And if I was angry a few moments ago, now I was clearly confused.
Amelia’s eyes welled with tears.
“James told you that, didn’t he? He still has the gall to talk about my dad?”
My throat went cold. I opened my mouth, but not a single sound came out.
“Amelia . . . ” Brian tried to calm her down, but I saw her burst into tears before walking away, surrounded by her friends.
“Brian?” I called his name, but he shook his head.
“Sorry, June. We gotta go.”
What were they hiding?
12
Jackson
One month earlier
James got to my house holding the damn phone.
“He keeps calling.”
“That asshole principal keeps calling?” exclaimed William incredulously, grabbing the phone out of James’s hands.
I craned my neck to glance at it. I sawpaul manoron the screen. It was Blaze’s dad.
But when James realized, he moved over in front of the old bookcase with my grandpa’s record collection, looking for something to put on.
“If it’s been a year, why the fuck does he keep calling?” asked Marvin as soon as the record player started crackling.
James gritted his teeth, clenching his tapered jaw.
“Maybe because one day one of his teachers disappeared out of the blue? Marvin, use your fucking head.”
“What if the principal started suspecting something and went to the cops?” I speculated anxiously.
“Boys, do you want a slice of Bundt cake?” My grandma interrupted our conversation as she came into the living room with a tray decorated with flowers. James smiled at her, positioning himself next to her like a giant next to a little girl.
“Would you make us a coffee, Lena?” he whispered politely.
“Sure, Jamie.”
Then his eyes narrowed into two sharp blades again as soon as my grandma left the room.
“He’s not gonna go to the cops. We’ll make sure he doesn’t.”
“How do we do that? He’ll know it was us, James.”
James looked me up and down icily. He seemed to think that I had said something insane, but I was trying to be cautious.
“Jax, I don’t give a flying fuck. Don’t you get that we can’t risk it?”
The sense of calm caused by the music seemed to disappear. The melody became increasingly aggressive, almost dramatic, like it was keeping up with our agitated looks.
But someone hadn’t expressed their opinion yet. William didn’t speak much in these cases, but when he did . . . James’s eyes twinkled.
