Gabriel sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “It was dark,” he said truthfully. “Not much of anything.”

“Come on.” Her voice was hard.

Gabriel shifted to look at her. The light at her back made the red turtleneck almost glow. “Really. He didn’t get the shirt over your bra. Honestly, with the light, I bet Taylor couldn’t catch much of anything on her phone.”

“God, she is such a bitch.” Layne made a disgusted sound. “I can’t believe you slept with her.”

Gabriel almost dropped his cup. “What? Who the hell said I slept with her?”

“No one. But . . . in class . . .” She faltered. Even in the dim light, he could see Layne’s cheeks turn pink. “She said ”

“I have never slept with Taylor. Jesus, there’s a locker room joke that ” He shook his head. “Never mind.”

“That what?”

He took a quick sip of coffee. “You know that stupid saying in sex ed about how when you sleep with someone, you’re sleeping with everyone that person has had sex with?”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s just say I have no desire to sleep with the entire team.”

Layne didn’t look entirely convinced. “Today. In class. She mentioned last year.”

This girl was too smart for her own good. He sighed. “All right, look. I was at this one party, and I was sitting on a couch, and she came over and climbed in my lap. I didn’t exactly shove her away. But I did not sleep with her, and we barely spent ten minutes together. She’s on the cheer squad. I play a lot of sports.

She flirts with any guy she sees, including half the faculty.”

Layne settled back onto the tailgate, staring out at the night again.

“Come on,” he said. “She just says those things to get a reaction.”

“It works.”

“I still don’t understand how she tricked you.”

“Maybe I’m just an idiot.”

“Oh, I know that’s not true,” he said. “Tell me. Did that loser just walk over and start assaulting you?”

“No.” Her voice was very small. “He was nice. I liked him.

He didn’t even assault me. I told you: It didn’t start like that.”

Gabriel snorted. “Couldn’t you tell he was drunk off his ass?”

“No!” Sudden anger swung her around. “How am I supposed to know when someone is drunk?”

“Layne ”

“He didn’t smell like beer. He wasn’t slurring his words. Or do you mean, he had to be drunk off his ass to be into someone like ”

“Hey.” His voice was sharper than he intended, but it got her to shut up. God, she was crazy if she thought someone would have to be drunk to take a second glance at her. The way she was sitting had the skirt splayed across her lap, leaving a long expanse of spandexed leg stretching into the darkness. Anger flushed her cheeks, and curls of hair fell along one shoulder. Her eyes caught the starlight, making him want to “What?” she demanded.

Gabriel jerked his eyes away. He wanted to tell her everything he was thinking, how she looked striking right now, beautiful in the darkness. How he wished he’d known she would be at the party. How he would have been dragging Hunter out of the car instead of the other way around.

He brought his cup to his lips. “Nothing.”

She scowled out at the parking lot. “So is this like your place?”

“My place?”

“Where you bring girls.”

“Yes. I bring girls to this run-down parking lot all the time.”

He gestured with his cup. “I have a sign-up sheet nailed to that tree. Now that you mention it” he glanced at his watch “we should probably wrap this up.”

Her eyes were intense, challenging, fixed on his. “Do you have a five-minute limit before you start getting mean?”

“I don’t know, Layne. Do you have a five-minute limit before you start getting defensive?”

She clamped her mouth shut and turned to face the darkness.

As usual, he didn’t know if he owed her an apology or deserved one.

He picked at the lid of his cup. “Nicky and I come out here sometimes,” he said. “I’ve never brought a girl here.”

“Never?” Her voice was some combination of skeptical and hopeful.

“What do you think, that I’m some kind of thug player who’ll screw anything in a skirt?”

She didn’t answer, and that was answer enough.

“Wow,” he said. “I can’t believe you think I’d beat the shit out of Ryan Stacey just to drag you to the middle of nowhere so I could ”

“Hey.” Her eyes flashed up to his. “Now who’s defensive?”

“Touché.”

They sat in silence for a while, until the crickets were deafening, and Gabriel began to wonder if he should just offer to drive her home.

“It’s funny,” she said quietly. “You were the first person I talked to this morning, and you’ll probably be the last I talk to tonight.”

This morning. It felt like a lifetime ago. He wondered if she had any idea that Ryan Stacey had been trapping her little brother inside a locker after scrawling insults all over his chest.

I let him kiss me.

No. She couldn’t possibly know.

“Tell me your secrets,” she said.

He looked up. “My secrets?”