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“Because she’s what? A bitch?”
“No. Because she’s nuts.” He made a circular motion at his temple, feeling the pulsing pain of a headache there. “Certifiable.”
“She seemed pretty lucid to me.”
“I guess sometimes you just don’t know about people.” He looked away.
Silence hung in the car for a while, and he looked out at the other students milling around the carnival grounds. Chris and Gabriel were shooting hoops now at a booth, Layne and Becca laughing with them. He didn’t see Nick and Quinn anywhere.
Then he spotted Layne’s little brother, Simon, at the balloon popping booth, tossing darts with a girl who looked like a freshman. Hunter smiled.
Then some guys he didn’t recognize walked over and got in Simon’s face.
“Jesus,” Hunter muttered.
“You know them?” said Kate.
“Yeah. Hold on.” He fished out his phone and shot off a text to Gabriel.
Help Simon at the balloon booth. I’m stuck on the wheel.
He watched to make sure Gabriel received the text, then relaxed when he saw all four of them head off to help Simon.
“He’s deaf,” Hunter explained to Kate. “He gets a lot of crap for it.”
She was watching him with a bemused expression on her face. “That’s nice of you.” She paused. “I didn’t think you liked that Gabriel guy.”
“Yeah, well . . .” He paused. “It’s a long story.” Then he realized something. “You can tell him apart from his brother?”
She looked startled for the barest second. “Well—his brother’s dating the blonde, right?”
The Ferris wheel stopped to let more people on, and they hung suspended at the three o’clock position.
“Yeah,” he said.
“So . . .” Kate started. “You’re in a love-hate bromance with Gabriel Merrick, you’ve got mixed feelings about this Calla chick—”
“Why don’t we talk about something else?”
She leaned back against the wall of the car. “Like what?”
“You.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You said no games. Who’s the guy in the pickup truck?”
“His name is Silver.” She paused. “He’s a friend.”
Like he would buy that now, after hearing about Quinn’s comments. “Do you make out with all your friends?”
“Only the hot ones.”
He snorted again and looked away.
“Why?” she said. “Interested?”
His pulse jumped, but he had no tolerance for bluffing. He met her gaze head on. “Sure.”
