Because of the love this book is getting, I've decided to write another chapter just for you guys. Shower this book with the love you've been giving it, leave a comment and tell me what you like about this book so far ;-)

***

The Sports Hall was scanty, as expected, it was only the first day of resumption, Grace doubted half of the university's population was present, the first week was never taken serious anyway. Even at that, the sports hall was only crowded on Wednesdays -- the day for the weekly university sports -- and today wasn't an exception. The hall was generally for playing Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Judo and Badminton. It had two badminton courts and an area reserved for Tennis and the martial arts. Only a few students loitered around.

Grace played badminton and on occasion the previous semester, she had joined the school team for a competition outside the state but that wasn't why she was in the sports hall, a few moments after the Tomi debacle, her brother had texted her and asked to meet at the sport hall. He stood, resting against the far left wall, watching two adults play badminton, a girl stood by his side trying to get him to listen to whatever he was saying.

Sanmi had yet to notice her and Grace took a moment to observe him, he was dressed casually in jeans that were slightly ripped at the knees and a black muscle top, Grace wondered how he managed to get past the university's fashion police this morning, they would have taken one look at him and denied him access into the school, his dandelion tattoo was exposed too. It was like he was begging to be seen.

He dangled his school ID card from one hand and a plastic bottle of Coca-Cola soda from the other, it was half full. Grace eyed it with suspicion, she wasn't sure if the contents in the bottle was purely soda.

Her brother was handsome, and as fair as their mother, almost fair to the point of being confused as white, he had a thick mane of curly hair that he took painstaking effort to style weekly, he was that obsessed with how he looked like. The only flaw in his masculine beauty was his crooked nose, he had broken it in a fight when he was a child, trying to defend her. It was why she could never be indifferent towards him like she was with Ewatomi, she and her sister had always been distant but Sanmi had always had her back despite being a fuck up. He still had her back and maybe it was why she continued to clean up his mess because she felt she owed him.

The girl besides him tugged at his hand in a bid for attention and Grace wondered if she was his new flavour of the week or rather, fuck buddy. Sanmi didn't have girlfriends, he changed them like the watches on his wrists. The worst part was that the girls knew what they were getting into, but they all wanted a taste of the forbidden, and he was all too happy to oblige.

Grace made her way to him, avoiding stepping into the boundaries of the badminton court before the two men playing attacked her with their rackets. Sanmi, seeing her, whispered something to the girl besides him making her stomp her foot before moving to sit on the bleachers. As she drew closer to her brother, she noticed the redness of his eyes and she knew he was high, or coming down from a high. Disappointment hit her unexpectedly, he had swore to her just weeks ago that he was clean and was never going back.

"You asked for me," Grace said, almost harshly. She was suddenly tired, tired of cleaning her family's messes. Sanmi had most likely gotten into more problems. She could barely keep her lip from lifting up in disgust, Sanmi reeked of alcohol.

Sanmi bobbed his head in answer, momentarily distracted by the sudden shout of one if the men playing badminton.

"I need a favour." He said, his voice used to be comforting, back when he was actually the big brother he was supposed to be. Now, it made her mad.

"Of course you do. I'm a favour granting machine, say your wishes and they shall be granted." Grace said sarcastically. Sanmi wrinkled his nose at her words, as if he didn't know whether she was joking or not. Despite his state, he stood perfectly still, he was so used to being under the influence of drugs that they barely affected him anymore. An outsider probably wouldn't be able to tell he was high.

He took a swing of his open coke and capped it again. He licked his lips and winced. "I want you to cover for me. I have a performance tonight, Grace. I swear I'll pay you."

Grace snorted. "You can tell our parents whatever you want, you're twenty two."

He shook his head distractedly as if she didn't understand. "Our fucking father is threatening to kick me out if I stay out late again, he suddenly wants to make me clean my shit up."

"What makes you think he'll listen to me? We're all fuck ups, they don't trust any of us." Grace reminded him, in the eyes of their policeman father, they could never do any good, not even goody shoes Grace. Their father just seemed to hate them, even little Rafe.

Sanmi placed a hand on her shoulder. "He'll listen to you, just make up an excuse for me. This isn't the first time."

He was right, Grace was always covering up for both Sanmi and Ewatomi, their family fell apart three years ago and left the pieces for her to pick up. Grace was sick of it, but too far gone to say no now.

