“Yeah, well” Michael rolled his eyes “I already tried that with Chris and Becca, and look where it got me.”

Gabriel skipped dinner. Things were all right with Michael for now but he didn’t feel like putting on the same show for Chris and Nick, especially since Quinn and Becca were here. He holed up in his room again, iPod blaring in his ears.

He rolled his lighter across his knuckles, striking flame in time with the beat of the song.

His cell phone was in his other hand. Silent.

Not that he wasn’t checking it every fifteen seconds.

Surrounded by people, and he still felt so alone.

Then his phone chimed. Gabriel was so startled that he dropped the lit lighter in the middle of his chest.

Out, he thought.

The fire went out.

Nice. His control was getting better.

He checked the phone. Hunter.

Four alarm fire at Tanyard Springs. U in?

Gabriel slid his fingers across the keys to respond, then froze.

As long as you can stay out of trouble . . .

But a four-alarm fire would be big. And Tanyard Springs was a townhome community. This could be more than one family.

He paused his iPod and slipped out of bed to crack the door.

His brothers were in the kitchen, cleaning up and goofing off from the sound of it. The rain had long since stopped. He could sneak out and be gone before they noticed.

But things weren’t terrible right now. Spending the day with Michael had actually been nice, in a bizarre way. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d played ball with his older brother.

Even the trip to Home Depot had been peaceful.

If he snuck out, it could unravel everything.

But a four-alarm fire. There would be a lot of firemen. It would be easy to stay hidden.

Then again, Michael would know. Hell, he’d probably check the news first thing tomorrow morning. And Michael seemed to be offering him some . . . trust.

Gabriel considered going downstairs, joining them. It might be awkward at first, but maybe it would be okay.

Then he caught Nick’s voice. “So how was your afternoon of babysitting?”

Gabriel started to ease the door closed, sure his twin was talking to Quinn or Becca but Michael responded. “Fine. We ran to Home Depot to pick up supplies for that gazebo job tomorrow.”

Gabriel jerked back.

Babysitting. Babysitting.

Michael wasn’t being nice. He wasn’t being brotherly. He was sitting around, making sure Gabriel didn’t go out and start any fires.

No wonder he’d been in the kitchen this afternoon, working on paperwork. No wonder he’d practically dragged Gabriel to Home Depot. And what was he going to do, sit around all weekend?

Gabriel almost put his fist through the wall. Babysitting!

His phone chimed again.

You there?

Fury almost made it impossible to type. But he managed.

Yeah. I’m in.

CHAPTER 29

Monday morning, Layne dug the currycomb into her horse’s coat, rubbing in circular motions until her biceps ached.

Brisk morning air nipped at her cheeks, but she didn’t care.

She’d already done this twice and could see the shine on her horse’s coat under the dust and hair she was bringing up. But she’d do it a fourth time, and a fifth, too, if she could get away with it.

Anything to stay out of the house until her father left for work. Even if she had to wear this getup to school.

Even if she had to skip school.

Saturday night, the house had felt like a war zone. At first, they’d gone to different rooms, doors closed, only silence beyond. She’d finally crept out at seven to make dinner, hoping baked chicken and mashed potatoes her father’s favorite would be enough to pull him out of his study.

But she’d knocked, and he’d answered, and he’d told her to feed Simon and go to bed.

Then he’d come back out, for one reason only: to confiscate her cell phone.

Sunday was worse, only because her father showed his face.

Every word was clipped, every motion sharp. Layne expected him to yell, to ground her, to issue restrictions. But he didn’t mention Gabriel. He barely spoke to Simon not like there was any change there.

She’d been relieved when a client called with an emergency, and her father had to leave.

But the tension in the house had made her completely forget the events of Friday night. Since she didn’t have her backpack, she turned on the computer and loaded her e-mail, hoping to email a classmate to get the weekend assignment for Honors English.

And then she’d been shocked by the onslaught.

At first, she thought her account had been hacked. She had over fifty e-mails.

Then she’d started recognizing the names of fellow students.

Taylor. Heather. A few others, all from that crowd.

Her throat still felt tight, thinking about it. She’d clicked on one.

It was a picture of her, pinned on that chaise lounge, but the photo had been doctored. Now it looked like she was completely naked.

Bad enough. But the next one was from Ryan Stacey. The subject line said, Bring back memories?

She expected another dirty picture, but it was a link to a newspaper article about a fire Saturday night, at some town house community across town. Four homes, destroyed. Almost everyone had gotten out without injuries, but a young woman had been trapped and badly burned before she was rescued.

There was a picture.

Layne clicked for the next e-mail, before her brain could register the damage.

The next e-mail had obviously been passed around before coming to her account, because she had to scroll through nu-merous LOLs before getting to another photo of herself on the chaise lounge. But she was on fire, her face a Photoshopped image of a charred dog’s head.