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Gabriel watched the surprise flicker on Nick’s face and enjoyed it. The almost-betrayal. The almost-guilt, as Gabriel’s words registered. We did something you never want to do. Then we did something you and I used to do.
And while Nick was standing there trying to think of a retort, Gabriel shoved past him into the bathroom and locked the door.
When he came out, the house was quiet.
Finally. Maybe his brothers had gone on another job. Maybe he’d lucked out and Michael wasn’t going to hassle him all day.
Gabriel pulled on a clean shirt in his bedroom. He’d spent the last twenty minutes telling himself that studying math at the kitchen table meant this wasn’t a date, that he had a greater chance of looking like a moron at this activity than at just about anything else.
Gabriel jogged down the steps and stuck his hand into his backpack for his car keys.
el was, a little. He’d run hard yesterday, and he was going on his third restless night.
“Just making sure you can keep up. Thought you might have had a late night with Calla Dean.”
A wry glance. “Don’t worry.” Then Hunter stepped up the pace.
Bastard. Gabriel pushed to keep up. He was fit. He could do this, no problem.
“You know,” he said, “Becca tried to talk to me last night.”
He glanced over. “About the fires.”
“She tries to talk to me, too.” A pause to catch his breath.
“She wants to know if I know what you’re doing.”
“What do you tell her?”
“I tell her you suck at Xbox.” Another pause, another break for breath. “I think her dad’s putting pressure on her.”
“Because of the Guides?”
“Yeah. But we’re being careful.”
“Are you worried?”
“Does it matter? I can’t sit around doing nothing. Could you?”
Gabriel thought about that for a minute. “No. I couldn’t.”
Then he had to shut up, because Hunter stepped up the pace again.
Beyond the seventh mile, Gabriel was really starting to feel it.
They were holding a seven-minute-mile pace, and his legs ached.
His lungs burned. That stitch in his side that had been a minor irritant at mile three now felt like a red-hot iron poker.
The one time he wanted to pull energy from the sun, and the sky was overcast.
“If you want to stop,” said Hunter, with zero strain in his voice, “I can swing back for you when I’m done.”
“We’ll see who’s lying in a pile at the end of the trail.”
“Race you to the car?”
“Yeah, I’ll wait for you at the car.”
