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The torches cracked and spit flame, fighting the wind.
“Yeah, I heard the deal was off.” Gabriel shoved Seth. Not hard, but enough that the other boy fell back half a step. “Works for me.”
Seth glared at him, but he didn’t react. “I’m not screwing with you, man. When Tyler gets here—”
“Yeah, yeah, you’ll cry to Mommy.” Gabriel shoved him again. Harder.
Every time Gabriel provoked him, that grip on her arm got a bit looser. Could she help this along? Becca did her best to make her voice nonchalant. “Aw. You’re afraid to fight him. That’s really ... sweet.”
Mistake. His grip tightened right up, and he glared down at her. “Shut up, you stupid—”
Chris stepped up and punched him square in the face.
Seth rocked back and almost fell. She almost went with him. Her knees hit the brick walkway.
Then her arm slid out of his hand, and she was free.
Seth recovered quickly, and she scrambled to get away from him. He was going after Chris, renewed fury in his face. He moved like a bull facing a flag, his shoulders down, his fists clenched.
Chris dodged one swing, and narrowly missed another.
“Damn it, Chris!” Gabriel had drawn back, away from Seth, moving closer to the grill. “Are you an idiot?”
Chris drove a fist into Seth’s midsection.
Seth recovered and clipped him on the jaw. It didn’t look hard, but Chris went down.
Then the grill seemed to burst, spraying flaming charcoal into the air, and for a terrifying moment, fire rained from the night sky. The wind caught the fiery debris and sent it spinning across the patio.
She was frozen by the surreal beauty of it, nightmarish fireflies that stung her skin and sizzled on the bricks. Fire was suddenly everywhere, more fire than the grill could have possibly produced. The torches grew, shooting sparks into the sky.
Bigger pieces of flaming debris started to fall. Clothing caught fire. Kids were screaming, running, bolting from the narrow area.
A hand grabbed hers and gave a fierce tug. “Run.”
CHAPTER 13
Becca dug her feet into the sand, scrambling after Chris, abandoning her sandals when they made it impossible to keep up. She’d had no sense of direction when he seized her hand, and it wasn’t until the glow from the fire drums hung in the air above them that she realized he hadn’t dragged her to the cars and the parking lot.
He’d dragged her to the water.
All the way to the water, too. He towed her past the fire drums until a frigid wave crept over her toes, and she squealed and pulled away from him.
“Wait,” Chris said, his voice low and rough. His eyes were focused forward, on the house.
She wanted to jerk her hand out of his, to run for the road. But then she spotted Tyler cresting the slight hill that led down to the beach, Seth hot on his heels.
She held her breath.
Chris pulled at her hand and she followed, moving more deeply into the water until it swelled over her ankles and then to her knees. It was low tide, and this far from the fires the darkness over the water seemed to work as a cloak. Seth and Tyler were scanning the groups of kids clustered around the drums, most of whom were talking excitedly. Girls who’d bolted from the patio were displaying their wounds to people who had no idea what was going on; guys were talking about the grill’s badass explosion.
Becca thought of Quinn, safe in the house, clueless. She thought of Hunter, who was probably leaning on his car, looking at his watch. Worrying? Or getting irritated?
His rocks hung cool and comforting against her wrist.
Wind whipped across the water, covering the sound of her shaking breath. Another wave pulled up the shore to sweep over her knees. Her jeans clung to her skin. She shivered and tried not to think what was in this water.
