“I never thought they’d really do it.”
He gave a humorless laugh. “Of course not.”
She fell silent for a while, and all he heard was her breath whispering along his skin. Too much had happened in a short span of time. Part of him wanted to push her away again, but a bigger part wanted to pull her closer and beg her to say she was on his side, that she’d had no part in this.
Finally, he couldn’t take the silence anymore, and he needed a destination. He couldn’t go home, not with her in the truck, and he sure as hell wasn’t driving to her house. “Where am I driving?”
“Go to the quarry.”
His head had cleared enough for him to look away from the road. “The quarry?”
“There’s lots of exposed rock. That’ll help you, right?”
“Yeah, but there will be other people there.” Given this heat, probably half the senior class would have snuck in to go swimming.
“Don’t worry. I know a hidden path down to the water. We can stay out of sight.”
“Why are you helping me?”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice was soft. “For years, I’ve been hearing how dangerous you are. How we shouldn’t have made this deal, because you’re out of control, that you’re mean, that you’ll hurt us if we get close to you.”
Michael snorted. “I’ve been hearing the same thing.”
“But you’re not! All week, you’ve been nothing but nice—”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
“—when I keep hearing my father talk about how they should just take care of the problem themselves. And then Tyler does this ... this horrible thing, when you didn’t even provoke it. I don’t think you’re dangerous at all.”
Michael didn’t say anything. They came to the turnoff for the one-lane road that ran behind the quarry, and he hit the turn signal.
“Even tonight,” she said. “You didn’t kill them, and I know you could have. On Friday, you could have hurt me, and you didn’t. I’ve heard the way you talk about your brothers. I know you care about your family. I told you already—I’m sick of living with all this hate. But I’ve been blaming you, when I should have been blaming them.”
He pulled the truck onto the gravel shoulder when there was space and killed the engine.
Suddenly, the car was only full of the sound of their breathing.
“Please,” she said. “Say something.”
He looked over at her. “I wanted to kill them.”
Her breath hitched, but he wasn’t done.
“All of them,” he said. “Including your brother.”
“But you didn’t.”
He held her eyes. “If he’d kept up with that lighter, I might have.”
She swallowed, but nodded.
She looked so tiny in the front seat of his father’s work truck. Michael couldn’t believe she’d faced down her brother and his friends with a putter. “Are you still afraid of me?”
She shook her head.
“Good.” And he leaned over and kissed her.
CHAPTER 7
Emily sat with Michael near the water’s edge, at the far side of the quarry, hidden among the clumps of trees. He’d been right: Despite the creeping darkness, a dozen kids were swimming at the other side, where the cliffs weren’t as steep and the depths were free of debris.
Here, though, the trees were silent and the water still, and it was easy to pretend the mess they’d left had never happened.
Especially with Michael’s fingers wound through hers, the taste of him still on her lips.
“Are you still hurting?” she said.
“I’m all right.” He turned to look at her, and the fading sunlight caught his eyes. “I was worried they’d follow us.”
Emily shook her head. “I don’t think so. I slashed Tyler’s tires.”
Michael’s eyes widened, and then he laughed. “You’re definitely not predictable.” A pause. “In a lot of ways.”“It took me a minute, or I’d have been back sooner.” She reached up to touch his chin, where the skin was darker and a bit blistered. “I’m sorry Tyler did this.”
He caught her hand and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. “He’s definitely predictable.”
She reveled in the feel of his breath against her skin. Every time he touched her, his gentleness took her by surprise.
“Will you tell me what really happened last week?” she asked. “With Tyler?”
Michael looked back out at the water. “It’s not important.”
“It is to me.”
He sighed. “The twins were cutting through the woods to walk home. Tyler and Seth roughed them up.”
She frowned. “So you went after Tyler to get back at him?”
“I never went after Tyler.” His sudden fury was palpable. “Believe me, I’d leave you all alone if—” He stopped short. “Forget it.”
“Tell me.”
“In the woods, Nick got away. He ran all the way home and got me. By the time we made it back to them, they’d ganged up on Gabriel. Tyler and Seth ran when I got there.”
Emily frowned. “But Tyler had a black eye—”
“Yeah. You know who gave it to him? Gabriel.” He shook his head. “Of course he’d say it was me. Can’t be running around telling people he got decked by a twelve-year-old.”
She wasn’t surprised to hear her brother was a liar and a bully. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t start this fight, Emily.” He looked down at their joined hands. “Even this ... it won’t work.”
But he didn’t let go.
“We could try,” she whispered.
He stared back at her. “Emily ...”
“We could stand up to them. I could tell the others about you, that you’re not—”
“Wait. Shhh.” He put a hand to her lips, his attention focused up the hill.
She whispered around his hand. “What?”
His eyes snapped back to hers. “They did follow us. They must have had another car. Is there a different way back up the hill?”
Then she heard branches breaking, boys calling to each other in the darkness. Fear punched her in the stomach, hard.
Michael squeezed her hand. “Come on. Is there another way?”
She shook her head quickly. “No—we beat down this path last summer.”
“We know you’re down there!” Tyler’s voice. “We saw the truck.”
She could almost feel his presence through the air—he was close.
“Through the water,” said Michael. “We can swim across the quarry.”
“You go,” she said. “I’ll stall them—”
He swore. “You are out of your mind. I’m not leaving you to face them.” Then, before she could answer, he was dragging her down the hill, to the edge of the rocks, until the water was glittering below them.
“So we run?” she said.
“Yes. For now.” He glanced back at the darkened woods. “The underbrush will slow them down.”
“When we get to the other side—” she started.
“We’ll figure it out.”
“Together,” she said.
He nodded. “Together.”
Then he took her hand, and they jumped into the water below.