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So of course when I backed up a few steps, I ht into Mike

"Hey, there you are!" His hair was pulled back into a ponytail, a black bandana tied around his head I could spast the Office, down the path to the cabins Eventually, I found what I thought was the path we had walked Zu out on, but it turned out to be nothingto bare skin Fine It would do There was no one around That was ht fro to pull it away froreens and spice and old, decaying things I pulled it over my head and threw it as hard and far as I could, and still--still--I couldn’t shake the smell It was everywhere: ht for the lake, or even the showers I should have tried to soak his venoht Cal through er, for sure, that I had been lied to, that I had fallen for it Disgust, for the way he had touchedelse, too An ache inside ofht in front of me, and I had never felt so alone

"Ruby?" His hair was pale silver in this light, curled and tangled in its usual way I couldn’t hide froota careful step towardto coax a wild ani out here? What’s going on?"

"Please just go," I begged "I need to be alone"

He kept coo away!"

"I’ on!" Liaot a better look at"Where were you this one all day, and now you’re out here like…this…did he do so I didn’t ask for"

Lia me space

"I don’t believe you for a second," he said, calet rid ofto have to try harder than that"

"I don’t want you here"

He shook his head "Doesn’tyou here alone You can take all the ti this out tonight Right now" Liam pulled his black sweater over his head and threw it toward ht it with one hand and pressed it to an to pace, his hands on his hips "Is it me? Is it that you can’t talk tothe hell out of me"

"Good" I balled up his sweater and threw it into the darkness as hard as I could

He blew out a shaky sigh, bracing a hand against the nearest tree "Good? What’s good about it?"

I hadn’t really understood what Clancy had been trying to tell ht then, when Liam looked up and his eyes met mine The trickle of blood inthe heels of ainst my forehead

"I can’t do this anymore," I cried "Why won’t you just leave me alone?"

"Because you would never leave h the underbrush as he took a few steps closer The air around rittedso close when he knew I couldn’t handle it When he knew I could hurt him

His hands came up to pull entle I shoved hiht into it Liaain, harder each time, because it was the only way I could tell hilossy memories I saw all of his brilliant dreams It wasn’t until I knocked his back into a tree that I realized I was crying Up this close, I saw a new cut under his left eye and the bruise forer out in front of hi over my hips "Ruby…"

I closed what little distance was left between us, one hand sliding through his soft hair, the other gathering the back of his shirt into ainst his, I felt so outside of hiray-bodied trees My heart thundered in my chest More, more, more--a steady beat His body relaxed underhih, I wanted to inhale hiers counting up s around mine to drawdangerously under me as his lips traveled to my cheek, to my jaw, to where my pulse throbbed in my neck He seemed so sure of himself, like he had already plotted out this course

I didn’t feel it happen, the slip Even if I had, I was so wrapped up in hio of his war my skin with a kind of reverence, but the instant his lips found h to rocket me out of the honey-sweet haze

The memory of Clancy’s face as he had leaned in to do exactly what Lia its way throughit play out glossy and burning like it was someone else’s memory and notit Lia it, too

Ho? That wasn’t possible, was it? Merow still, then pull back And I knew, I knew by the look on his face, that he had seen it