I gasped when I felt the sting of my skin breaking beneath the sharp edge of Bo’s tooth. Liquid heat gushed through my body, pooling in that part of me that ached the most, the part that throbbed for Bo, for his touch.

Bo’s hand shot up and his fingers wound around my wrist, pulling my finger from his mouth.

“You’re playing with fire,” he growled.

“I know,” I whispered breathlessly.

Gently, Bo released me and set me away from him.

“You’d better go.”

The air around me felt suddenly colder than ever without the heat of Bo’s body so close. I felt bereft, in several ways at once. Knowing they were finite, it was harder than ever to see moments like these come to an end, especially an unsatisfying end.

A shiver passed through me, as if that feeling of loss was a precursor to the cold emptiness I’d feel when Bo moved on to an eternity with someone else.

“Ok,” I said, trying not to be too obvious about my disappointment.

I turned to make my way back through the dark back stage area. I’d only walked a couple feet when I turned back to address Bo.

“Do you—”

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The question died on my lips. He was already gone. I could feel it.

********

As he’d promised, I was just pulling away from the curb at Savannah’s when Bo appeared at the edge of my headlight beams. He was still in his Dracula get up, the irony of which made me smile. He’d shed his mask of humanity and dressed as himself to go to a costume party. I drove forward a few feet and stopped. With head-spinning speed, Bo was seated in the passenger side, grinning at me.

“Let’s go.”

I just shook my head. Nothing he did should surprise me anymore.

Several minutes later, I pulled in my driveway and cut the engine.

“You’re coming in, aren’t you?”

Bo looked at me skeptically.

“I don’t mean, like, where my parents can see you. I just meant you’re not leaving right now, are you?”

“Not if you want me to stay.”

“I want you to stay,” I assured him. “Give me a few minutes to get to my room and open the window, ok?”

“I’ll be waiting.”

The brightness from the dusk-to-dawn light at the corner of the house shone into the car, illuminating one side of Bo’s handsome face. It highlighted the sharp angles and threw the other half into deep shadow. With my fingers on the door handle, I paused, taking in his beauty, his masculine perfection. I wanted to memorize the way he looked at that exact moment, to let the image sear itself on my brain so that I’d never forget how gorgeous he was and that, for a while, he was all mine.

When his brow wrinkled in confusion, I gave him a shaky smile and slipped quietly out of the car. I didn’t need him to start asking questions.

I opened the front door as quietly as I could, hoping to get past Mom and Dad unnoticed, just in case they weren’t asleep. Only that didn’t happen.

“Ridley, is that you?”

Dad.

“Yeah, Dad. I’m home,” I said, veering toward the living room to poke my head in.

“How’d it go?”

“Just fine,” I said, leaving out…everything.

“You sure about that?” Dad asked, getting up off the couch and walking over to stand in front of me. He stopped and crossed his arms over his chest, a very intimidating stance.

“Yeah, why?”

“One of your teachers called here tonight to make sure that you got home alright.”

“What? Why?”

“Apparently there was some commotion at the dance, a couple of kids got attacked. Is that right?”

I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Yes, but it’s not what you think.”

“Then why did you tell me everything was fine, young lady?”

“Because I didn’t want to worry you over something like that until the police had a chance to figure out what happened.”

“The police were there?”

“Well, yeah. Mr. Hall called them and, when they came, they wanted to get some information from all the students.”

“What happened? Exactly.”

“A girl, Bailey Adams, showed up saying that another girl at our school attacked her boyfriend and dragged him off. They’re thinking that either she made it up or someone played a prank on her. It wasn’t a big deal, Dad.”

“Anything that involves the police is a big deal. And for one of your teachers to call here to check on you, that’s an even bigger deal. Obviously she thought you might be in danger.” Dad rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “I swear, Ridley, what am I going to do with you? You have to be more careful.”

“I was, Dad. We weren’t in any danger or they wouldn’t have let us leave.”

“Then why did Ms. Bowman call here?”

“Ms. Bowman?”

“Yes, your, um, I forgot what subject she said she taught.”

“Are you sure her name was Bowman?”

I didn’t have a teacher by that name. In fact, I couldn’t think of any teacher at the school with the last name of Bowman.

“Yes, Ridley. Heather Bowman.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. Heather Bowman? I knew of only one Heather, and that was the Heather. And the only Bowman that I knew was Bo.

“Oh, yeah, Ms. Bowman,” I said as casually as I could muster. “What exactly did she say?”

“Just that she was calling to check on you. She wanted to make sure you were at home, out of harm’s way.”

Was that some sort of message? Or had she been trying to find out where I was?

“Ok, well, I’m tired. I’m going to bed,” I announced, throwing in a fake yawn for good measure. I was so wired at that very moment that the only thing that would’ve induced sleep was either a horse tranquilizer or a taser.

“Ridley, please be more careful,” Dad pleaded, his voice dropping low so that only I could hear him. “I don’t think your mother could survive it if something happened to you, too.”

I had to agree with him. She probably couldn’t. Of course, she was doing a pretty good job of numbing herself up against life, so it was possible that we were both dead wrong.

“I know, Dad. I promise to be more careful.”

That was the best tack to take with them: submissive agreement. Don’t rock the boat, especially a boat as unstable as ours.

I held Dad’s gaze, my most genuine expression in place, until I saw that I’d convinced him of my sincerity.




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