Secret

Tyler snorted. “You say that like I’d care.” He held out a paper bag. “You want the other pretzel?”

Quinn hugged her hands to her stomach. She was still hungry, but she should probably be chewing on a lettuce leaf. “Nah.”

“Come on. Don’t make me throw it out for the gulls.”

“If you insist.” She took the bag and tore off a stretch of pretzel. Butter and salt and heaven.

They’d been out here on this deserted stretch of beach for fifteen minutes, and she’d been sure the beach-fire-blanket combo was nothing more than a play to get into her pants. Nick’s words about Tyler using her to get at him kept bouncing around in her head.

But Tyler hadn’t made a move toward her. Even now, he left a clear five feet of space between them, just like last night on the roof of his shopping center.

Take that, Nick.

He’d bought her pretzels as promised, then walked a few laps of the mall at her side, only asking if she wanted to go for a drive when stores began unrolling their security gates. His anger from yesterday seemed to have faded, his violence from the first night completely gone.

But fury and aggression hid there, just below the surface.

He is not nice , Quinn.

She knew that. Tyler was like an attack dog who’d failed out of doggie school. He might eat treats out of your hand and wag his tail, but if you made the wrong move, he’d bite your hand off and come back for the other one.

It was kinda terrifying.

And kinda sexy.

“What?” he said.

Quinn didn’t look away. Why bother? He’d already caught her staring. “I was thinking you’re kind of hot when you’re not being a total dickhead.”

He let out a low whistle and looked back at the sky. “Turn a guy’s head with talk like that.”

She expected him to see that as some kind of invitation, but he didn’t move.

After a moment, his voice dropped and he said, “Thanks.”

He paused. “You’re not breaking any mirrors yourself.”

But he still didn’t move.

It thrilled her and exasperated her at the same time. Like last night, when he’d dropped that line about Nick being one lucky bastard.

Either he’s not using me or he’s not interested.

It made her want to provoke him. “I thought I was enough to turn you off from sex forever.”

Now he turned his head and looked over. The fire turned his blond hair gold and bounced off his eyes. “That had more to do with Merrick than with you.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“It means I said that to get under his skin. You could look like a supermodel and I would have said you were a total turnoff.”

“Hmph. Nick would say any girl was a turnoff.”

As soon as the words were out, she wished she could suck them back into her mouth.

Tyler went still.

Oh, crap.

Oh, crap.

Take it back take it back take it back.

But she didn’t know what to say. She needed to undo this. She needed to undo this right now. She’d kept this secret from everyone who was important to Nick, and now she’d practically told his mortal enemy.

She had no idea what to say to change the course of this conversation.

Haha, just a joke. Look! A bird!

Sure.

“That’s interesting,” Tyler finally said. He sat up and pulled a cigarette from the pack in his back pocket. “Very interesting.”

She needed a rewind button. A time machine. Something.

She’d give anything to be back at the dance studio, falling on her face in front of Adam’s perfection. Anything.

She sat up on her heels. Could she beg him to keep it a secret?

Would that be better or worse than pretending it wasn’t a secret at all?

“So you’re not really his girlfriend,” said Tyler.

And what was she supposed to say to that? Here she was sitting with a guy she was attracted to, and she was going to have to pretend to be madly in love with Nick, just to keep a stupid secret.

But Tyler looked over, and she could read it on his face. He knew.

Her voice was soft, almost lost in the sound of the surf. “No.

Not really.”

He started to move the cigarette to his lips, but then he flung it into the fire, unlit. His expression was fierce, all angles lit by the flames. He shifted on the blanket like he was going to leave.

Was he going after Nick? Was he going to take this information and pick a fight, or use it against his brothers somehow? Or was he—

Tyler took her face in his hands and pressed his lips against hers.

Quinn stiffened in surprise—then yielded. He was rough and forceful, but in all the right ways. She’d kissed a lot of boys, but Tyler kissed like a man. No hesitation, no fumbling. First, his mouth, hot and searing and making her feel things low in her belly. Then his hands, finding her waist, pushing her down on the blanket. Then his tongue, pulling at hers.

His body felt secure against her, and his arms caged her there on the blanket. When he drew back to look at her, she wanted to grab his shirt and drag him back down.

But then she remembered what she’d just said.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” she whispered.

“Tell anyone what?”

“About Nick.”

He straightened his arms, pushing himself up until she missed his weight. “Nice,” he said with clear derision. The fire whipped higher behind him. “I kiss you, and you’re still thinking about that stupid f—”

Quinn slapped him. Hard, with all the passion of their kiss and her panic behind it. “Don’t you dare call him that.”

Tyler caught her arm and pinned it to the blanket. He got in her face. “Don’t you dare hit me. I was going to call him a stupid f**k.”

Oh. It wasn’t better, but somehow, it was.

