“You need to tell me about this girl, the one you got it from,” Evan instructs as I take a few steps back. I don’t really trust myself not to kill the kid, it would work as a far better deterrent than just threats.
Quinn is hovering off to the side, as if she doesn’t know what to do. I don’t look at her directly because I don’t want to know what she’s thinking about me right now.
“She…was blonde. Thought…she was better…than everyone,” the kid on the ground pants.
“Was she with anyone?” Evan inquires. I’m sure he’s already arrived at the same conclusion I have—Michelle.
The boy presses his hand to the ground and uses it to help him stand before brushing his fingers off on his pants. I have the urge to shove him back into the dirt. I even take a step forward, but Quinn stops me with a light palm on my arm.
“Maybe, but I haven’t seen her with anyone.”
“You got a name? Where she’s staying? Anything?” Evan pushes. “How about you?” He looks at the other boy.
“I’ve never met her.” He holds his hands up in surrender.
“I’m going to leave you with a number. You see her, you call,” Evan commands, then pauses for a second. “Get your fucking phones out. I know you won’t remember it if I tell you,” he barks.
Both boys scramble to pull their phone from their pockets and look up at him, waiting. Evan rattles off his number quickly. “Your friends may be tempted to think you’re lying or dismiss you when you tell them to get rid of the drugs. Let them know the blood in the dope comes at a very steep price, one we are both willing to kill over.”
“Fucking with any of it will get them dead,” I add, just in case they think they can get blood from somewhere else to soak the buds.
Quinn
My hands are still shaking, and we’re almost back to the school. Griffin acted like he was ready to kill that boy. “Was it your blood?” I finally ask when I feel like my voice will be level.
“No, it was yours,” Griffin snarls.
“What?” I whisper, not understanding how that’s even possible. “But I never donated blood.”
“I know.” His words are a little softer, but still fused with anger.
“Then how?”
Griffin turns to the side so he can look at me from the front seat. “When else have you bled here?”
My first thought is my period, the only time I usually bleed, which gives me full body chills, but then I remember the attack. Evan and Griffin both said I lost a lot of blood. My brain starts trying to work through how that would have happened. I can’t picture someone risking gathering my blood after hitting me, considering how they could have gotten caught.
“You think someone bonked me on the head and stuck around long enough to mop up my blood so they could reuse it later for this?” Saying it out loud makes it sound even more crazy.
“Do you have another explanation on where they would have gotten it?” Evan questions.
“I mean, I donated blood at college a few times, but that’s a crazy long shot. What are the chances someone got my blood way out here?” I shake my head, finding that even more absurd.
“Not likely. It’s more likely the attack was planned, unlike what Michelle said.” Griffin’s shoulders are tense, and the lines of his body seem tight, even while sitting in the front seat.
“What do you think that means?” I inquire, feeling foolish for insisting on stopping at the store now that it seems like I could truly be in danger. I’ve been dismissing Griffin and Evan’s concerns until now.
“I don’t know, but I will find out,” Griffin vows as Evan pulls the SUV into the garage and parks it. I take a deep breath and open my door to exit. Why does everything seem to be getting more and more complicated?
“We’re going to have to address the entire staff again,” Evan tells Griffin as we make our way back into the school.
“I know,” he mumbles.
“What about the students? Most of them probably already know or suspect what’s been going on. We need to warn them that Wet could be just as dangerous as sippin’.”
“Who do you suggest should lead this antidrug campaign?” Griffin asks drolly. He’s been distant, gruff, and angry since we left the boys at the park.
When we reach the main lobby, I turn toward the hall and the elevator. “I’m going to head up, unless you want me somewhere else.”
