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I nodded and ran h my hair That didn&039;t cut it I hunted around in Marion&039;s glove coles inritty condition, but Marion had also left behind so breath I was starting to feel caffeine deprived, but just about the tin appeared in the distance: loves The billboard text underneath Said GAS-FOOD-BATHROOMS

"Miracles provided," David said I froze for a second, then remembered to breathe Surely he didn&039;t know that was Bad Bob&039;s tag line Surely

At exactly 9 ph to hold at least thirty or forty long-haul rigs; it was a little , it seeht rain, and we hurried inside to a warm, well-lit vestibule On one side was a convenience store, on the other, a traditional sit-down diner; straight ahead was the sign for bathrooms I left David to his own amusements and headed for the relief station On the way, I ran across a glea I&039;d forgotten to do

Star I&039;d

I picked up the handset and thought about it for a while, hung up, then finally co ht or to desperately alone I wanted to count on David, but I was such a danger to hi with soot desperateI had to be onat a table in the diner, conte coffee in front of hiestured at the waitress for the same and picked up my own copy of the house specials

"Any ideas?" I asked

I got a quick flash of copper eyes over the top of the menu "A few," he said It sounded neutral, but his eyes weren&039;t They were verging on Djinn again, not enough hue to matter "You need to end this Now Before it&039;s too late"

"Get stuffed" I studied choices The waitress- who, ao with her pink uniform-delivered my coffee, and I made an instant decision "I know it&039;s weird, but I want breakfast Got any blueberry ed "What else?"

"Pancakes And bacon"

Pink hair nodded "For you, handsoed "The saone in a flash of a cotton-candy skirt

Which left us looking at each other in uncomfortable silence

"You have to stop," David said at last "You&039;re running out of money You have no friends, no family You don&039;t even know if Leill help you"

"I&039;ve got you," I pointed out

"Do you?" A flash of hot-metal temper in his eyes "Not unless you say the words"

There was no way to answer that, and I didn&039;t try I looked down at my hands, adjusted the silverware into neat rows, and finally sipped coffee

"You&039;re a fool," he finally said, and sat back "Marion&039;s hunters will be coht the you over It&039;sinto your thoughts, your actions-that&039;s why you won&039;t take what I&039; It isn&039;t because you care about me It&039;s because the Demon won&039;t allow it"

He touched a nerve I didn&039;t think was raw "Shut up," I snapped "Enough We&039;re going on to Oklahoot friends there Besides, Leill knohat to do"

He leaned across the table and fixed me with those eerie, inhuuess Marion&039;s people are going to get a big surprise when they try to give me a power-ectomy"

He sat back as the waitress slid plates of food between us We ate in silence, avoiding each other&039;s gazes like old married folks

When ere finished, there was still a basket of blueberry ed them up Not like there was a chance in hell I&039;d live to starve to death, but still Reflex

We got back in the Land Rover and drove into the surreal yello of Oklahoets how they lose their virginity I certainly can&039;t forget And, of course, it involved a store Everybody likes rain, to a point, but when you&039;re trudging around ca the Red Cross would put on a poster, it loses its charin Yes, really, eighteen I wasn&039;t savingnoble like that; the si me into the backseat were losers, and I had e was different Here I was at this great school, with all its rich history and good-looking young ram that not only didn&039;t punish me for my weirdo status, it valued y shirts and shapeless sweatpants, indulging in clingy, flirty clothes my mother wouldn&039;t approve of

That was how it happened: clingy, flirty shirt, tight blue jeans, and a storust of wind, dropped ainst the wall to catchso dry and co all day

"It&039;s about tiot to map the pressure streams and have all this done for Yorenson by noon toot to that part of the sentence, he sawI wiped water out ofat y, flirty shirt? The rain had turned it about as transparent as fishnet

I wasn&039;t wearing a bra And my nipples were as hard as thumbtacks from the cold wind

I crossed my arms over my chest and tried not to look too much like the fool I felt My lab partner- somebody I&039;d had a crush on fro eyes on him-didn&039;t care how much of one he looked, apparently, because he just blinked and kept staring

"You were saying?" I asked

He clearly drew a blank

I sighed "Yes, I&039;irl Don&039;t tell race to blush, and he did it well-one of those neck-to-hairline flushes that makes some men look all the more attractive He was one of them Dark hair, bedroom eyes Not that I cared, of course Much

"Here," he said, and stood up to take off his jacket He started to hand it over, then hesitated "Maybe you should, um, turn around first"

When I did, he draped the jacket over h standards of modesty The jacket arm dark leather, and it smelled like aftershave andthe gentleman the jacket offer implied I was frankly a little disappointed

"Guess we&039;d better get to work," I said

"Not yet You&039;re freezing"

I was shaking, all right, but it was half hormones; the lab was empty except for the two of us, and we had it scheduled for the entire afternoon Rain lashed the s, and thunder ru off, he warrateful, but we both kneas a violation of the rules No adjusting of ten notes

"I&039;m okay," I said, and took , so I bent over and squeezed as htened up, the jacket gaped open, and I saw his eyes dive to get another look

We pretended to work for a while-okay, maybe we even did work for a while-and actually caht answers for the day and recorded thenment and had at least an hour left The storled all over, begging me to come out and play I was almost dry now, but still wore his jacket, and he hadn&039;t asked for it back