TROUBLE. I was in big trouble, and Khan was nowhere to be seen. Was this his whole plan? Get me killed off and take the glory?

I didn't get much time to think on it because Aries charged at me again, a sinister expression on his sweaty face, but he stalled almost instantly, clutching his sloppy wounds as his face turned up in pain.

His blood was everywhere, staining his light blue shorts to his rumbled shirt that reminded me of a red tie-dye project. I didn't think I stabbed him that deep, but the wound on his hand looked really bad.

Thick liquid oozed out in short bursts, splattering the floor like an abstract painting. Aries tried to stop the rapid blood flow with his other hand, but that just made him bloodier, and he ended up smearing his blood all over his face.

I gulped, thinking the red on his face reminded me of bad clown makeup which made him look even scarier as he aimed his eyes at me, pupils dilating.

His hands went for my neck again like there was a target on it. I hollered and kicked at him, missing him this time. He knocked my wobbling legs out of the way and jumped near my torso.

Picking me up one-handed by my shirt, his other hand smacked the shit out of me, causing a loud squelch sound to warp into the air from the connection of his bloody hand on my bare, clean skin.

A burning sensation shot up my cheek to my forehead and thick globs of spit flew from my mouth as my teeth dug into my lip from impact. The taste of copper grazed my tongue and my head dipped back, stars consuming my vision.

"You should've minded your own business, bitch," he repeated to me as he threw me into the wall. My back hit hard, and I flopped over and crawled, trying to regain my vision. "This didn't concern you."

Aries stomped over to me and gripped my ankle, trying to lift me in the air again, but I wiggled and jerked and kicked until he let go.

As soon as he let go, I jabbed my heel out, catching him in the side of the calf. Yelling, he dropped to one knee, and I followed up with a kick to the face.

He flopped backward and smacked his head into the radiator. Loud groans poured from his lips as his sticky hands massaged his head.

While he got himself together, I crawled away toward the bench, using the hard surface to lift myself up. Panting loudly, I watched Aries stumble to his feet, and I charged at him, landing my elbow into his ribs.

He jerked and twisted his body before falling face first into the wall, leaving a bloody bodyprint behind when he stumbled back. I followed up by punching him in the cheek, my knuckles digging in deep — so deep that I could feel his five 'o clock shadow against my soft skin.

"That's for slapping me, bitch," I screamed at him when he crumbled to the ground, holding his face. I didn't let up there though. My foot stomped and kicked at his groaning and yelling body until every toe felt like it was broken and I still wasn't done.

I stabbed a heel into his ass, watching him jerk away with an ear-splitting scream. His delicious noises dug into my soul and I wanted to hear more, see more blood.

A condescending laugh bubbled throughout my core. This was too much fun.

"Betinia." Khan rushed in, causing me to pause mid-kick. Thin, red scratches marred his collarbone and neck, and I looked downward, seeing more on his arms.

I used my forearm to wipe sweat and blood off my face. "Distracting didn't go well, huh?"

His eyes darkened, nose curling up. "She knew something was up when she heard you guys talking and Aries suddenly raised his voice," he said, blotting at some of the scratches. "She tried to leave and I held her back and then I heard you scream and tried to get here, but then she held me back this time and kept attacking me, so I dragged her to the pool and threw her in and rushed back as fast as I could." He stared at me and then at the bleeding and groaning Aries. "Sorry for taking so long, but you seemed to have handled this well by yourself."

Not at first. "Trust me, it wasn't—"

"What the fuck's going on here?" Rucker interrupted as he stomped into the room with the rest of our team in tow. Yaz looked pissed and Sebastian looked a bit enraged.

Khan and I clutched together for a second like two kids who got caught stealing something.

"You left without us?" Rucker came over to us, eyes blazing. "And got beat the hell up?"

I held up a finger before moving back a bit. "Umm, I actually won." I clamped my mouth shut then, feeling the full intensity of his deadly glare. This was when I understood why he made the perfect gang leader. He was terrifying when he was angry. I would've never snitched on this man. I'd rather go to jail.

Khan stepped up and shrugged. "Betinia and I had a theory that Aries was the killer and we wanted to confront him to see if he'd admit it."

"And you didn't think to wake us?" Yaz folded her arms. "I always want in on the action."

Rucker sucked his teeth. "The only reason we're even here was because I woke up and saw you two dumbasses gone, and I opened the door to leave and heard you scream."

