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JACE
Later that night, while waiting for Allie to finish her internship, I sat in Mustang Ranch to have dinner by myself because I really just wanted to be alone. If I hung out with Jamal, like he wanted me to, he’d want to talk about Allie, and I would want to tell him about what was really going on. So, I couldn’t do that. And Poison was out, preparing for tomorrow.
“Burger with fries,” the waitress said, placing a plate in front of me. “Anything else?”
After shaking my head, I grabbed the burger and watched the ketchup ooze out of the sides and onto my fingers, as Carter’s blood had done this morning. I had taken the rest of the day off, sitting in the locker room and tossing a football around, my mind not really with it today.
“I looked all fucking around Redwood for you,” João said, sliding in on the other side of the booth. “Check your fucking phone next time. Allie could’ve been calling you.”
“Allie’s at her internship,” I said, biting into the burger and staring emptily at him. “What do you want?”
“Who made up the rumor about Carter getting Allie pregnant?”
“It’s not a rumor,” I said, lying through my teeth.
“It was your father, huh?” João took one of my fries. “Fucking bastard.”
“What’s it to you?” I asked, wanting to continue my dinner in peace.
“Nothing.”
“Then, why’re you here?”
João shrugged one shoulder and looked around. “We have to release the video tonight. Kai is picking Allie up from her internship, so nothing will happen to her when it releases. We don’t know how people are going to react.”
Placing my burger down, I sat up straight and leaned forward. “Why? I thought the plan was to release it tomorrow during school? What happened to it? Who found out about it?” I asked, worried that Coach Carol had said something to someone.
“Nicole’s father found the missing footage. He knows that Nicole took it. She’s with Jamal now, so she should be fine until the video releases at least. She called me earlier, a snotting mess, and told me to do it as soon as possible.”
I swallowed hard and cursed under my breath. As much as she annoyed the fucking shit out of me, I didn’t want her father to hurt or even kill her. She was a bitch, but Allie was becoming fond of her.
João leaned closer. “We’re going to fucking destroy all the billionaires in Redwood, all of the fucking assholes here. Don’t fucking worry about it.”
“That’s not a nice word,” a young girl with brown hair said, walking past our table with a big glass of root beer that she was spilling everywhere. She couldn’t have been older than three years old, maybe younger. “Not all rich people are bad.”
“Who the fuck is this?” João asked me, brows furrowed.
I shrugged a shoulder and looked back at her, her eyes, big and brown. She smiled and tilted her head, sipping the drink that she could barely hold straight. “Me and my mommy got saved by a rich person. She said that they were so nice.”
“Olivia,” a woman a few booths down called, her back turned toward us.
“That’s me,” the girl said, grinning even wider at us. She held out her hand, as if she wanted me to shake it, her soda beginning to spill off the side of her glass. “What’s your name?”
I grabbed the glass to hold it upright so she wouldn’t spill it anymore and took her hand hesitantly. “Jace,” I said to her and actually smiled back. My entire world felt like it was falling apart, and a stranger could bring a smile to my face. It fucked me up, but it felt good to see such innocence.
She turned to João and held out her hand, waving it as if she was waiting for him to shake it too. But João just stared at her and curled his lip into an ugly grimace.
She placed one hand on her hip, giving him an attitude. “I’m waiting.”
“Shouldn’t she be afraid of me?” João said.
Olivia pulled her hand back and wrapped it around her soda, taking another sip. “I’m not afraid of you because you have tattoos and look like a monster. My mommy has tattoos, too, and hers are soooo much cooler than yours. They’re white.”
“White tattoos?” João asked.
“Yeah!” Olivia said. “All over her body, even her head!” She pointed to a scar on João’s forearm. “They look like that.”
“Olivia!” her mother scolded, still turned. “Come back here.”
