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Then she’d caught him kissing Adam, and there went that.
“I’m still waiting for your secret,” she whispered mockingly.
His eyes flicked up to meet hers. “I know.” He paused, running a hand through his hair. “I’ve never told anyone, and I’m not sure where to start.”
“Wait. Don’t tell me. You’re g*y.”
He flung the hat at her. Quinn uncurled it and pulled it on her head backward. “Why don’t you tell me about the idiot in your driveway. His name is Tyler?”
“Tyler Morgan.” He hesitated. “His parents hated my parents. So much that Tyler grew up hating us. He used to go to school with Michael, but he’s a few years younger.” Another pause. “Tyler used to have a sister named Emily. She was in Michael’s class. She died in the old rock quarry south of Severna Park. There was a rock slide and she drowned.”
“When?”
“Five years ago. I don’t know a lot of the details, but Tyler thinks Michael had something to do with it.”
Quinn sat up straight. “Holy shit. Like . . . how? Like he built a bomb or something?”
Nick shook his head quickly. “No—nothing like that.
Michael has . . . he has . . . we have this affinity for the—” He cut himself off and rolled his eyes. “Jesus, this is impossible.
Everything sounds ridiculous, and I want you to believe me.”
She studied him, trying to puzzle this out for herself.
She was coming up with nothing.
Abruptly Nick stood and seized her by the hand. “Come on.
We need to go outside. This will work better with show-and-tell.”
He trudged through the woods, dragging her behind him. She could feel the tension in his grip. Whatever his secret was, it had him keyed up. The sun had already begun to dip behind the horizon, letting a chill seep into the air.
“Keep walking,” he said. “I need some distance from the neighborhood.”
“Your secret is in the woods?” said Quinn, shivering. “Dude, if you turn into a werewolf, I am outta here.”
He smiled, then stopped and turned to face her. “I’m not a werewolf.”
“Vampire? Alien?” She snapped her fingers. “Harry Potter.
Or wait, you’d be one of the Weasley twins . . .”
“If you could shut up a second, I’d tell you.”
“Should I hold your hands? Are we going to phase out and appear in Narnia?”
“No.” He glanced around. “If any trees fall, I don’t want them to hit a house.”
Trees falling? What? “So you’re secretly Paul Bunyan?”
“Quinn.”
She shivered again. “What? Seriously, Nick, what’s out here?”
“Air.” As he said the word, the breeze kicked up, finding a true wind that ruffled his hair and swirled between them. Leaves shifted and rustled along the ground.
Quinn frowned. “Air?”
