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“Oh, okay. Your brothers didn’t put you up to this? Maybe your friend Drew?”
He was standing now, his fists clenched, a little flare of color on his cheeks. “What do my brothers have to do with anything?”
“Hey, little brother.” Gabriel came back through the door and flopped on the bed, drawing his legs up to sit against the wall. “Girls are more likely to stay if you don’t fight with them.”
Chris was still staring at her, his breathing a little quick.
She looked away from him. Gabriel had put a shirt on—a dark green one with a screen print of a truck. It said, My other ride is your mom.
Her eyebrows went up. “Hilarious.”
He grinned. “I aim to please.” He reached up over his head and knocked on the wall. “Nicky!”
She straightened. “Wait—look, I just came to—”
“Trust me. He won’t want to miss this.”
A door in the hallway opened; then his twin appeared in the doorway, wearing jeans and a Henley and an irritated expression. “If you want me to fix your homework, you need to leave me alone.” Then he spotted her. “You’re back.”
“Yeah.” She glanced between him and Gabriel. “You do his homework?”
“Just the math. It’s a miracle he can count to ten.”
“I can count to one.” Gabriel gave him the finger.
Chris sighed. He’d settled onto the end of the bed again, his expression flat and dark and full of unidentifiable emotion. “Just tell us what happened with Seth and Tyler, Becca.” His voice was low, intimate, almost too soft for company. He met her eyes and held them, making her pulse step up. “Then you can get out of here.”
Becca couldn’t sort out the sudden emotion—she felt as if her heart had started scattering butterflies through her abdomen, then he’d kicked her in the stomach and pissed them all off.
She swallowed. “They came by the pet store where I work. They were stealing dog food.”
“Does Michael know that’s why you’re here?” said Nick.
She shook her head. “Does it matter?”
Gabriel snorted. “Doubt it.”
A slow peal of thunder rolled in the distance. “They threatened you?” said Chris.
Her arm still throbbed. She had to make a conscious effort to keep from touching it. “Someone else came in, and they ran off. It’s fine.”
Chris was watching her a bit too intently. “They did hurt you.”
“I’m fine.”
A bolt of lightning split the sky, somewhere beyond the trees. This time, thunder cracked.
Becca shoved out of the chair and tucked her hair behind her ears. She should never have come here. “Forget it.”
She felt Chris behind her when she made it to the stairs. “Wait a minute,” he said.
She didn’t. “Whatever your mess is with that guy Tyler, get me out of it, okay?”
“Stop. Wait. Just tell me—”
“You stop.” She whirled on him at the door. “You, Chris. You stop. I get hassled enough. I need my job. I don’t need to be in the middle of some version of West Side Story meets High School Musical.”
“I’m not trying to hassle you.” His voice was intense and quiet, the way you’d talk to a cornered animal.
