Amelia took a stand. “June, it’s decided.” I gritted my teeth, but she ignored me. “And nobody, I mean nobody, tell Brian. You have to promise me.” I was waiting for Ari to resist, because Brian was still her boyfriend. Could she lie to him that easily? To my surprise, she was the first one to say, “I promise.”
Then it was Poppy’s turn.
They all looked at me.
“What?” I asked, taking an Oreo out of Poppy’s package.
“You have to promise, June.”
“Okay, okay. Look, I’ll send the text, but I’m not going there.”
“Did something happen with James at the party?” asked Amelia abruptly. Her posing that question right then startled me.
“You’re asking me if something happened? That asshole locked me in the basement! And if that wasn’t enough, William threw me out of his house in front of everyone!”
“Eh, Will’s like that.” Ari shrugged. I tried making eye contact with Poppy, who lowered her gaze.
“Is James blackmailing William in some way?” I tried to prod in the direction that I thought was most plausible.
I liked William a lot, but he was hiding something, and I was dying to find out what it was.
“No, not that I know of,” muttered Amelia. “Why would you think something like that?”
“Because William does everything James asks. But even then, I sometimes . . . I get the vibe that James is scared of him.”
Amelia sighed and pursed her lips. “Look, June, you should know something. William will always put James first. Always.” Her words were so gloomy that I shivered.
Why? Why’d she just tell me something like that?
The girls didn’t seem to have any intention of making me privy to their secrets. There was only one way to gain their trust.
“I’ll do it,” I declared abruptly.
It was a little effort that might help me find out the truth.
“Really?” Poppy looked surprised.
“Yeah.”
>> <<
The plan was to go there, get what I needed, and get out. Quick and easy.
But when I opened the park gate, I quickly realized that things were gonna go a little differently.
James was sitting on a bench, his long legs covered by a pair of jeans and his face darkened by the shade of a tree. His Jordans hid a few words drawn in permanent marker on the bench.
“It begs the question, White.” He kept his head down. He knew who I was.
“I’m not here on my own behalf.”
“So, what the fuck do you want?”
He’d locked me in a basement. I was dealing with a kind of criminal. I had to keep that in mind.
“Amelia sent me,” I replied, holding his gaze. I decided to keep the conversation to a minimum; I had no intention of wasting time. “What I want is in the text.”
“I don’t sell anything to Amelia and her friends. They should know that. Besides, do you even have the money?”
