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IMANI
“Those boys didn’t bother you, did they?” Mom asked over the phone, worry laced in her voice.
She had asked me the same question about fifteen times since she had seen me walk out of the restroom after Landon, João, and Kai did. I’d had to leave the freaking house because she was aggravating me so much.
If I blew up at her, she’d tighten her hold on me even more.
I already felt like I was suffocating.
So, instead, I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel of my car, parked in the center of the Redwood slums, and stared at the run-down house, which belonged to Landon. It had taken hours to figure out where that boy lived, but I needed to talk to him.
“No, they didn’t.” Lie.
“Are you sure? I have never seen them on our side of town before.”
Light flooded out through one of the second-story windows, shouting drifting through the broken glass. I gnawed on the inside of my cheek. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to barge right in and demand answers that I had wondered about all day.
“Sweetheart?” Mom said.
“Yes, I’m sure, Mom.”
“Weren’t they those Poison boys who are always getting arrested?”
Biting my tongue, quite literally, until I drew blood, I held back my groan. This was my life, non-fucking-stop. And if those boys had made it any more obvious, I would’ve been grounded for the rest of my freaking high school career—maybe even longer.
“I’m not sure, Mom.”
My answers were short because I wanted her to just drop it.
When a younger woman appeared near the window, I tensed and tightened my grip on the phone. Screw driving away. Sure, this woman might’ve been Landon’s sister, but I thought that he was an only child. At least, that was what he’d told me on one of our many video calls.
But then, who the hell was she?
“I think—”
“Just pulled up to Allie’s house!” I said to Mom, needing to shut the phone off ASAP. “We’re going to be doing our nails and having a girls’ night. She needs it. Her stepbrother is being annoying again. I’ll let her know that you said hello.”
Mom cleared her throat and sighed. “Okay, sweetie. Stay safe. I love you.”
“I love you too, Mom. Good night.”
With that, I hung up the phone and looked back up into the house. The woman disappeared from the window, and I found myself stepping out of the car without a plan and, for some damn reason, without a single clear thought in my head. I wanted to talk to Landon—and I might’ve wanted to check up on him too, see who he was hanging out with tonight.
On my way to their front door, my phone buzzed.
Allie: My mom is
Allie: SO FREAKING ANNOYING.
Allie: SHE LEFT ME WITH JACE FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS.
Allie: Can I stay over at your house? Please, I’ll literally pay you.
Allie: Please, I can’t be with Jace. He’s the most annoying prick I’ve ever met.
While I wanted to answer her right away, I wanted my answers first. I stuffed my phone into my purse and knocked on Landon’s front door, hands balled into tight fists and heart pounding. A girl like me should never even set foot on the bad side of town, never mind show up at someone’s door, angry.
But I didn’t care anymore. Poison had shown up unannounced at my dinner.
