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KAI
“Who’s the chick?” Landon asked, staring at Maddie, who Imani had basically brought over to his place after school.
Imani ushered Maddie into the basement and toward the stained couch, near Jace and Allie. They all had gotten here about five minutes ago and were waiting for Nicole to show because she apparently had information about her father and other Redwood rich that we could use against them.
“We didn’t invite her.”
Imani crossed her arms. “Well, I did.”
“It’s okay. I can go,” Maddie whispered, glancing nervously at us. “I wanted to thank you for what you did to Principal Vaughn. He—”
“What’d we do?” I asked from the other couch, drawing my finger against the muzzle of my gun and looking from her to Imani, desperately trying to figure out a way to get her alone. I needed to talk to her, but she had easily avoided a conversation by bringing Maddie.
Maddie stopped short, cheeks flaming, and shrugged. “Um …”
“Don’t answer them,” Imani said.
“I thought you hated us?” João said to Imani after inhaling smoke from his bong. He placed it down on the cement floor and blew the smoke from his nose, eyes closing briefly. “Why are you here?”
After sitting next to Allie, Imani crossed one leg over the other and rested her head against her shoulder. “Because I’m not letting you guys make any more dumb decisions without my consent.”
“What? You think you own us now?” João said to her, leaning forward with his forearms on his knees. He laughed lifelessly at her. “We make decisions around here. You take no part in it, not even if you fucking beg to.”
“No,” Imani said strongly. “I get a say in it. You’ve made it clear that you want me to be a part of your little gang. And if I am, that means I get to voice my opinion on what you should and shouldn’t be doing. You guys think you know the Redwood rich like the backs of your hands, but you don’t know everything. I have connections to people too.”
After they quarreled back and forth for another five minutes, Nicole came clanking down the stairs in a pair of red heels and a small black dress. The entire room did a collective eye roll, and Allie scooted closer to Jace protectively.
“Hey, guys,” Nicole said when she stepped into the room. Everyone, except Maddie, glared at her, not really wanting her here, but she was the only one who probably had solid information on her father. She looked at Maddie and scrunched her nose. “Weird that you’re here, but okay.”
She kicked off her heels and sat on the sofa next to Jace.
Allie pulled him closer to her, so they weren’t even touching, and clenched her jaw. “You said you had information. Tell us or get out.”
Nicole widened her eyes at Allie, but none of us had time for Nicole’s bullshit. She was known to talk in circles and to talk forever, making up lies and gossip that the entire school would end up believing somehow. I just wanted to spend my time tonight talking to Imani and teaching her how to shoot a gun.
Jace placed a hand on Allie’s knee and squeezed gently. “We’ll leave soon, baby. Settle down.”
Nicole straightened herself out and cleared her throat. “About my father …” She looked from João to Landon to me. “This can’t … nobody can know that this information came from me. Please, if you can make it look like you got it some other way, please, do it. I don’t want my father to be angry with me. I want him put away.”
My eyes widened slightly. Put away? As in … thrown in jail? As far as I knew, Nicole never seemed like she hated her father. She had always gushed about how much money he would spend on her. She acted as if she hadn’t moved from the bad part of Redwood to the rich when we were in middle school and as if she had grown up rich her entire life.
“He’s using the cheer team to do his dirty work.”
Landon rolled his eyes. “God, why is it always the cheer team in the drama?”
Nicole pressed her lips together, and I actually saw tears in her eyes. “I’m being serious. He found out that Principal Vaughn was taping people in the locker rooms. It started with the cheer squad. He let it slide as long as he was able to take some of the film of the girls. He’s been using it against us and blackmailing us into getting information about people in Redwood for him, threatening to leak the tapes and ruin our lives if we don’t.” She turned to Jace. “That’s why I slept with Carter. I never loved you. I just … my father wanted me to get information out of you. I knew it was wrong. I fucking knew it.”
“What?” Jace asked, staring over at her. “He’s doing that?”
She wiped tears from her cheeks with a shaky hand. “That’s not all. He’s roped some of the girls into a sex ring, and he was helping pimp them out at one point. He’s doing it all for the money. He’s so … so greedy. He doesn’t care.”
If what she was saying was true, then Dad was right. He was fucking right.
“I-I-I’m one of those girls,” she said, a complete and utter mess of tears and snot. “He used me, forced me to have sex with men sixty years older than me. Just to get a quick few bucks. I’m sorry for everything I’ve done. I’m so sorry.”
Everyone stared at Nicole with wide eyes as she bawled into Jace’s chest. Jace awkwardly patted her shoulder but inched closer to Allie, as if he was uncomfortable.
“Prove it,” Landon said, waving her off and lighting up a cigarette. “Why should we believe you? All you have done is lie for and protect your father for the past few years. Why tell us now?”
