?”
Mom wrapped her arm around my body and pulled me closer to her, gently stroking my back. She stayed quiet, not saying anything as her body tensed. “I’m sorry if that’s how you’ve felt. Your father told me that I was being too much again. And I … I don’t want you to feel like I don’t care about you.”
Tears streamed down my face, but I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t going to say it was okay because it wasn’t. She had abused me for so long—not like Landon’s parents, but it still freaking hurt me.
A couple moments later, Mom patted me on the shoulder. “Allie and Jace Harbor are here.”
I glanced up to see Allie and Jace standing at the front desk waiting room, Jace’s hands awkwardly stuck in his pockets as he looked at his stepsister. After eyeing them for a couple moments, I hopped up and hurried over to them, wrapping my arms around Allie’s torso.
“What are you doing here?” I asked her, snot running from my nose.
“Your mom called me and said that you were here,” Allie said, pulling me toward the seats where Kai and Ana sat. João was still pacing around the room, looking extremely uncomfortable. “What happened?”
“Landon got shot,” I whispered, the words barely able to come out of my mouth.
“Can’t we call the police or something?” Allie asked, rubbing my shoulder.
“No,” Kai said quickly.
“If we did call the police, they wouldn’t go to jail,” Jace said, balling his hands into fists. “The police chief is a corrupt bastard. He wouldn’t give a shit about someone from the slums. All he cares about is himself and his fucking image.”
“Well, won’t someone call them?” I asked.
It might’ve been the Redwood slums, but not everyone was scummy there. That was where Jamal lived, Jace’s best friend, along with so many of the nicest kids at Redwood. The rich were never ever as nice as people from the bad side of town, who didn’t have anything.
Kai looked at João.
João gave him a look back. “We should go get the shit.”
“Just in case.”
