Chapter 192
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED NINETY-TWO
AKIO
“Would you like to tell me why Nicole slept over last night?” Mom asked as soon as I pulled my gaze away from the window. She stood with her arms crossed and that devious grimace on her face, strands of black hair on her face. “Hmm?”
I walked past her and headed for the stairs. “I was doing as you’d asked.”
She snatched my wrist. “If you were doing as I’d asked, you would’ve been back here last night before I left for work. I had something that I needed you to take care of, and you completely blew me off to see Nicole.”
Before she could dig her claws any further into me, I ripped her wrist away, tearing my skin, and headed up the steps. “You asked me to get closer to Nicole because you don’t trust her father, so that’s what I’m doing for you.”
Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie.
Big fat lie.
I wouldn’t even think about involving Nicole in my mother’s business, even if my life depended on it. But now that Mom had seen Nicole at our house, I would have to play along and drag this out for as long as possible.
Because I didn’t want anyone knowing that I liked Nicole. I had already let that one slip out around Imani, and I doubted that she would ever let me live that down. Everyone at Redwood seemed to hate her. And I understood their reasoning …
Everyone else thought Nicole was a bitch, but she was sweet to me.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Mom growled, storming up after me.
“To school,” I said blankly and entered my room.
After inhaling Nicole’s scent that seemed to linger on everything, I swallowed hard and stopped in front of my dresser. Her bandages from last night lay on the oak wood. I glanced in the mirror and back at Mom, hoping that she’d leave.
“Would you like to tell me how she really got those cuts on her face?” Mom asked.
“No.” I really wouldn’t like to tell you anything, so stop asking.
“Akio, you—”
“What?!” I exclaimed, gritting my teeth. “I’m finally doing as you asked. I murdered someone. I’m sleeping with Nicole to get information out of her for you. So, you should be happy that your son is finally following in your shitty footsteps.”
She slapped me across the face and then grabbed my chin. “Don’t talk back to me.”
“I wouldn’t talk back to you if you just listened to me.”
After glaring at me for another moment, she shoved me away. “We have business to take care of after school. You’d better fucking be there to replace Joe or else I will let Rick do whatever he cares to do to you.”
“I have work.”
“Then, you’d better skip it,” she shouted.
She stormed out of the room, and then the front door slammed shut.
I blew out a ragged breath, snatched the bandages from the dresser, and hurled them into the garbage can in the corner of my room.
After pulling on My Hero Academia T-shirt and some jeans, I grumbled all the way to my car.
If I could skip town with Nicole and not have to see Mom ever again, I would.
In a fucking heartbeat.
But Nicole would never want to leave Redwood Academy, where she reigned as the most popular, most beautiful, and most powerful cheer squad captain in the halls. She had built too much of a life here for herself.
Meanwhile, I hadn’t done anything but maybe make my first friend during my senior year. Imani.
After driving to school, I waited in the parking lot for Nicole—though she would never want to be seen with me around here—until the first bell rang. Then, I lugged my backpack out of the car and walked on the sidewalk to the front doors, glancing back at her empty parking spot.
I wished that Nicole’s father had never shown up this morning.
I would’ve even considered skipping school for the first time ever to be with her.
She didn’t even show up when I started slowly stuffing books in my locker, dragging it out so I could see her one more time today. I hoped she was okay, but I doubted that she’d be in school today after those wounds on her—
“Watch it,” Jo?o growled, shoving me into the locker with one hand.
I hit the metal door hard and gently rubbed my cheek, yet he didn’t even turn around.
“Your little girlfriend isn’t here to protect you this morning, so don’t get in my fucking way.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
Jo?o stopped and turned his head toward me, dark bags underneath his eyes and his Brazilian accent somehow even thicker now. “I smell bullshit. She fucking kicked me in the balls because she’d thought I hit you.”
My eyes widened. “She did?”
Without missing a beat, Jo?o stormed toward me again. But this time, Imani shouted at him from down the hall, pushing people to get to us.
He cursed underneath his breath and quickly headed in the opposite direction, muttering something like, “I hate this bitch.”
When Imani reached me, she placed her hands on her knees, breathing heavily.
“He didn’t hit you, did he?” Imani asked.
“No.”
“Good,” she said, standing up straight. “Don’t worry about him. He’s an ass.”
But I wasn’t worried at all about Jo?o. All I could think about was that Nicole … had confronted Jo?o because she thought that he’d hit me. And she kicked him in the balls for me?! Warmth filled my chest.
Imani waved a hand in front of my face. “Uh, hello?”
I shoved the daydream of Nicole away and blinked a few times until Imani became clear in my vision. I scratched the back of my head and wiped off my glasses, as if they were cloudy, when all I could think about was her.
Nicole. Nicole. Nicole. Nicole. Nicole.
Lying in my bed. That smile this morning. Almost kissing her.
Fuck, why didn’t I just do it?!
The second bell rang throughout the halls, and I shoved the rest of my books into my locker so I didn’t have to lug around forty pounds all day. When I grabbed the books I needed for my first two classes of the day, Imani slammed my locker closed.
Students flew through the hallways to get to their classes, but I glanced over my shoulder to the front door and hoped that Nicole would walk in at any second. She had spoiled me by staying over last night.
“Don’t tell me that you’re daydreaming about Nicole,” Imani murmured.
“I am not,” I said.
She stopped, crossed her arms, and arched a dark brow. “That’s not what it looks like.”
Cheeks burning with embarrassment, I walked past her. “We’re going to be late.”