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Nicotine and male sweat. Curiosity and irritation. Tyler.
Nick thought of the way his skin had practically melted off his wrist, but he held his ground.
“Starting a little fire?” said Tyler.
did it say about her life that she got a greeting like that?
“Becca,” she said, and suddenly she almost couldn’t speak through her tears. “Becca, I really need to talk to you.”
CHAPTER 24
Nick found Gabriel in his bedroom, sitting cross-legged on his bed, surrounded by textbooks. Headphones trailed from his ears, and his pencil tapped in time with whatever he was listening to. He either didn’t notice Nick standing at the door, or he deliberately wasn’t looking up.
Nick wanted to shove him off the bed and kick him in the face.
Not aggressive, my ass.
Gabriel finally looked up and yanked the headphones free.
“So I have to leave you alone, but you get to stand there like a freaky stalker?”
Oh, good. New adjectives. Nick told his heartbeat to chill out. He pushed Gabriel’s door open. “I need to talk to you about something.”
Gabriel stared at him. Nick could read the debate on his face: screw with Nick or just play it easy.
He went with the latter. His pencil dropped into the spine of his trig textbook. “Okay. Talk.”
“If you grabbed someone by the wrist, could you set their skin on fire without anyone knowing you were doing it?”
Gabriel’s eyebrows went up. “Not exactly what I thought you’d want to talk about.”
Nick didn’t have an answer for that. He kept his gaze steady and waited.
“Look, Nicky . . .” Gabriel hesitated. “Whatever I did to piss you off, just—”
“Forget it.” Nick was halfway out his door before Gabriel slid off the bed to grab his arm.
“Stop,” said his twin. “I’ll answer your question, all right?”
Nick stopped, but he didn’t look at him.
Michael was so right. Nick did resent Gabriel. For not figuring it out. For not understanding.
For making it impossible to come out to him.
Gabriel drew a ragged breath, and it took Nick a second to even remember his question about burning. “I don’t know. I’d have to try it. It would take a lot of control. A lot of focus.”
“Fine.” Nick held out his wrist, the good one. “Try it.”
“Okay.”
Nick braced himself, but Gabriel turned his head. “Hey, Chris. Come here. I want to try something.”
Chris came out of his room, took one look at them, and turned around. “No way. I know that look.”
But Gabriel was too quick. He rushed around Nick and caught Chris’s door before it latched. He forced his way through.
And five seconds later, Chris was yelling and punching him and shoving past Nick to get to the bathroom. He was clutching his wrist. “What the f**k, Gabriel?”
