Her lips thinned. “I guess I feel like he should be someone really special in order for you to ditch me last night like you did.”

And there it was. Her shiny, happy outlook today was just an act. There was something else about her, though. Something deeper. She seemed different. “I knew you were upset about that. But you were acting all ‘I’m so happy’ this morning.”

“I am happy.” She pulled her car keys out of her purse. I hoped that meant this conversation was coming to an end. “I want you to tell me more about Bishop.”

“He’s just a guy.” Also, a gorgeous angel who made my heart pound like nobody else, the brother of a demon, and part-time crazy. Not necessarily in that order.

“Just a guy,” she repeated like she didn’t believe me. Then again, she knew me as well as I knew her. I was certain she sensed something was seriously off with me, too.

“What’s the problem?” I asked. “Like, seriously, what’s the problem? Is it just the ditching thing? I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. You don’t know what it was like, though. After I confronted Stephen—”

“You weren’t the only one to confront Stephen last night.”

My mouth dropped open. “Excuse me?”

“I was mad at him, too, you know. I don’t like it when people mess with my friends and hurt their feelings. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind.”

A shiver went down my spine and it had nothing to do with the temperature. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“I knew you wouldn’t like it, but I had to. After you left the club, I stuck around until he came downstairs. Then I had a talk with him.”

I bit my tongue so hard it nearly drew blood as the kid who owned the car parked right next to Carly’s got in and backed out of the space. My heart was now hammering in my chest, so loud it made it difficult to think.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” I said, feeling dizzy. “You don’t know what— Oh, my God, Carly. You don’t know how bad of an idea that was! When he kissed me—”

“He kissed me, too.”

I literally stopped breathing. I just stared at her with horror, feeling the blood drain from my face. “Oh, Carly…no, please don’t tell me that. You don’t know what it means. He’s not just some good-looking guy. When he kisses you, it could mean that—”

“It means that I’m like him now,” she said calmly. “Just like you are. I know, he told me everything. Well, first I kind of yelled at him for using you and then walking away, but after he kissed me everything started making a whole lot more sense. Well, after I woke up. I passed out for a minute there, just like you did. He took off on me, too, but he came back.” She frowned. “You look like you’re going to puke.”

That was exactly what I might be doing, if I wasn’t so busy trying not to hyperventilate. This couldn’t be happening. I was having a nightmare and I was going to wake up any minute. “No, no, please, Carly—tell me you’re just messing with me right now.”

She frowned at me. “It’s okay, Sam. Everything’s okay. Stephen explained to me how you’re having a hard time with this—that you can’t see how great it is. But it is great. We’re improved now, can’t you feel it?” She put her hands to her waist. “I actually feel lighter. Like, at least five pounds. I wonder how much a soul weighs?”

“How can you say it like it’s no big deal?” I needed to sit down. Either that or I was going to drop. I found my way to the curb and slumped down heavily on it. All the stress I’d been fighting all day came back in full force. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going back there tonight and I’m going to kill him for doing this to you!”

She sat down next to me and put an arm around me. “No, you’re not. What you’re going to do is take a few deep breaths. It’s okay, Sam. Really.”

I stared at her with horror. “This is not okay! And you being all blasé about getting kissed by Stephen—and actually knowing what that means—it’s freaking me out even more!”

She grabbed hold of my hand and squeezed it. “Look, I know this Bishop guy has been filling your head with lies. Stephen wants what’s best for you, Sam. He was worried when you took off last night and he knows he didn’t handle things the right way. Just relax. Everything’s going to be fine.”

No, this was not fine in any way, shape or form. Stephen kissed Carly. He knew she was my best friend and he’d turned her into a gray as some sort of revenge against me for running off with Bishop and leaving him behind.

I tried to gather myself, to think rationally. At this point, I couldn’t fall apart. I’d wanted to protect Carly from finding out anything about this, but she’d stumbled on to the truth anyway. It was all my fault she’d been at the club last night in the first place, and then I’d left her alone and run off with Bishop!

But Bishop said he could restore my soul. If he could do that for me, then he could do it for Carly, too. I could fix this, it wasn’t too late. Carly was in control of herself and taking all this crazy information in stride. Now it was out in the open and we could deal with it.

“It’s going to be okay, Carly,” I finally said, squeezing her hand.

“Of course it is. So tell me…who is Bishop? Where did he come from? What does he want?”