But maybe we could go back to your house and work on

your math homework.

He scowled. The words were full of highs and lows. His house!

She wanted to come back to his house! But . . . math. Math.

Another chime.

The faster you learn math, the faster we can do other

things.

Well, that set his heart pounding. He typed fast.

Pick you up at 2?

This time, her response was lightning quick.

Make it 3. Don’t text back. Gotta go.

“Come on,” he said to Hunter. “Let’s go set things on fire.”

“Got a date?”

“Actually, yes.”

But a few minutes later, he looked over at Hunter climbing into the passenger seat. The heady tension of their conversation had dissipated, but it wasn’t completely gone.

“Hey, man,” he said. “You all right?”

Hunter nodded, his eyes on the windshield. “Yeah.”

When he didn’t say anything else, Gabriel started the engine and started to back out of his parking space.

And while he wasn’t looking, Hunter said, “I don’t think I could do it.”

Alone. That’s what he wasn’t saying. He didn’t think he could do the race alone. Without his father.

But he wasn’t alone. Even if Hunter didn’t realize it yet.

Gabriel wished he’d figured that out five years ago. Maybe then he would have played that game of Sorry with Michael.

Instead of flinging the dice in his brother’s face and telling him to f**k off.

Gabriel pulled onto Ritchie Highway. He’d never considered that it might have cost Michael something to sit down with him.

He had to clear his throat. “I’ll run it with you.”

A big hesitation. Then Hunter said, “Come on. You don’t have to ”

“I know.”

“It’s twenty-six miles.”

“I know what a marathon is.”

Hunter was looking out the window again. “I’ll think about it.”

Gabriel nodded, shut his mouth, and drove.

CHAPTER 26

Gabriel made it home just before two. Plenty of time to grab a shower and clean clothes and to get out the door to pick up Layne.

Or it would have been, if his brothers had still been out.

He didn’t see Michael thank god but Nick stopped him in the hallway, blocking the path to the bathroom.

“Where were you all morning?”

“Sorry, Mom, I’ll leave a note next time.” Gabriel went to push past him.

But Nick stood firm. “You smell like fire.”

Not surprising, considering he and Hunter had burned a dozen hay bales at the back of Hunter’s grandparents’ property.

Their practice experiment ended with mixed results: Gabriel had practically set the entire field on fire.

But he was close. His control was getting better. He could feel it.

And they’d been ready this time. A hose hookup was in the old barn. Luckily.

At least he didn’t have to lie about where he’d been. “I went over to Hunter’s. We went for a run and then set hay bales on fire.”

Gabriel watched the surprise flicker on Nick’s face and enjoyed it. The almost-betrayal. The almost-guilt, as Gabriel’s words registered. We did something you never want to do. Then we did something you and I used to do.

And while Nick was standing there trying to think of a retort, Gabriel shoved past him into the bathroom and locked the door.

When he came out, the house was quiet.

Finally. Maybe his brothers had gone on another job. Maybe he’d lucked out and Michael wasn’t going to hassle him all day.

Gabriel pulled on a clean shirt in his bedroom. He’d spent the last twenty minutes telling himself that studying math at the kitchen table meant this wasn’t a date, that he had a greater chance of looking like a moron at this activity than at just about anything else.

Gabriel jogged down the steps and stuck his hand into his backpack for his car keys.

Nothing.

Then he looked out the window beside the front door. No car, either.

“Fuck!” He hit the door frame. It hurt. He did it again.

“Problems?”

Gabriel glanced down the hallway. He’d assumed Michael was out, but he found his older brother sitting in the kitchen.

The laptop sat open in front of him, work papers spread across the table.

“Yeah,” said Gabriel. “Nick took the car.”

Michael didn’t even look up from the screen. “Huh. Didn’t you do the same thing this morning?”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a little kid.”

Now his brother’s eyes flicked up. “I’m sorry, was that a ma-ture adult punching the front door?”

Gabriel took a step forward, ready to let loose with something biting and acerbic, something that would start a fight to take the edge off this anger.

But then he realized he might just might be able to work this out.

He dropped into the chair across from his brother. “Would you let me borrow the truck?”

Michael laughed, but not like it was really funny. “The last time you ‘borrowed’ the truck, I got a call from the cops at three in the morning.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Gabriel paused. “Please.”

Michael was already looking back at the laptop. “I need the truck this afternoon. I was going to run to Home Depot.”

God, like he couldn’t do that later. “Come on, Michael.