Becca walked right up and punched him in the kidney. “Get off of her, you ass**le!”

He barely grunted. Becca was tiny.

Gabriel was not. He slammed the guy into the concrete pool deck.

Ryan Stacey.

“Jesus,” said Gabriel. “You really are an ass**le.”

Chris was suddenly there beside him. He must have seen Becca go flying across the pool deck. “Yeah. He is.”

“Ohmigod,” said Taylor, almost breathless with laughter. “I got all of that. Hey, Ryan, that was the best hundred dollars I ever spent. Who’s the prostitute now, bitch?”

Gabriel snapped his head up. The girl was curled against Becca now, and he couldn’t see her face.

Ryan was laughing he didn’t even seem to care that his head had cracked on the pavement. Obviously hammered. “No wonder her brother is a deaf retard. She’s all deformed under there.”

Layne. Gabriel grabbed the front of Ryan Stacey’s shirt and punched him in the face. And again. And “Gabriel. Gabriel.” Someone had his arms. Nick. And Chris.

The torches were blazing now, pouring smoke into the sky, illu-minating the pool deck like a bonfire. Ryan Stacey’s face was a mess. Gabriel wasn’t even sure he was still conscious. They’d drawn a small crowd, but Gabriel had his eyes locked on the trembling figure in Becca’s arms.

Layne, definitely Layne.

God, he’d been sitting right over there.

Gabriel was frozen, torn between going to Layne or breaking every bone in Ryan’s body. Followed by Taylor’s. Fire was whipping higher into the air, fed by his temper, looking for something more to burn.

“Take their phones,” said Becca. “Break them.”

“Please,” scoffed Taylor. “Like it’s not already online.”

But Chris snatched them anyway, snapping the cases and throwing the pieces into the pool. The girls didn’t look concerned. They looked satisfied.

“And, Gabriel,” said Taylor, “your part in this was too perfect. I didn’t think you’d show up.”

Layne made a choked noise and lifted her head. Her cheeks were red and tear streaked.

Gabriel wanted to break every bone in his own body. He could have stopped this. He’d been right here.

“I’m so sorry,” he said.

She made that strangled noise again and pushed free of Becca. And then she was running, shoving past people, fighting her way toward the road.

Gabriel went after her.

But a hand caught his arm and pulled him back. Nick.

Gabriel shoved him, hard. “What?” he yelled, hearing his voice break. “What the f**k, Nick, what?”

“Here.” Nick was staring back at him, his hand out, his eyes almost haunted. “Here. Take the car. Get her out of here.”

There was too much to say. Gabriel couldn’t speak past the emotion in his throat.

So he closed his fingers around the keys and ran after Layne.

CHAPTER 23

Gabriel caught up to her in Heather’s front yard. Layne was stumbling, her hands at her face, her sobbing almost un-controllable.

He caught her by the arms. Christ, his voice was still breaking. “Layne. Layne, please. Let me ”

She spun, her fists slamming into his chest. For her size, she hit with surprising force, driving her rage into him.

“How could you?” she yelled, her voice thick with tears.

“How could you do this?”

“Please. I didn’t know ”

She hit him again. “How could you hate me so much ”

“I don’t hate you.” He caught her arms. “I didn’t know you were there. I would never ”

“Oh my god, please just let me go. Please.”

She was struggling against him, and it made him sick to think of her fighting Ryan Stacey. He let her go.

She staggered across the lawn. “I need to get out of here.”

“Let me take you. I can drive you home ”

“I can’t go home. Just go away. You did this ”

“Goddamn it, Layne.” He caught her again, looking down at her streaked face, her tangled hair. God, she was killing him, with every word, every step. “I did not do this. I would never do this. And I swear to Christ if you don’t let me drive you somewhere, I’m going to go back down there and break that guy’s neck. ”

Heather’s front porch light exploded.

Layne jumped and gave a little cry. She was shaking, and Gabriel had no idea whether it was from what Ryan had done or from what he was doing right now.

But at least she was looking at him, her eyes wide, searching his face.

“Come on,” he said.

She took a deep breath, then nodded.

Gabriel found the car down the road a ways. Layne had her belt buckled and her arms folded tightly across her chest before he even got in, and her eyes were focused out the window. It reminded him of the first night he’d driven her home, when she’d declared so vehemently I’m not Heather Castelline.

Obviously.

Gabriel started the engine and drove toward town. He didn’t have a clear destination in mind, but she’d said she couldn’t go home, and he sure as hell couldn’t take her to his.

At the first stop sign he glanced over. “Did he hurt you?”

Her eyes didn’t leave the window. “No.”

A thousand questions burned his lips, but she was so closed off. She might bolt from the car if he pushed.

He could kill Taylor. He should have told Chris to throw her in the pool.