She looked up at him. “I’m sorry.”

“For what.” He said it flatly, not even a question. He didn’t even wait for an answer, just moved off her to sit back on the blanket and stare at the fire.

She sat up next to him.

Talking about Nick seemed like a minefield, but all she could think about was how badly she’d derailed this entire evening.

For everyone.

She wanted to touch Tyler—but she didn’t.

“Why did you kiss me?” she whispered.

He had another cigarette between his fingers, twirling it across his knuckles like a miniature baton. He mused for so long that she wanted to throw it into the fire after the first one.

Then he said, “Because I wanted to.”

“No,” she said. “Why did you kiss me now? After you knew about Nick?”

He looked at her. “Because I could.”

She licked her lips, tasting smoke from the fire. “I don’t understand.”

He looked back at the flames. “I could have screwed with you to mess with him. I thought about it. Last night.” He shrugged it off and looked at her. “I didn’t want to do that.”

Quinn couldn’t decide if she’d destroyed everything, or if she’d cleared a path for something to grow.

Tyler looked at her. “Why were you sitting behind the 7-Eleven Monday night?” She opened her mouth, and he gave her a hard look. “The truth.”

She hadn’t even told Nick the truth.

When it got right down to it, she didn’t even want to admit it to herself.

Quinn stared right back into his eyes and made her voice as challenging as his was. “Because my mom drinks like a fish and it turns her into a crazy bitch.”

He studied her for a long second. “Is that all?”

He didn’t say it like it wasn’t enough of a reason to be upset.

He said it like he knew that it wasn’t a complete answer, like he knew there was more behind it.

Quinn shook her head. “I have to wait until she passes out or falls asleep if I want to go home. Otherwise she’ll start screaming at me.”

“She hit you, too?”

Quinn shook her head.

Tyler didn’t believe her. “So she wasn’t the one to knock you around the other night?”

Quinn looked at the sand. “She’s slapped me before, but she’s never left a mark.”

“I know you said Nick didn’t hit you. Who did?”

“Would you just smoke another cigarette or something—”

“Jesus, you’re hardheaded. Answer the question.”

“My brother.”

She felt Tyler draw himself up, and she peeked over at him.

The look of fury on his face was almost terrifying, and she was glad she wasn’t the target.

“What happened?” he said.

“It’s nothing—”

“Shut the f**k up about it’s nothing. What happened?”

Her mother had defended Jake for so long that Quinn was shocked to hear someone act like her brother’s actions were not okay. “He’s home from college. He keeps smoking pot in my room. He has his friends there all the time. The other night, he slammed my face into the wall because he thought I stole his money or his stash.” Her voice started to break, and she kept talking fast, as if fractured words would hold off tears. “I can’t even get my clothes out of there to crash somewhere else, because his friends think I’m fresh meat. They keep touching me, and I can’t—I can’t even—”

She stopped short. Tyler was standing, pulling her to her feet, picking up the blanket to shake it free of sand.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m driving you home to get your stuff.”

“You’re—what? Why?”

“Because I can. Because I have an apartment, and you look like you could do with eight hours of sleep. Because—”

“You expect me to stay with you? But—”

“But what? You have a dozen better offers? Get in the truck.”

She got in the truck. They were a mile down the road and he hadn’t said anything else when she finally turned to him. “Because what else?”

He looked at her like she was nuts. “What?”

“You said because, and I cut you off. Why are you doing this?”

His voice dropped. “You don’t have to stay with me. I didn’t mean to make it sound like I was kidnapping you.”

“Shut up. You’re not making me do anything.”

He snorted and rubbed his cheek. “No kidding.”

“Shut up! Because what else?”

He looked away from the road long enough to meet her eyes.

“Because I like you.”

“No one has ever done anything like that for me,” she said.

Not Becca. Not Nick.

You didn’t tell them, her brain whispered.

But they’d never pushed as hard as Tyler.

“Well,” said Tyler, “maybe it’s time someone should.”

CHAPTER 14

Quinn stopped Tyler in front of her apartment door. Her older brother’s car was in the parking lot— of course—so she slid her key into the deadbolt carefully.

“Worried you’re going to wake someone up?” said Tyler.

“No,” she said, too forcefully. She was worried someone would hear her and make this worse than it needed to be.

She’d never brought anyone home to this apartment. She and Becca had hardly seen each other since the fire, and when they did, it was always at Becca’s place or the Merrick house. When Nick drove her home, she never let him get farther than the apartment landing. She didn’t want anyone to smell the pot or the alcohol. Even now, outside the door, embarrassment sent heat coursing up her neck. What if Tyler saw her mother stumbling around in a nightgown? What if the shrieking started and Quinn couldn’t get her to shut up?

She looked at Tyler and put a hand up. “Just wait here.”