It wasn’t enough to be absolutely certain, but Nick could connect the dots. Chris might not know for sure.

But he’d guessed.

The homeroom bell hadn’t rung yet, but it was close. Quinn shoved a notebook in her bag and swung her locker shut.

Only to find Becca standing there.

Perfect, pretty Becca, with all those special secrets she didn’t think to share.

Quinn shouldered her backpack and started walking.

“Come on,” said Becca. “Would you at least tell me what you’re so pissed about?”

“Why don’t you ask your boyfriend? Maybe he could write a message in steam or something.”

Well, that shut Becca up.

But only for a second. “Please—would you stop walking? I wanted to tell you, Quinn.” She hesitated. “You had so much going on, and I—”

“Don’t you dare make this about me. You don’t know anything about me.”

“Because you won’t say anything! I’ve been trying to talk to you all week!”

Like Becca would be able to relate to Quinn’s problems.

“Forget it. You’re right. I have too much going on.”

“It wasn’t only my secret to tell,” Becca said quietly. “If Nick told you everything, then you know they’re in danger.”

Quinn stopped and looked at her. She made her voice equally low. “And so are you. Didn’t feel like sharing that? Didn’t feel like mentioning how some guys came after you with a gun?

Maybe if I’d known that, I wouldn’t have spent the night making out with—”

She cut herself off. What was wrong with her? She’d almost sold Nick out again. And while Tyler didn’t have any reason to tell the Merricks, Becca would definitely tell Chris something was up.

But all of a sudden, she hated denying the night she’d spent with Tyler. The kissing in the darkness, surrounded by his arms, her ears full of his raspy voice and the strum of his guitar.

Becca was staring at her.

“With Nick,” Quinn finished.

And of course, thinking of kissing Nick felt . . . wrong. She remembered what a fool she’d made of herself that night he’d let her sleep in his bed. She turned away from Becca again. “I need to get to class.”

Becca didn’t say anything for the longest time, until Quinn didn’t think she was going to bother.

And that, more than anything, made Quinn’s throat tighten.

Then Becca called, “I miss you.”

Quinn hesitated. She wondered what would happen if she turned around, walked back to Becca, and told her everything.

She thought of the cops coming to her apartment, and wondered if she even had a home to return to. She had no illusions that she could keep sleeping in Tyler’s second bedroom. She didn’t even know if she wanted to.

But Becca wouldn’t understand this. There were too many variables, too many what-ifs. Too many secrets.

Quinn looked at her. “I miss you, too.” Then she turned around and kept walking.

Becca didn’t come after her.

And the worst part was, Quinn really wished she would.

CHAPTER 17

Nick had had no idea babysitting would be so exhausting.

He and James played hide-and-seek in the woods until dark. Not much of a challenge for Nick, who merely had to ask the air to locate the boy, but he could pretend to seek. Then tag.

Then football in the lengthening shadows of twilight. Nick made a good show of falling down when sixty pounds of kinder-gartner tackled him.

Just when the edge of the sun dropped below the horizon, something foreign brushed Nick’s senses.

It didn’t feel malicious, but Nick grabbed James, tossing the boy in the air while he laughed and shrieked.

Nick ignored that and cast his senses wide.

Nothing.

He dragged James inside anyway. The kid promptly dumped a massive plastic tub of Legos in the middle of the living room floor.

Then he grinned up at Nick. “Can we build a whole city?”

So they built a whole city.

His phone buzzed around eight, just when he was telling James that yes, his mother did want him to brush his teeth. Nick slid the phone out of his pocket with his heart in his throat, hoping for a message from Adam.

He hadn’t heard from him all day.

Not Adam. Michael.

Hannah’s folks are going to come pick up James so he can sleep in his own bed.

And that was it. Typical.

Nick texted back.

How was dinner??

Terrifying.

A pause, then another message appeared.

Good call on the haircut.

Nick smiled.

“Can I play Angry Birds?” James asked through a mouthful of toothpaste.

Nick slid his fingers across the keys. “In a minute.”

Are you coming home?

Going out for a while. Don’t wait up.

When Hannah’s parents showed up, they didn’t look like they wanted to kill anyone, so Nick figured the dinner had gone pretty well. Hannah’s mother was a petite blond woman in a sweater set, and she tried to give Nick sixty dollars for babysitting. He turned it down.

The fire marshal looked at him long and hard, reminding Nick that this guy had interrogated his twin brother a few weeks ago.

But Hannah’s mother stepped between them to kiss him on the cheek and say thank you. The fire marshal shook his hand.

James gave him a hug.

Then Nick had the house to himself.

He couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.