Talbot shook his head and laughed. He rocked back on his heels. “Oh, come on, I’m just teasing you, kid. You’re so self-absorbed. I’d say it was cute, but you’d probably think I was hitting on you.”

“Nice,” I said sarcastically, but I couldn’t help thinking he was just trying to cover.

Talbot laughed again. “We don’t have to dance if you have a problem with that. How about I go get us a couple of drinks and we can wait for the SKs over at one of the tables?”

“I don’t drink. Well, I mean, I drink … like water and stuff. But you know, I don’t drink.” Could I seem any more lame this evening?

“Well, I don’t make it a habit to buy alcohol for minors.” Talbot put an emphasis on that last word, as if reminding me that I was at least three or four years younger than he was. “But I imagine a Coke wouldn’t bother your sensibilities.”

“Sounds good.”

Talbot shook his head and sauntered off toward the bar. I stood on the edge of the dance floor and watched as a couple at the bar moved aside so Talbot could order our drinks before them. He glanced back at me and winked. I blushed and turned away. I rubbed my arms, trying to warm the goose bumps that prickled up on my skin even though it was hot and sticky in the club.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up, surprised that Talbot had returned with our drinks so fast, but the shiver that had caused my goose bumps transformed into a full-on shudder when I saw who stood right next to me.

“So you’ve finally decided to see what it’s like to party with a real man,” he said, and tried to wrench me back onto the dance floor.

“Let go, Pete.” I yanked my hand out of his grasp. It folded into a tight fist on instinct. Power coursed through my veins. About five different aikido moves that could make him cry like a baby flashed through my mind. He’d deserve it, too, for getting Daniel in trouble with the police. “Get lost before you’re sorry.”

“I haven’t forgotten that you like it rough.” Pete gave me a smile that was even smarmier than his ugly goatee. I wanted to claw both of them right off his stupid face. My fingernails bit into the palm of my hand, I was trying so hard not to lash out at him. I could probably take his face off if I wanted to.

Then do it, a voice snarled in my mind. Teach him never to mess with you again. I shook my head. Sometimes, lately, my thoughts didn’t even sound like me. I backed away from Pete.

My powers tingled under my skin. My muscles tensed, ready to strike. I had to get away from Pete before I actually hurt him. Pete stormed after me. He snarled something, but I concentrated so hard on not lashing out at him that I don’t even know what it was. I turned and was about to run when I smacked into Talbot. He jumped back and one of the Cokes in his hands spilled down the front of his white flannel shirt.

“Whoa, what’s wrong, Grace?” He tried to wipe at the wet spot on his shirt without spilling his other drink.

I glanced back at Pete. He’d seen Talbot and had retreated a few feet, but the tension in my muscles didn’t release. I still wanted to hurt him. “I’m sorry, Talbot. I need to get out of here.” I headed toward the exit.

Talbot ditched the drinks on a table and came after me. “Don’t leave, please!” He grabbed my hand as I started up the stairs, and whipped me around toward him. His face creased with concern, but then his eyes narrowed with anger. “That guy who was following you, did he hurt you?”

“Not tonight,” I said. “But he has before. We kind of have a bad history.”

Talbot’s hand shook as he grasped my wrist. “I can go back there and talk to him. Make sure he never bothers you again.”

“No. Don’t. Pete isn’t the kind of guy who will listen.”

“Then we can make him listen. You know we can.”

“Please, don’t. Pete isn’t worth it. That’s why I need to leave.”

Talbot still shook with anger. I didn’t want him to go back and try to start anything with Pete. I slipped my free hand into his and gave it a light squeeze. “Walk me out, okay? I need to go home before it gets too late.”

“Stay,” he said in a low voice.

“I have a midterm test tomorrow, and you can probably stake out the Shadow Kings better without me. If Pete and his friends try to make a scene because I’m here, they might ruin any chance of us being able to follow the SKs. You can follow them tonight, and then maybe we can figure out what to do with whatever information you get tomorrow.”

Talbot sighed. “Fine.”

I let him hold my hand, his fingers intertwined with mine, until we got to my car. I pulled my hand out of his and folded my arms in front of my chest. He opened my door for me.

“We’re friends, right?” I asked.

“Yes. Of course.”

“Good.” I gave Talbot a small smile and climbed into the driver’s seat of the Corolla. I didn’t want to lose Talbot from my life—he’d already helped me so much, changed me—but I also didn’t want him thinking there was something between us that couldn’t exist. “I like it that way.”

LATER

I was worrying what to do about Talbot, and simultaneously hoping he wouldn’t get himself into trouble with the Shadow Kings, when the Corolla sputtered and almost died at the light at Markham and Vine. If I’d been paying attention at all to what I had been doing before now, I never would have come this way—especially this late. Markham was definitely the last place I wanted to be alone at any time of the night. I checked my door locks and prayed that I could get the car all the way home. Sure, I could run back to Rose Crest if I needed to, but how would I ever explain how the car got all the way out to the city without my parents knowing I’d snuck off when I was supposedly in bed?

I definitely needed to have Daniel look at the engine before I took the car on another late-night joyride.

Crap. Daniel.

He was supposed to call me tonight, and I’d left my phone in the car. I felt like a jerk for giving him such a hard time for standing me up—and now he probably thought I was avoiding his calls.

The light turned green, and I cautiously eased my sputtering car into the intersection. I turned right and got as far away from Markham Street as I could before I pulled my cell out of the cup holder between the two front seats. I checked the screen.