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Then Gabriel was in the foyer and Nick couldn’t breathe

Gabriel took one look at the between them to head upstairs He smacked Hunter on the back of the head "Leave h freaks pining after hi between his hands

Hunter didn’t move until Gabriel disappeared into the bathrooet it Why you don’t want to tell hi to spill coffee everywhere "Really? You sure? He’s so subtle "

"He doesn’t understand--"

"No, but I do He thinks gy guys are creepy freaks Got it"

Nick didn’t want to stay here He was ale

He couldn’t i under the sao

Hunter took a breath "He doesn’t think you are a creepy freak, Nick I think you should give him a chance"

"Fuck him He doesn’t deserve a chance"

"Wow" Hunter pushed the hair back froht Your secret, your call" He stood

"Hey," Nick said, losing soe "Thanks It--it ainst the bannister "You’re wrong, by the way"

"I’?"

"I’m not his best friend, Nick You are"

CHAPTER 20

Quinn studied herself in Tyler’s bathroolass, but she could e of the torapped around her body A shadowed bruise re with her headache

She was glad for the lingering bruise She didn’t want to forget herthat trophy

Or the things she’d said

Whore You ruin everything

The worst part was, Quinn believed her uy as perfectly content to sleep with her and shell out the bucks for a movie or a dinner, but when she needed a friend? Yeah, busy Or the dance team at school, who’d kicked her to the curb for a bad attitude Well, who could blairls Attitude was just a way to endure it all

Maybe that was her fault, after all Maybe she had ruined it

But then Nick And Becca No one wanted her No one needed her Even when she was needed--like for Adaether to shoith any reg-ularity Clearly her fault

Besides, it wasn’t like Ada when she’d texted him earlier He’d almost brushed her off like he’d expected her to space out Suddenly furious, Quinn picked up her phone to read the text again

No worries, he’d said Letnegativity into that He didn’t knoas going on Maybe she should have texted so like, Sorry My room was turned into a crack den Catch you tomorrow maybe?

Yeah, and then ould have happened? He probably wouldn’t have believed her

Quinn remembered this one tio, the first week of fresh inconsequential--

as usual--and her rabbed a steak knife fro it at her

Quinn had run to Becca’s, using the key her best friend’sin a kitchen chair until Becca ca overdra with skepticism "Come on, Quinn"

And Quinn had been worried she’d alienate the only friend she had, so she’d recanted her story

Becca never brought it up again

Admittedly, it was rarely that bad back in those days Herto Quinn’s school events on occasion,with other parents like she didn’t come hoht

Then their lives had started a doard spiral

Or continued down it, depending on your perspective

A knock sounded on the bathroom door, and Quinn jumped

Tyler spoke froirl Takes a while" But Quinn hurriedly started pulling her hair into a messy knot at the back of her head She untied the torapped around her body and threw it over the shower rod

"I’lanced at her folded clothes waiting by the sink: the old dance sweats she usually slept in, plus a flimsy T-shirt that would leave a few inches of lanced at her nad body in the les Graceful angles, but angles nonetheless: a hip bone here, a sharp edge of shoulder there, a jawline practically cut fro lines and curves

She squeezed her eyes shut She had a neorry: keeping Tyler interested so she had a place to sleep

He’d been quiet in the truck, but it was an anxious sort of quiet A nervous tension had clung to the vehicle, worrying her that any et out

"You’re like them," she’d whispered finally, terrified that he’d snap and demand that she keep his secret

"Like them?" he’d said flatly

She’d had to lick her lips "A full Elemental"

But he hadn’t snapped He’d just nodded