"Which woke me and Yaz up," Sebastian said, glaring at me.

Rucker narrowed his eyes at me. "Did you and I not make an oath?"

"Yes..." I trailed off.

"To be allies?" he said, sounding like a lecturing mom.

"Yes..."

"Then stop going places without me," he said, almost screaming at me.

I cringed, knowing he was right. This plan would've probably worked out better if we told them. I probably could've avoided getting my ass kicked by Aries in the beginning.

"Do you want to die?" Rucker asked, fingers clenching. "Because I feel like you're just dangling yourself out there to get gutted."

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling my throat.

"That doesn't cut it," he said, shaking his head. "We're a team, and we — me and you — made an oath to each other and I take that shit very seriously."

"It's my fault," Khan said, interrupting Rucker. "This was my plan."

"Yeah, and it was stupid as shit," Rucker said, moving his glare back to Khan. "I thought you were smart, but I must've been mistaken." Then he stomped over to Aries and kicked him hard in the spine.

Aries yelped and shivered. "S-stop it," he said between glops of snot and tears.

Rucker kicked him harder. "That's for trying to kill my teammate."

"Khan!" Chi rushed into the room with a large knot on her forehead, water dripping from everywhere. Her red hair stuck to her neck and arms, clinging for dear life.

Yaz scrunched up her nose. "Damn, it looks like you have a ball sack on your face."

Chi froze, slowly using her hand to touch her bump. "It left a mark?" She sneered at Khan. "I hit my head when you threw me into the pool, and it left a mark! A mark! What if I'm scarred forever?"

Khan shrugged. "You wouldn't stop scratching me."

"You shouldn't have tried to trick me," Chi said before screaming and launching herself at him.

Yaz, being the closest, interfered and elbowed Chi in the chest and threw her on the floor. "Not today, hoe. We don't got time for your stupid ass drama," she said, turning back to everyone else. "Did Aries kill Layla or not?"

"He said that he'd kill me like he did her," I said, going back over our conversation in my head. "But I think he was talking about his ex."

Aries coughed, holding his face. "I didn't kill L-Layla."

"But you killed your ex," Khan said, looking down at him. "Because she knew that you liked men, and she was going to tell everyone."

Aries didn't have to reply because his face showed everything — the hate, the anger, the pain, the confusion, the self-hatred, and the relief.

"Shit, it's okay if you like dick," Yaz said, lifting her shoulder. "I like dick, everyone here likes dick. Don't mean you gotta kill a bitch over it."

"For the record, I like my dick," Rucker said, holding up a finger. "And I will never understand people killing people for dumb shit. Kill for a reason — like money. That's something I can get down with."

"She would've ruined my whole life — I would've lost everything," Aries said, groaning while sobbing. "My parents, my money, my job — everything I worked for would've been gone."

"So what?" Rucker folded his arms. "You could've gotten another job and you can always make more money. And fuck what your parents think. If they don't like your choices, fuck'em."

Aries groaned and sobbed. "You don't understand," he whispered, tears dripping down his face.

"That's why you killed Layla," Khan said, getting back on track. "Because she knew your secret."

Aries wiped his face. "I didn't kill Layla."

"But she did know your secret," I said.

Aries looked at the ground, wincing as he tried to sit up. "Layla caught me looking at Kh — a guy one day and told me I was disgusting and just ran away. She always gave me dirty looks, but she never said anything about outing me. Even if she did, no one liked her enough to believe anything she said, so I didn't care if she knew. I'd just deny it, and no one would've believed her."

"So why did you attack me then?" I asked, leering at him. "If you weren't guilty, why attack me?"

"Because I didn't want you telling the others — I don't want-t p-people to know, okay?" Aries quivered a bit, making me feel a little bad. "I don't like being cornered and threatened. It makes me tense and I black out. I—"

"Aries doesn't have to explain anything," Chi said, glaring. "He had every right to attack, and he didn't kill Layla. He was with me all night. Neither of us did it."

"Then why was your hair in Layla's mouth," I said, still curious.

"I put that there to trick Gmie and Demo," Chi said, touching her knot. "I want those bitches to suffer for fucking with me and thinking I'm a dumb slut. I'm not. I wouldn't have made it this far in life or this game if I was just some stupid, big-boobed slut."

"If Aries didn't do it, then who did?" I asked, caressing my neck. It hurt so bad.

