“Your phone died? You mean you don’t charge it every night?” Kai asked.
“I forgot to last night.”
“This is the problem with technology,” August said smugly. “You become a slave to it. Then, when it fails, you’re helpless.”
“We get it, you think you’re better than everyone because you don’t have a cell phone,” Michael muttered.
Kai blinked. “You don’t have a cell phone?”
“Nope!”
“Like, not even a flip phone? What if there’s an emergency?”
“Can we please focus?” I asked. “Sandra’s courier is going to be hereany minute, and I’d like my parents to hear the horrible news from me instead.”
“Her courier isn’t coming,” Kai said.
“Wait, really? Why?”
The three of them exchanged looks.Goodlooks—they were smiling. Like they were about to tell me that I had won the lottery.
“Who wants to go first?” Kai asked.
“Not me,” August said. “One of you tell it.”
“Kai should start,” Michael suggested.
“You think so?”
“Will somebody please tell me something!” I shouted. “Before I burst into tears again!”
“I’ll go first,” Kai said. “I convinced Sandra to call off her dogs, so to speak.”
The words didn’t sound possible to me. And I didn’t dare get my hopes up. Not yet. “And how did you do that?” I asked skeptically.
“He killed her,” August said gravely.
I flinched. “Wait,what?”
“He’s joking,” Michael said.
August chuckled to himself. “Sorry. Couldn’t resist.”
Michael rolled his eyes, but Kai didn’t pay any mind to August’s shenanigans. “I discovered some dirt on Sandra. I used it to blackmail her.”
“What kind of dirt?” I asked.
For some reason, Kai glanced at August. “I haven’t told them what it is yet. For now, let’s just say it’sreally bad. Bad enough that I was able to get her to back off. Not just back off, but a full retreat. Today was Stalingrad, and Sandra Trout is abandoning the tractor factory.”
I blinked. “Stalingrad?”
“Sorry. I majored in European History in college,” Kai explained.
“There’s so much about you I don’t know.”
“Yeah!” August said, elbowing Kai. “This guy is way more than just a big pipe who taught you how to do butt stuff.”
They know about Kai?And they seem okay with it?