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Nick ignored that and cast his senses wide

Nothing

He dragged James inside anyway The kid proos in the rinned up at Nick "Can we build a whole city?"

So they built a whole city

His phone buzzed around eight, just when he was telling James that yes, his mother did want him to brush his teeth Nick slid the phone out of his pocket with his heart in his throat, hoping for a e from Adam

He hadn’t heard from him all day

Not Adam Michael

Hannah’s folks are going to come pick up James so he can sleep in his own bed

And that was it Typical

Nick texted back

Hoas dinner??

Terrifying

A pause, then another e appeared

Good call on the haircut

Nick sh a ers across the keys "In aout for a while Don’t wait up

When Hannah’s parents showed up, they didn’t look like they wanted to kill anyone, so Nick figured the dinner had gone pretty well Hannah’s mother was a petite blond woive Nick sixty dollars for babysitting He turned it down

The fireNick that this guy had interrogated his twin brother a feeeks ago

But Hannah’s mother stepped between them to kiss him on the cheek and say thank you The fire

Then Nick had the house to himself

He couldn’t rerabbed a can of soda froed his physics textbook out of his backpack

As soon as he looked at the page, he realized he didn’t want to be doing this

His cell phone rang

Nick looked at the display and smiled He pushed the button to answer "You are my hero"

"I like the sound of that" Adam’s voice was rich and warm in his ear, and Nick realized this was the first ti

"Hoas dance?"

"Could’ve been better" Adahed, and his voice was tired "Quinn didn’t show up"

Nick ran a hand down his face, feeling his emotions vacillate betorry and exasperation "Man, I’m sorry"

"She texted ht

man"

Nick could hear the s to do?"

"Would you think less of me if I said I had a backup routine?"

"I wouldn’t think less of you if you had a backup partner"

"Good I’ve got one of those, too"

Nick blinked "Really?"

"Nothing official, but I could get one of the girls from the studio to dance with y and passionate, and she fit the part" He sighed

"Enough about dance How’s your night?"

"The height of aweso in an empty house with my physics textbook"

"Want to come over?"

Nick’s heart bounced around in his chest "Can’t I don’t have the car"

"How long are you alone?"

"I don’t know Three hours, maybe?"

Adam hesitated "Want so through Nick’s thoughts He told his thoughts to get real "God, I wish"

"How far do you live frohtened Adam could not come here Could not "I have no idea"

"How far do you live frohway?"

Nick wet his lips and hesitated He should be telling Adam that there was no way this could work But when he opened his , "Three blocks We’re on Chautauga Just south of the coht?"

Of course Adam would know the area "Ahyeah"

"I can be there in fifteen minutes Twenty, tops" Adaain Want some company?"

Quinn sat in Tyler’s truck and stared at her apart Her mom’s car was in the lot So was Jake’s That didn’t mean much other than that their cars hadn’t been towed If her brother had been arrested, his car could still be here, right?

What about her uidance office all day, expecting to find a social worker sitting in the waiting roo She was prepared for hushed voices to say things like, "We didn’t realize how bad things had gotten We have a few options, but we’re going to take care of you"

But that call never ca her way toward the end of the day, hating the thought of going hoht, but Tyler texted to ask if she wanted to be his rooftop co