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Okay, he hadn’t heard that yet.
The man laughed and went back to counting cash.
“All right, look.” Hunter felt like he’d reached the end of his rope and found it a frayed, tangled mess. “I need a job. You’ve got a sign out front. I can work hard. I don’t understand why everyone has to act like I’m some—”
ost fell for the one about the bomb shelter under the school. Then I realized it was probably just a euphemism. Where are you really?
I’m headed back to my car. You’re sitting near someone I’m not allowed to be around.
She frowned and looked up. She didn’t see the Merricks, so this wasn’t about the one he’d fought with yesterday. But there, at the next table, was the girl with punk hair and flame tattoos along her wrists. The one he’d shoved.
It seemed so incongruous with the way he’d defended her in the office.
Kate gathered her things and started for the parking lot. She had no idea what kind of car he drove, and it wouldn’t be easy to find him—the lot was packed with arriving students. Wind whistled across the pavement to sneak under the lapels of her leather jacket and make her shiver. She wanted to beg the sunlight for warmth, to ask the air to ratchet back a few degrees, but there were too many Elementals at play in this town, and she kept her guard up.
Her phone chimed.
You didn’t have to come looking for me.
She held the Twizzler between her teeth and wrote back.
I thought we had a staring date. Vehicle?
A long pause. She shivered again and wished she’d worn something heavier under her coat.
Finally, her phone chimed again.
White jeep. 20 yards to your right.
She spotted his car at the end of the row, under an oak tree with sagging branches. The engine wasn’t running, but at least she’d be out of this wind. She didn’t even hesitate; just climbed right in and flung her bag on the floorboards.
Hunter glanced over, but it was quick. “Hey.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but a German shepherd stuck his head between the seats and gave a low woof of greeting.
Kate grinned and rubbed the dog’s ears. “You have a dog!”
Hunter nodded, his eyes on the windshield. “His name is Casper.”
His voice was easy enough but carried an undercurrent of strain, which made Kate stop playing with the dog and really look at him. The ends of his hair hung across his face, still damp, from a shower probably, and he hadn’t bothered to use a razor this morning. His eyes looked vaguely shadowed, as if he’d been up half the night.
This was a very different boy from the one she’d met yesterday.
She wondered what had happened. The fight with Gabriel Merrick? The girl with the tats? The family issues he’d mentioned last night?
She should drop her guard and touch him, to let the elements feed her information, so she could report back to Silver.
Kate immediately called bullshit on her subconscious.
She wanted to touch him because Hunter looked like he needed someone to be gentle with him for five minutes.
She softened her voice. “You want to talk about it?”
“I’m just tired.”
“This looks like more than just tired.”
He laughed briefly, without much humor to it. “You don’t know me at all.”