"Where are you going by the way?" Grace said, trying to appear nonchalant. Sanmi was a dancer and had his own crew, he was damn good, if only he would lay off the drugs and focus on it. Even then, their father had never approved of him studying Music and refused to pay for his education, still Sanmi equally refused to back down, he sponsored his education and sometimes performed at shows like this one he spoke of. If their father caught wind of it, then Sanmi was as good as dead. He would cut him off totally. Their mother was rather indifferent, let them do as they please, she always said nonchalantly.

Sanmi grinned at her question, exposing white teeth that wouldn't remain white for long if he kept up his drinking and smoking. "There's this new club at First Gate, it's owned by that book club --"

Grace cut him off with a grimace. "The Love Club? It's owned by Orion." She had seen the poster just outside the sports hall on a tree. What kind of book club owned night clubs and threw parties on the very first day of school? She had always had a sinking suspicion that ORION was more than a book club, hell, everyone knew they were more than that and it was traced back to Joshua Phillips, that boy was more that he appeared. She thought back to this morning when he met her gaze and smiled, for a moment, she could have sworn it was predatorily.

"It's a big gig, Grace. And I didn't even do anything to get it. I was invited." Sanmi said in a rush, Grace hadn't seen him this excited in a long while and it was sad that she couldn't be excited for him. He had a look of longing on his face as he took another swig of his drink. Grace looked away briefly to catch a curvy girl in hijab watching her by the bleacher seats. Grace turned away, feeling the hair on her neck stand in the suspicion that the was being watched. When she looked back again, the girl was gone.

"I'm happy for you, but please, I'm begging you, Sanmi. Don't get into any trouble." She warned.

"I won't." He swore. Still, she didn't feel any better, the sinking suspicion that something bad was about to happen hung around like a bad cloud.

***

The Love Club was written in squiggly pink neon signs atop the one storey building. To Kendrick it looked like a barbie dream house come to life, tough looking bouncers stood outside seemingly going through everyone's invitation, the line extended far to the end of the street and the air buzzed with anticipation of the night ahead, already electro dance music blared from the speakers within the club and it made his head hurt. The Love Club looked like a new building and it was easy to mistake it for a fancy house if the signs were absent.

He checked his watch and almost groaned aloud, it was just 7pm and he would most likely be stuck in the line till 8pm, Firepemi besides him didn't seem bothered by the line and he whistled lowly, a tune Kendrick couldn't hear over the sound the music. The club was located in a rather shabby area and Kendrick could not help but wrinkle his nose at the loudness of everything, across the street a music shop blared loud Gospel music, competing against the club's music. He could smell smoke and the tantalizing smell of street food from the suya stand wedged between the club and another building that was closed.

Kendrick looked from the queue back to Fire, who stared back in question.

"Your influence as captain might be useful now you know." Kendrick complained, tapping his foot on the floor, at least, he thought, his converse were comfortable.

Fire's lips twitched in a smile under the glow of the street lamp. "We aren't waiting for the line to move, I can go in there if I want. VIP benefits but I'm waiting for the host."

Kendrick couldn't help the downturn of his lips. "What kind of host comes to his party late?"

Fire shrugged like it didn't bother him one bit. "The kind that wants everyone to stare at him, he likes to flaunt and he just happened to buy a new ride."

The club song switched to a song Kendrick was familiar with -- I took a pill in Ibiza remixed with a Taylor Swift song that was fairly new. He bobbed his head slowly to the up tempo beat.

The crowd suddenly roared and Kendrick drew back, startled. Then he saw what they were raving over, a sleek black McLaren sport car pulled over onto one side of the street and a boy stepped out, accompanied by a plumpy girl dressed a sheer lacy gown that was barely touching her knees. Cameras began to go off like the paparazzi and the crowd hooted adoringly.

The boy relished it all with a cocky grin as his hand rested on the waist of the girl. They made their way into the club without a glance at the crowd that didn't seem to be dying down anytime soon.

"I'm guessing those were your friends?" Kendrick shouted above the music. Fire grinned and shrugged a jacket clad shoulder. He placed a hand on Kendrick's shoulder.

"Time to make our entrance, granted it won't be as fancy as theirs. We sha try." Fire joked. They made their way from the back of the line to the front, pushing past people like royalty. Some people called out to Fire in greeting, and he responded in smiles and quick handshakes. The bodyguards at the entrance took on glance at Fire and gave him a nod in greeting.

