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KAI
“There are cameras around the back. We’re going to need to—”
Someone banged on the basement door, three times and hard as hell. Allie stirred on the couch beside me, turning onto her side and shaking her head back and forth. She had just fucking fallen asleep, finally giving us time to make plans about Vaughn.
“Open up!” Imani screamed from outside, banging harder on the door.
Landon hopped up from the couch and jogged up the stairs to grab the door. Imani hurried in, wrapping her arms around his waist and crying ugly fucking tears into it. I hadn’t heard from her all night, had been ignoring her because I didn’t want to talk to her. She had been with Akio tonight.
“Why do you have blood on your hands?” Landon asked when he pulled away.
Allie mumbled in her sleep about her parents and her new stepfather, who might’ve killed Jace by now. Neither she nor any of us with Poison had heard from him since he had left earlier tonight.
Imani hurried down the steps with Akio by her side, hands trembling, then looked at Allie. “They … they beat my parents up. I found them almost dead. I … I didn’t know what to do. I bandaged them as much as I could, but I … I don’t know if I did it right.”
João stood with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. “Slow the fuck down. What happened?”
After glancing over her shoulder at Akio, she turned back to us and shook her head. “Over dinner, I asked Akio’s parents what they did to Kai’s. They were being assholes, so I left with Akio. We went down to Main Street, and … and I swore that I saw your mother talking to someone. I went to confront him to make sure she was okay, and he tried to kill me. Then—”
“Who the fuck tried to kill you?” I asked, standing up and tucking my gun into the waistband of my cargo pants.
Tears ran down her cheeks, but she quickly pushed them away. “Some guy on Main Street. The same place João found his mother. Akio …” She looked over her shoulder at that fucking guy, who looked pale as fuck. “Akio saved me.”
My lip twitched, and I snarled. Fucking Akio.
His family never had any good intentions.
Imani sat beside Landon, wiping the blood from her hands with a wet towel.
Snatching the back of Akio’s jacket, I pulled him back toward the door, up the stairs, and through the basement door while Imani cried downstairs. After slamming the door behind me, I threw him up against the side of the house.
“If I find out that you touched a hair on her fucking head, I will kill you.”
Akio trembled. “I didn’t. I swear.”
With fury rushing through me, I pushed him off the house and toward the street. “Walk home.”
Turning around, Akio stopped. “You have to protect her from my parents. You know how violent they can be to anyone who disrespects them. Imani … she told my mom off during dinner. My mom will want me to kill her for it, and if I don’t do it, they will. Please, keep her safe.”
“Get the fuck out of here,” I said through gritted teeth. “You’re not welcome.”
“Please, Kai. I can’t protect her,” he whispered. “They’ll kill me if I don’t.”
Jaw clenching, I stared emptily at him, not having a single ounce of pity for him or his family. What they had done to mine fucking tore me apart, ripped me to fucking pieces, and they would never do that to Imani. I would make sure of it.
“Leave.”
After shaking his head, Akio walked down the street and disappeared from view. A couple moments later, the door reopened behind me, and Imani walked out.
“Where did he go?” Imani asked, wiping her tears with the backs of her hands.
“Why’d you bring him here?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“He saved me, Kai.”
“The next time you bring Akio here, I’ll put a bullet straight through his head.”
“Can you stop being an asshole right now?” she screamed at me, probably waking all the neighbors. “I almost died, for fuck’s sake!”