"I'm saying Gmie and Demo," Chi said, wiping some water off her eyelids. "Those bitches were the first ones to find the body, and they have the best motive." She wrung out her hair, letting the droplets splash to the floor. "After we escaped Layla's room, I heard them talking and making plans to kill her. They said they were going to jump her, which was probably what they did. So, case closed."

"Sounds good to me," Sebastian said, stretching out his arms. "Does anyone have anything better?"

Khan and I met eyes for a moment before saying in unison, "No."

"See and everyone thinks I'm dumb." Chi smiled as she got to her feet, pulling the sniffling and limping Aries along with her. "Come on, let's go get you cleaned up."

Aries shot us all an irritated look before limping out the door with Chi, leaving a bloody trail behind him.

Khan turned to me. "Do you think she's right?"

I glanced down at the floor. "I don't know. It feels too easy."

"Not everything is complicated," Yaz said, pushing up her glasses. "Why do you think when a person's murdered, the first people they go to are the spouse and family? Sometimes, it's just that simple."

Simple? It would make sense that it was Gmie and Demo. Maybe that's why Demo attacked me? Because she knew I was onto her? But still, was it just that simple?

"I need to go rest and think," I said, massaging my temples. "And take a long shower."

"No, we're all gonna have a team talk first," Rucker said, standing in front of me.

"So, you're basically going to lecture us some more?" Khan said.

"Yes! Cause apparently you need to be lectured about the importance of not keeping us out of the loop and not making dumbass plans," Rucker said, eyeing him. "You can do whatever the hell you want, but Betinia is my responsibility and my partner, and you almost got her killed."

"Like you did earlier?" Khan said, cocking his head.

Rucker charged forward, bumping chests with Khan. "You wanna go?"

"Can you guys please put your dicks away?" Yaz said, rolling her eyes. "This overabundance of testosterone in the air is messing with my delicate pores." She pushed them apart. "What Rucker is trying to say is that you two can't go off by yourselves. We're all a team. The biggest team here. We can win this together."

"But there's five of us," Sebastian said, looking around.

"Well, one of us won't make it," Yaz said with a shrug. "That's the truth and our reality, and we need to deal with it. But for now, we're a team. And we need to act like it." She looked at Khan and me. "No, we don't see the world like you do and we're not high-tech and brainy like Khan, but I'm good with my hands and smart in other ways, and I'm a hell of a fighter. Yes, Rucker is loud and an ass most of the time."

"Thanks," Rucker mumbled.

"But he can fight and kill like it's nothing," Yaz said and then turned to Sebastian. "Ahh I don't know what you're good for yet, but... Sebastian's useful too."

Sebastian glared at her. "I'm smart too."

"We all have our strengths and if we work together, we got this," Yaz said, staring at everyone.

Khan stared at them for a second before nodding. "You're right. I'm sorry for going off on our own. I'll keep you in the loop from now on," he said. "It wasn't personal. It's just easier bouncing ideas off of Betinia without distractions."

"I'm not distracting," Rucker said, looking offended.

"You are when you're arguing with Sebastian," Yaz said.

"Very," Khan added, pursing his lips.

"Rucker starts with me," Sebastian said, eyes slitting.

"No, cupcake, you start with me," Rucker said, pointing at him.

"Stop calling me soft things!" Sebastian said, barreling toward Rucker.

Rucker was already ready, fists clenching. "Come on, frosting. I've been wanting to kick your ass since we got here."

My body lurched between them before they could connect. "Stop it. Now," I said, sandwiching myself between them.

"Move, Betinia," Sebastian said, eyes becoming like two blue storms. "I'm gonna fuck him up."

Rucker let out a loud laugh. "I'd like to see you try it, meatball."

"Look—" I started but was interrupted.

A loud, slow clap stopped everyone in their tracks, and all our eyes zeroed in on our unexpected guest.

"Lovely teamwork, people," Jookie said, clapping as he waltzed into the room. He dressed down today in simple tight skinny jeans and a loose black shirt, hair slicked back. His eyes glittered like undiscovered purple diamonds. "Just lovely."

I really wasn't in the mood for his torture today. "What are you doing here?" I asked, eyeing him. Just seeing him annoyed me yet turned my insides at the same time.

He came over to me, gripping my hand with his hand. "Just wanted to pop in and speak to you. Alone."

Rucker gritted on him. "Why?"

"We're just gonna chat." Jookie smiled, eyes twinkling. "She's safe when she's with me." He pulled me out of the room with my team gawking at us.

What the hell did he want?

♟♙♟