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She turned fierce eyes his way. “No one needs to babysit me.”
“No kidding.” His voice softened, just a little, just enough.
“Sit down. Eat your taquito. I don’t like them extra spicy.”
She sat in the chair and unwrapped the paper, taking a small bite from the end. It was like a heart attack rolled up in a tortilla and fried, but she was starving. “What’s really up with you and Merrick?”
His voice was bitter. “You already know.”
“No,” she said. “I don’t think I do.”
“I don’t want to talk about them.”
“Do you really want to kill them?”
“I don’t need to kill them. That’s what the Guides are for.”
“Would you do it, if you could?”
“I don’t really want to go to prison for doing someone else’s job.”
“Aren’t you a big bad Fire Elemental? Couldn’t you burn down their house or something?”
“No!” he snapped with sudden fury. “That wouldn’t make me any better than them. That’s the whole reason they’re supposed to be put to death. They are a danger. Don’t you get that?”
She ignored his sudden vehemence, keeping her voice level.
“Do you really think they deserve to die, for what they are?”
He didn’t say anything for a long while, twisting the bottle of Mountain Dew in his hands, making the plastic crackle. He sat that way for so long that she didn’t think he was going to say anything.
Finally, he said, “You were right. When my sister died, she was with that douche bag. My friends and I were going after them. But I didn’t start that f**king rockslide. And even if Mike Merrick didn’t start it, he sure as hell didn’t stop it.” His voice tightened. “That rock hit her, and he didn’t even get her out of the water in time. He let her die, okay? So if someone wants to come to town and kill them, I’m sure as hell not going to get in their way. If that makes me a psychopath, fine. There’s no secret about how I feel.”
“No secret,” she replied. “I like that.”
He turned and looked at her, eyebrows raised.
Quinn shrugged. “My life is full of secrets. Sometimes I’m sick of keeping them.” She paused, wondering if she was stupid to be here with Tyler. He hated the Merricks, that much was obvious. It was probably a violation of her friendship with Nick that she was even sitting here.
But she could hear every ounce of pain in Tyler’s voice when he spoke about what had happened to his sister. Could she blame him for that? If someone contributed to the death of someone in her family, then wandered around town like they hadn’t done anything wrong, how would she have dealt with it?
Well, if someone did something to her older brother, she’d probably send them a thank-you note.
She thought of Tyler’s anger in the driveway, when he’d confronted Nick. Was some of that pain? Resentment? Tyler had been a dick, for sure. But then again, Nick had threatened to kill him.
Who was right? It didn’t feel like either of them was.
“I’m really sorry about your sister,” she said quietly.
Tyler looked up at the sky. “Me, too. I was a crap brother. I wish I could go back and fix it.”
“Do you—”
“Hey.” He looked over, and she could see emotion in his eyes.
“Would it be okay if we talked about something else?”
“Yeah.” She paused. “I’m sorry.”
