callan
Yui: Before you eliminate your wife’s father, I have one last job for you.
Yui: Take care of Lucas. He fucked up a job last night.
Growling to myself, I clutched my phone in my tight grasp and glared at my empty classroom. It was right before lunch, and I didn’t want to do shit, but I needed to get out. I only had a couple more days left, a week at the most, before I could finally leave the mob for good.
Me: What’d he do?
Yui: A girl washed up on shore.
Me: A girl?
Lucas killed a fucking girl?!
Yui: One of your students. Skylar Walker.
When the last text rolled in, I pressed my lips together and hurried to the door.
Skylar Walker is dead? Fucking dead? She had been Blaise Harleen’s plaything for the past three years, and now, she was dead?
This town would attempt to blame Blaise.
I walked into the hallway, arms crossed, while I scanned the crowd for my nephew. Blaise would be getting out of English right now, and I needed to at least warn him to stay out of as much trouble as he could these next few days.
When I spotted a skateboard thrown over someone’s shoulder, I straightened myself out. “Blaise!” I called, but that punk ignored me. “Blaise!” I shouted louder this time.
He gritted his teeth and turned around to face me. “What?”
After I glanced around for anyone listening in the halls, I nodded to my classroom. Blaise rolled his eyes and followed me inside, slouching down at a desk.
“What?” he asked with annoyance. “Aren’t you having Sakura Sato for lunch? Don’t want to miss getting in one of your student’s pants, huh? Make this quick.”
I locked the door and clenched my jaw. “I’m not going to entertain you with my love life, Blaise. I doubt you’d really care for it anyway, seeing as you hate your father’s side of the family just as much as I do.”
Pissed, he rolled his eyes again. “Then, what do you want me for?”
I walked to my desk, placed my hands on it, and leaned forward, staring him down. “Where the fuck were you last night?”
“Out.”
“Where?”
“Why does it matter to you?”
“Where?” I repeated, dead fucking serious.
He stood up and growled, “The Overlook. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“You were at the beach?”
“No, the Overlook.”
I ran a hand over my tired face and paced the room. “Same fucking thing, Blaise.”
“Why do you want to know all this shit anyway? What’s it matter to you?”
“Shit’s happening in Redwood,” I said. “Who were you with?”
“Who the fuck you think?”
“Vera?”
“Yeah. Now, are you going to tell me any shit or not? I have lunch.”
After glaring at him for a couple moments longer, I stormed to the door, unlocked it, and pulled it open. Blaise tossed his backpack over his shoulder and walked toward me.
But I snatched his arm before he could pass. “Stay out of trouble.”
“You too, Av. You fucking too.”
Once he pulled himself out of my grasp, he stormed down the hallway to the cafeteria.
While I wanted to tell Blaise about the text I had just received, I couldn’t say shit here.
After listening to the mob talk yesterday about having girls in Redwood—I still needed to figure out what the fuck that meant—I didn’t trust anyone but Sakura around here. I didn’t know which of the girls in my classes were connected with the mob and if someone had bugged my room.
Just as I was about to shut my door, Principal Vaughn walked over.
“Have you heard the news?” Principal Vaughn asked.
“What news?”
“Skylar Walker,” Vaughn said, “is dead.”
I furrowed my brow and stared at the principal. How the fuck did he know about this before I did? He had waltzed right into my classroom, as if he had known this all day, possibly even all night.
“She’s dead?” I asked to see if I could get as much information out of him as possible.
“Murdered. Body washed up on the beach.”
Fuck, this isn’t good.
The mob obviously had some connection to it, but what the fuck did they want with her? In the beginning of the year, Blaise Harleen had hung out with her. He might have some information, something. I’d have to ask him tonight, where we could speak in private.
“It’s a shame,” Vaughn said, shaking his head. “She was a pretty girl.”
I stiffened. What the hell is he getting at?
“Don’t you think?” he asked.
“She was attractive,” I said, cringing at the sound of my own voice.
I didn’t find her attractive at all, but I needed info from him. He obviously knew something about the mob and maybe even what they meant when they talked about Redwood girls. I needed to fucking know before something happened to Sakura.
“You’re awfully fond of Sakura Sato,” Vaughn suggested. “She’s a pretty girl too.”
Behind my back, I balled my hands into fists. “She is.”
Vaughn leaned against the window and stared out of it, lips curled into a small smirk, as if he hadn’t just told me that a student at Redwood had been murdered. “Have you ever thought about … crossing the line with her?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
He chuckled and glanced over at me. “You know what I mean, Callan.”
“I’d really appreciate some clarification,” I said, peering at the middle drawer of my desk, where I kept my gun.
I didn’t trust Vaughn at all. If he did have connections with mob—even deeper ones than I had—then I had to … protect Sakura and myself. No matter the cost.
After kicking himself off the windowsill, he walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing. “Do you want to sleep with her?”
While I had known it was coming, I still stiffened. Vaughn had some balls, coming up to my classroom and asking if I wanted to sleep with one of my students. If he already knew about us, then I would have to take care of him too.
“No,” I scoffed, pulling myself away from him and walking around my desk. “Why would you ask me that shit?”
“Because,” he hummed, smirking like he had done nothing wrong, “I can set it up for you, if you’d like. I have … connections.” He walked toward the classroom door and glanced over his shoulder. “Think about it.”
With that, he walked out of the room.
Fuck. Fuck!
The mob had been using me all these years to get closer to the leadership at Redwood Academy. My stomach turned, and I slammed my fist down on the desk, papers flying everywhere.
If my suspicions were correct, then the mob was pimping out students from Redwood.