Did she do that?

She thought of all the boys she’d dated, the way she treated them, the way they treated her. Rafe Gutierrez, the boy who’d acted surprised when she told him that no, they didn’t have an open relationship. Or Andy Kauffman, who said she was boring when she didn’t want to get na**d in his basement night after night. Or Lev Spartara, the boy she’d strung along with promises of heavy make-out sessions in the backseat of his mom’s Toyota.

Had she been using them the same way they’d been using her?

She remembered sitting in Nick’s front seat, climbing into his lap, practically unbuttoning his pants after he’d told her she couldn’t spend the night at his house.

And then offering to continue being his girlfriend—under the pretense of keeping his secret.

Tyler was right. She and Nick might have been friends, but there was dishonesty on both sides of that relationship.

She fought her phone out of her pocket, scrolling through all the text messages she’d ignored.

With shaking fingers, she dialed. The line was answered almost immediately.

“Quinn? Are you okay?”

What did it say about her life that she got a greeting like that?

“Becca,” she said, and suddenly she almost couldn’t speak through her tears. “Becca, I really need to talk to you.”

CHAPTER 24

Nick found Gabriel in his bedroom, sitting cross-legged on his bed, surrounded by textbooks. Headphones trailed from his ears, and his pencil tapped in time with whatever he was listening to. He either didn’t notice Nick standing at the door, or he deliberately wasn’t looking up.

Nick wanted to shove him off the bed and kick him in the face.

Not aggressive, my ass.

Gabriel finally looked up and yanked the headphones free.

“So I have to leave you alone, but you get to stand there like a freaky stalker?”

Oh, good. New adjectives. Nick told his heartbeat to chill out. He pushed Gabriel’s door open. “I need to talk to you about something.”

Gabriel stared at him. Nick could read the debate on his face: screw with Nick or just play it easy.

He went with the latter. His pencil dropped into the spine of his trig textbook. “Okay. Talk.”

“If you grabbed someone by the wrist, could you set their skin on fire without anyone knowing you were doing it?”

Gabriel’s eyebrows went up. “Not exactly what I thought you’d want to talk about.”

Nick didn’t have an answer for that. He kept his gaze steady and waited.

“Look, Nicky . . .” Gabriel hesitated. “Whatever I did to piss you off, just—”

“Forget it.” Nick was halfway out his door before Gabriel slid off the bed to grab his arm.

“Stop,” said his twin. “I’ll answer your question, all right?”

Nick stopped, but he didn’t look at him.

Michael was so right. Nick did resent Gabriel. For not figuring it out. For not understanding.

For making it impossible to come out to him.

Gabriel drew a ragged breath, and it took Nick a second to even remember his question about burning. “I don’t know. I’d have to try it. It would take a lot of control. A lot of focus.”

“Fine.” Nick held out his wrist, the good one. “Try it.”

“Okay.”

Nick braced himself, but Gabriel turned his head. “Hey, Chris. Come here. I want to try something.”

Chris came out of his room, took one look at them, and turned around. “No way. I know that look.”

But Gabriel was too quick. He rushed around Nick and caught Chris’s door before it latched. He forced his way through.

And five seconds later, Chris was yelling and punching him and shoving past Nick to get to the bathroom. He was clutching his wrist. “What the f**k, Gabriel?”

Then the door slammed and the water was running.

Gabriel turned to Nick and smiled. “So, yeah. I can do it.”

Nick didn’t smile. “So can Tyler.”

Gabriel sobered. “Tyler Morgan? No way.”

Nick held up his arm and pulled back the sleeve, showing his scabs. “Way.”

His brother’s face darkened. “I’m going to kill him.”

Nick couldn’t help it. All his rage boiled up and he shoved Gabriel. Hard. “You don’t need to defend me all the time!”

Gabriel fell back a step and put his hands up. “Jesus, Nick.

Fine! You kill him. Whatever.”

God, none of his conversations were going the way he expected. Nick took a second to get it together. “I don’t know if I could. I think he might be a full Elemental.”

“Well,” said Gabriel. He glanced behind him and dropped his voice. “You want to go find out?”

Gabriel had an idea already. Nick could sense it. It would probably be half cocked and downright crazy. The kind of plan Nick would usually talk him out of.

The kind of plan Nick was expected to talk him out of.

“Sure.” Nick met his eyes. “Let me get my coat.”

Common sense would have dictated that they bring Hunter along. He was a Fifth, and a powerful one, and they were liter-ally playing with fire.

But Nick was already on edge, and he wasn’t sure he could handle the pressure of being with two people on opposite ends of a spectrum: one knowing his secret, one not.

So he and Gabriel went out alone.

Nick drove. Gabriel usually claimed the driver’s seat, but Nick needed to be in control of something or he was going to go to pieces. He’d snatched the keys out from under his brother’s hand in the front hall, ready for Gabriel to protest.