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IMANI
An hour after I got home from Kai’s, I lay in my bed, freshly showered, with my face washed for the first time in what seemed like forever and my hair wrapped up. I pulled the blankets over my body and wished that Landon were here with me tonight, but he’d stayed with Kai.
My phone buzzed on the bedside table, but I ignored it for the first ring. I needed to sleep. I had to wake up for school in only a couple hours, and I couldn’t skip another day or another class. Kai had already pulled me out of Biology.
As the phone continued to buzz, I glanced over at it to see João’s number. I clenched my jaw and snatched the phone from the table, squeezing it until my hand turned a shade lighter. Why did he have to call at the most inconvenient times? He probably wanted me to come over to be his little booty call tonight or something.
He sure as hell wasn’t going to confess his feelings after what he did at the mall this weekend.
I thought he’d get my drift after the third unanswered ring, but the phone continued to buzz. My finger hovered over the Decline Call button, but something in the pit of my stomach told me to answer the damn phone.
Something didn’t feel right.
Cursing myself, I clicked the Answer button and held the phone to my ear. “It’s two in the morning, João. What do you want?”
“Hi, Imani,” Ana said, her voice sounding so small and fragile over the phone.
“Hi, Ana,” I said, guilt washing over me. “What’s up? Why are you calling me so late?”
“Um …” She paused for a long moment, and I heard something muffled in the back.
“Ana …” I sat up from my bed, brows furrowed in worry and heart beating a little faster. So many questions raced through my head. Why is she calling me so late on João’s phone? Where is he? And who is talking muffled in the background? “What’s going on?”
“Can you come over?” Ana asked. “João is crying, and Mama isn’t waking up.”
My eyes widened slightly, and I jumped out of bed, then raced toward my bedroom door, grabbing my car keys and shoes on the way out. “What do you mean, your mom isn’t waking up? Please, put João on the phone.”
“Okay … João, can you—”
The muffled chatter turned into heartbreaking sobs, and João was crying out for his mother. Tears welled up in my eyes, my chest tightening as I feared the worst. I slammed my bedroom door closed, rested my phone between my ear and my shoulder, and banged on my parents’ bedroom door.
“Mom!” I shouted, barely able to hold myself together.
João’s sobs were shrill and filled with sorrow and pain, all his emotions that he’d held in over the past few years, everything that he’d bottled up and held back from me. It killed me inside, knowing that whatever was happening had broken him so deeply that he couldn’t hold it in any longer.
Mom opened her bedroom door and wiped her tired eyes. “What is it, Imani? I have to get up for work in an hour. I have an early sur—”
“I have to go to João’s,” I said, then quickly ran down the stairs. I would suffer the consequences with her tomorrow, but at least I’d let her know where I was going. After shooting with Kai tonight, I felt like I had to tell her.
We both knew that Akio’s family was out to get me.
Once I slid into the car, I turned it on and hit the gas pedal, backing out of the driveway as quickly as I could. My tires squealed against the snowy street, the snow gently floating down from the skies.
My hands trembled as thoughts of what could’ve happened to João’s mother racing through my head. What if she had overdosed again? What if someone from Akio’s family had killed her? What if … what if one of those men who had raped her did something terrible to her?
I grabbed my phone as I pulled up to a red light, my knee bouncing, and quickly dialed Landon’s number. I was the farthest from João’s house. From here, it would take me at least fifteen minutes, even with speeding.
Landon answered on the second ring. “Imani, are you—”
“Get to João’s house,” I said, my voice cracking. “Something happened. I don’t know anything right now, but Ana called me from João’s phone. João was …” Tears started streaming down my face as I remembered how broken he had sounded. “He was sobbing.” I pushed some tears off my cheeks, so I could see where I was going, and I hit the accelerator. “Please, hurry.”
“We’re on our way,” Landon said.
My stomach was in knots. I didn’t know if Ana and João were still in danger or if they were in danger at all, but I had the gun Kai had given me in the glove box. Still, I wanted everyone to be prepared for whatever it was too.
“Tell Kai to bring his gun,” I said, voice trailing off. “I don’t know what’s going to be there.”
“All right,” Landon said. “See you soon.”
