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She kept thinking of the way Anthony had grabbed her ass

He certainly wasn’t the first of her brother’s friends to lay a hand on her She sed

At least Tyler’s apartment would er

"Your place is fine," she said "If the offer is still open"

"It is," he said He shut up and drove

Tyler’s apart Hell, it was nicer than her fa stretched everywhere Two bedroo-size bed, the other had two queens A huge kitchen sported granite countertops

Plush furniture sat everywhere and a huge flat-screen television hung on the wall It wasn’t ih comfortable clutter was scattered around that it looked lived in--but Tyler wasn’t a slob

"Wait," she said, taking a second look around "Is this your parents’ place?"

"Yes," he said "Sort of My grandmother used to live here, and they inherited it when she died They were going to fix it up to sell it, but then they told me I could live here if I did the work"

She looked around again "You did all this yourself?"

"Mostly I had a few friends help me Mom had the counters installed, but I tore down the old wallpaper and did all the painting Hung the new cabinets, too" He shrugged "It beats a dorht

"Do you live alone?"

"Yeah" He hesitated "My friend Seth was going to raduated, but" His voice trailed off

Seth Seth Ramsey Quinn knew all about him "But your friend tried to rape my friend and now he’s in a ton of trouble,"

she finished

Tyler frowned "He’s not really my friend any to holdSeth did?"

It was al she’d said to Nick She didn’t knohy she was even picking at this Maybe because she needed to pick at so before her brain exploded

A crack pipe In her bedroo into one of his dining room chairs "So why isn’t Seth your friend anymore?"

Tyler leaned on the back of a chair and looked at her "You know I don’t like the Merricks, yeah?"

"It’s co They aren’t supposed to exist They aren’t supposed to be here But that’s not--it’s different What Seth didI could never dothat"

"So it would have been okay if he’d shot her, but raping her is wrong"

Tyler just stared back at her

"What?" she said "I’ure out your bizarre morality You’re the one who lit h Becca up yourself?"

He didn’t even look ashaht, either "It’s not my morality," he said "I’m not a Guide Full Elementals are identified and put to death Period

Who cares if they get a little roughed up on the way?"

"You’re an Elemental," she said "Why are you allowed to live?"

His eyes hardened, and she realized she’d struck a nerve "Because I can’t accidentally destroy an entire town if I have a tee they can do I know you have"

"You aren’t the only person who lost someone," she said quietly "Their parents died in a fire, didn’t they?"

"Yeah, so did Seth’s"

She hadn’t heard that Quinn thought about the carnival fire that had killed seven other students Or the earthquake that had destroyed the bridge near school--and almost killed Becca Or the arson attacks that had destroyed half a dozen ho hers--and killed people in the community Whole families devastated because of a temper tantruht But a tiny part of her agreed with hih about Nick’s twin brother to know he had a cruel streak every inch as wide as Tyler’s

"Nick is my friend," she said quietly "I don’t care what he is"

"You should"

"I don’t He’s never hurt anyone"

"How do you know? Have you asked hiht of Nick in the woods behind his house, showing her what he could do Relax

It’s only wind

But then he’d told her about the accidental tornado on the soccer field The stor His abilities had let hiht up in that storm?

What else could Nick do by accident?

"I trust him" She hesitated "He warned me to stay away from you"

Tyler snorted "Wait, let me put on my surprised face You want to stay away from me? There’s the door"

Quinn didn’t move

Tyler’s eyes didn’t leave hers "Where was friendly ol’ Nick Merrick when your brother was sood use to protect you"

"He didn’t know," she whispered

"Why not? Too busy with another guy?"

She flinched It was just a little too close to the truth "Just because Nick didn’t know about my brother doesn’t mean he should be killed"

"If a lion escapes from the zoo, do you think they should let it run loose, or do you think they should shoot it before it hurts someone?"

"They can shoot a lion with a tranquilizer dart"

Tyler circled the table, leaning down over her His voice was intense, but his words were soft "Or that could piss it off so it causes e"

Her eyes flicked to his lips She had no idea why he was sex-ier while he was arguing, but there it was

"In fact," he said, "I have a theory"

"What’s that?" she said

"If a Guide coood Really good He’s going to have to figure out a way to take them all out at once"