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“Please,” said Michael. “I don’t want to think you’re doing this, but ”
“But what? You can’t help it? I’m such a frigging screwup that it has to be ”
“Cut the crap. It’s obvious you’re involved somehow. Would you just tell me what’s going on?”
Gabriel started walking again. “Why bother? You sound like you’ve made up your mind already.”
“I can’t help you if you won’t ”
Gabriel slammed his bedroom door. Then leaned against it, hands in fists at his sides.
He could just shower at school. He didn’t even have to wait for his brothers; he could cut through the woods and be there in half an hour. Plenty of time. He grabbed a duffel bag from his closet and shoved some clothes inside.
Then he paused, his hand on a T-shirt. Maybe he should pack some extra clothes, in case there was a fire tonight.
Then he remembered the line from the article: We’re going to catch him before he kills someone else.
Michael could kiss his ass. But real firefighters they’d be looking for him now. They knew he had the jacket, the helmet.
He needed to stop. He’d talk to Hunter. Seriously, they should stop.
But last night’s fire had been raging. Whoever started that fire wanted people to die. That fireman had come through the floor.
He wouldn’t have survived.
Neither would that little girl.
Christ, his head hurt. Gabriel kept shoving clothes in the bag.
Either way, maybe he could just crash at Hunter’s. Hell, he’d sleep in the woods.
Whatever, he didn’t have to come back here.
Where he wasn’t wanted.
CHAPTER 20
The locker rooms were deserted. No shocker there; school wasn’t supposed to start for another half hour, and first period was always saved for freshman health. Gabriel turned the water as hot as he could tolerate and just stood there, letting it blaze into his skin. He’d run far and hard this morning, and he’d hoped the pain would steal his focus and force his brain to think of something other than the fight with his brother.
No luck.
Keep acting like this and I’ll be forced to.
Goddamn Michael.
A door slammed farther out toward the gym. One of the coaches maybe, or someone grabbing a quick half hour in the weight room.
It probably meant he should get moving. Gabriel slapped the faucet to kill the stream of water.
When he was rubbing his hair with the towel, he heard a locker open somewhere out of sight. Then voices, too far away to make out. Laughter. Gabriel pulled his cell phone out of his bag to check the time. Still early.
Whatever. He yanked jeans out of the bag to pull on.
Then he heard a shout, a scuffle, and the crash of metal on metal as something hit a locker.
Okay, WTF?
He dragged a shirt over his head and walked down the aisle of lockers barefoot.
