Secret

CHAPTER 9

Quinn had never sat on the roof of a strip mall before. She’d never really sat on the roof of any building before. But Tyler obviously had: a few nylon folding chairs sat by the edge of the roof, and there was even a little table between them.

She sprawled in one of the chairs and stretched her legs out in front of her. “So is this where the magic usually happens?”

Tyler cracked open a bottle of Mountain Dew and sprawled in the chair beside her. “The magic?”

“Is this where you bring girls? Promise to show them the world?”

He waved a hand at the trees, the suburban sprawl. “Oh, yeah. Check out the world of Arnold, Maryland.” He let out a low whistle. “You can almost see the waste disposal plant from here. Want to take your pants off yet?”

“It’s hard not to.”

“I don’t usually bring girls up here. I have an apartment for that.”

An apartment. For about two seconds, Quinn wondered how old he was, then decided she didn’t care. Nick had said he was younger than Michael, so he couldn’t be older than twenty-two. He definitely wasn’t in high school. “I feel so special.”

He stood and walked to the edge. The lights from below caught his features and made them glow. “It’s easier to keep an eye on things from up here.”

“What kind of vandals are you looking for?”

He came back to the chair. “Bored teenagers, mostly. It’s quiet up here, too. I can get a lot of studying done.”

Studying. College. Check.

“Two chairs,” she said.

“I’ve got a friend who works at the Sunglass place. Sometimes he brings a six-pack and we shoot the shit.” He paused. “You have a lot of questions about my rooftop habits.”

Quinn shrugged. “Just trying to figure out how to avoid you.”

He looked at her. “Yeah, you look like you’re trying really hard. Let’s cut the crap. What’s really up with you and Merrick?”

“He’s busy, that’s all. What do you care?”

“Maybe I don’t want to babysit his girlfriend.”

“Fuck you.” Quinn stood with enough force to make the chair scrape back a few inches.

Tyler caught her arm. “Stop. I’m messing with you.”

She turned fierce eyes his way. “No one needs to babysit me.”

“No kidding.” His voice softened, just a little, just enough. “Sit down. Eat your taquito. I don’t like them extra spicy.”

She sat in the chair and unwrapped the paper, taking a small bite from the end. It was like a heart attack rolled up in a tortilla and fried, but she was starving. “What’s really up with you and Merrick?”

His voice was bitter. “You already know.”

“No,” she said. “I don’t think I do.”

“I don’t want to talk about them.”

“Do you really want to kill them?”

“I don’t need to kill them. That’s what the Guides are for.”

“Would you do it, if you could?”

“I don’t really want to go to prison for doing someone else’s job.”

“Aren’t you a big bad Fire Elemental? Couldn’t you burn down their house or something?”

“No!” he snapped with sudden fury. “That wouldn’t make me any better than them. That’s the whole reason they’re supposed to be put to death. They are a danger. Don’t you get that?”

She ignored his sudden vehemence, keeping her voice level. “Do you really think they deserve to die, for what they are?”

He didn’t say anything for a long while, twisting the bottle of Mountain Dew in his hands, making the plastic crackle. He sat that way for so long that she didn’t think he was going to say anything.

Finally, he said, “You were right. When my sister died, she was with that douche bag. My friends and I were going after them. But I didn’t start that fucking rockslide. And even if Mike Merrick didn’t start it, he sure as hell didn’t stop it.” His voice tightened. “That rock hit her, and he didn’t even get her out of the water in time. He let her die, okay? So if someone wants to come to town and kill them, I’m sure as hell not going to get in their way. If that makes me a psychopath, fine. There’s no secret about how I feel.”

“No secret,” she replied. “I like that.”

He turned and looked at her, eyebrows raised.

Quinn shrugged. “My life is full of secrets. Sometimes I’m sick of keeping them.” She paused, wondering if she was stupid to be here with Tyler. He hated the Merricks, that much was obvious. It was probably a violation of her friendship with Nick that she was even sitting here.

But she could hear every ounce of pain in Tyler’s voice when he spoke about what had happened to his sister. Could she blame him for that? If someone contributed to the death of someone in her family, then wandered around town like they hadn’t done anything wrong, how would she have dealt with it?

Well, if someone did something to her older brother, she’d probably send them a thank-you note.

She thought of Tyler’s anger in the driveway, when he’d confronted Nick. Was some of that pain? Resentment? Tyler had been a dick, for sure. But then again, Nick had threatened to kill him.

Who was right? It didn’t feel like either of them was.

“I’m really sorry about your sister,” she said quietly.

Tyler looked up at the sky. “Me, too. I was a crap brother. I wish I could go back and fix it.”

“Do you—”

“Hey.” He looked over, and she could see emotion in his eyes. “Would it be okay if we talked about something else?”

“Yeah.” She paused. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “Stop. Something else. Anything. Talk about dance. I was serious, earlier. Why aren’t you trying for a scholarship?”

“You don’t really care.”

“I do, actually. When I was watching you, I was thinking—” He broke off.

Quinn straightened. “What were you thinking?”

His voice turned sheepish. “Nothing. Forget it.”

She could only imagine what he’d been thinking. “Now you definitely need to tell me. Was it that you didn’t realize a full grown hippo could do spins like that?”

His head snapped around. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I know I’m not built like a typical dancer.”

“What does that even mean? Are you another one of these girls who tries to live on carrots and hot water?”

She waved the taquito in his face. “No, but I probably should be.”

“You’re insane, baby girl.” He paused and rubbed at his jaw. “I was thinking that Nick Merrick is one lucky bastard.”

Quinn flushed, pleased.

At the same time, she felt a curl of anger. Sometimes she hated being Nick’s pretend girlfriend.

“Yeah,” Tyler continued, “I don’t know a whole lot about dance—just what I remember from Emily—but if anyone is going for a scholarship, you should be.”

Quinn swallowed. “There’s an application fee, and it’s extremely competitive, and I don’t—it’s just—”

“Afraid of competition?” His eyes were dark and shadowed, his voice rough. “You don’t strike me as the type.”

He did not sound sexy. He did not.

Yeah, she wasn’t convincing herself. “I’m not the type to have a spare hundred bucks lying around, either.”

Tyler winced. “Sorry.”

She shrugged and scowled out at the night. “My whole life is full of almosts. I almost made it on the dance team, until the bitch teacher wanted to get rid of me because of my attitude and my body type. I almost made it as a cheerleader, but they all called me Crisco and acted like I was white trash. I almost had a great—”

She cut herself off. She’d almost said, I almost had a great boyfriend, but then I caught Nick kissing another guy.

“Almost what?” said Tyler.

Quinn shook her head, surprised to feel tears hiding somewhere behind her eyes. “Nothing. What I want always seems just out of reach, you know?”

Tyler sighed. “Yeah,” he said. “Sometimes I know exactly what you mean.”