"He's with me." Kendrick heard Fire whisper to them. The two bouncers nodded and stamped something on his wrist and waved both him and Fire inside.

If Kendrick thought the club was glamorous from the outside then the inside was a bigger surprise. The club was larger than it looked from the outside and it was pink all through out, a magnetic pink were the lights and seats. There were three bars and from the looks of things, it was quite busy, the dance floor was huge and already crowded with gyrating teenagers and young adults. The music pulsed even louder and he guessed the speakers were inbuilt because he could not see any in sight.

There was a stairway at the corner and a single bouncer stood by it, watching the scene with an alert gaze, he spoke into a mouthpiece and seemed more like a secret agent than a bouncer.

"The VIP area is upstairs, come with me." Fire said. He seemed distracted, his grin long gone.

Kendrick's heart beat loudly, even louder than the music, this was what he came for, to see the same organization that was spread far and wide across universities in Nigeria, the same organization masked as a harmless book club and the same organization that he was sure was responsible for the death of Emmanuel. He wasn't sure what he was trying to prove or find, but he knew what he wanted -- revenge -- revenge that he had sworn on his best friend's grave.

The bouncer at the stairs didn't spare them a glance as they marched quickly on the stairs, Kendrick took in a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair and noted that he was in deep need for a haircut. He wasn't sure what to expect from the VIP area but he definitely didn't expect to see only two teenagers arguing loudly. The cocky boy from earlier lounged on the comfy seats arranged by the empty bar. Fire shut the door behind him.

Neon pink lights hung on the ceiling and classical music played softly from an antique looking vinyl player. Kendrick realized he couldn't hear the electro music from downstairs again, the room was soundproof. A sleek, circular black table was in the middle of the room and it appeared to be a computer of sorts, it's entire surface was glass and displayed the party downstairs on it. Kendrick suddenly felt like he was in the middle of a SciFi movie, he wasn't even sure such gadgets existed in real life.

The girl with the short dress was the first person to notice him and she shushed the girl she argued with. An awkward silence ensued for a brief moment before all four pair of eyes turned to Fire and Him. The other girl wore a glittery hijab that sparkled under the club lights and high waist skirt with sheer leggings beneath them. Her shirt was a black top and she wore diamonds on her neck and wrists.

She wore no makeup and somehow that made her the more intimidating.

"Well, well. What do you have there, Firepemi?" She drawled.

"This is Kendrick, Kendrick, this is Amina." Fire said, he seemed annoyed all of a sudden.

Amina held out a hand for a handshake and hesitantly, he took it. If these people were truly ORION then he didn't want to piss them off. Her palms were rough, and she had a firm grip.

"Nice to meet you, Kendrick. Fire has mentioned a lot about you." Amina said in a drawl that told him something was very wrong.

He laughed nervously.

"And this is Nina," Fire said, angling his head to nod at the girl with the sheer dress. She nodded a greeting to Kendrick but said nothing.

The cocky boy who had been watching with a smirk suddenly stood up and tilted his head to the side, assessing him like a predator. Kendrick was taller than he was but something about this boy's gaze commanded instant respect.

"I'm Joshua Phillips, you might have heard of me." He said, chest puffed out slightly, asserting authority.

"You're the Vice President's son." Kendrick said almost bitterly. He stared into Joshua's eyes and wondered if he was the one who put a bullet in Emmanuel. From his little investigation, Kendrick knew ORION was broken into sister societies across universities, in the University of Abuja, they were known as GEMINI but he also knew one thing, Joshua Phillips was their leader worldwide.

"I am, and you're the guy that's been looking for me. I'm guessing this is about your dead best friend, Emmanuel?" Joshua smirked.

Dread settled in Kendrick's stomach and a shiver snaked down his spine. How stupid could be be? He had never guessed all his asking around could have gotten back to ORION. Now, he was at their mercy.

Stupid, stupid, He cursed himself. He cast Fire a gaze that he hoped showed all his anger. Firepemi was a part of ORION, or rather, their puppet boy. Tension settled thick in the air as Joshua Phillips stared unblinkingly at him.

Kendrick had seconds to think of a lie, a lie that his life most likely depended on. He thought of what his mother used to say to him, her own way of encouraging him, it used to annoy him to to extent but now he saw the truth in them.

When there is no way, dig through hell or heaven until you find one.

"You've got me," He forced a confident smile on his lips, lies spinning in his head. "I've been looking for you."