Kai turned around, facing us, and I saw the smile on his face. My blood warmed.

Everyone cheered as the other guy tapped out, ending the fight with Kai as the winner. I kept my smile small, but I couldn’t hold it in entirely. He was good. Better than good. He probably could’ve ended the fight a lot earlier.

I watched him grab his shirt off the ground and wipe his face and body with it as he breathed hard.

And then I watched as he tucked the end of it into his back pocket, while a blonde grabbed hold of his belt and pulled him to her. My smile fell.

She looked at him with a coy smile, while his expression softened as he went to her, placing his hands on her waist and looking down at her.

What—

“That’s Chloe,” my brother said, his tone expressionless. “His girlfriend.”

My chest started to rise and fall heavier and heavier, and a burn hit my eyes. He didn’t have a girlfriend. I mean, he did. I’d seen him with girls, but…

No. He wouldn’t have cornered me in the Bell Tower, he wouldn’t have confessed all those things he’d done, if he had a girlfriend. Kai wasn’t like that. He wasn’t…Damon.

Kai’s hands drifted around to her ass as she ran her lips along his jaw. She looked like she was whispering things, because he responded with a laugh or a grin.

I dropped my eyes, knowing I had no right to be mad. He wasn’t mine.

I just thought he was different.

And yes, I was a little jealous.

“He’s always in the mood after he’s gotten excited,” Damon explained. “A fight, a car race, watching…”

Or a chase, I finished in my head, remembering all that had happened today and how what my brother said made complete sense. Kai liked foreplay.

“And she’s always there for him,” Damon continued at my side, watching the couple in the distance. “Besides us, she’s one of his best friends. State champion in tennis, captain of the math team, works on the school paper, and competes with the Chess Club…everything Kai’s father wants for him. A girlfriend to be proud of.” He placed a hand on my arm, gently squeezing it as I watched Kai and his girlfriend.

My brother went on. “Someone with opportunities, ambition, and drive. And speaking from someone who spotted them on a picnic table last summer when we all went camping up the coast, she’s looks like a good little fuck, too.”

I closed my eyes at the picture in my head. Tears welled.

“Yeah, she likes it, alright. Especially from him,” Damon told me.

I kept my head down, but I glanced up through the tears in my eyes, seeing her hands all over him, her body plastered to his.

A perfect fit.

“I told you,” Damon said in a low voice in my ear. “Guys will say anything. And we don’t even have to lie that well. Girls want to believe it.” I felt his arm circle me as he leaned his cheek into my temple. “But your eyes will tell you the only truth you need. You know that. Just look at her.”

I quickly wiped away a tear on the rim of my lid.

“That’s who goes out with him—looks how a girlfriend’s supposed to look in his lap,” my brother continued. “That’s who will be in a pretty little prom dress at his side next May. That’s who meets his parents and has dinners with them. That’s who texts him late at night and makes him hard. That’s what his normal is, Nik. You have a place, and that’s not it. It would never work.”

My chin trembled, and I nodded. Her plaid miniskirt or my hand-me-down jeans? Her tight shirt or my oversized sweatshirt? Her money, education, and whole fucking future in front of her or my…nothing?

I shook my head. Fuck him. I didn’t need all that stuff, and if that’s what interested Kai—appearances—then I was better off. I’d be more than all of them.

Twisting around, I pulled out of my brother’s grasp and took off, heading in the opposite direction. Damon wouldn’t follow me. He knew I was out of danger now, no doubt pleased with himself that he’d gotten me away from Kai.

I could be angry with my brother for never protecting my feelings or understanding some of the things I wanted, but he always told me the truth and fed it to me straight. Dancing around my poor little heart wouldn’t help me.

He was my best teacher.

I looked around for David, taking off my sweatshirt and tying it around my waist. I was suddenly so hot, an irritating nip biting at my skin.

Traipsing across the graveyard, I checked near the keg where I’d last seen him, and then headed up the hill, scanning small groups of people for the guys. A brick settled in my stomach, anger solidifying. I needed to get home. I didn’t want to look at these people anymore. Or hear their music. Or run into drama. I wanted to get out of here before Kai saw me. He would think I followed him.

“How about this one?” someone spoke up.

I looked up, coming out of my head.

Four guys loitered around an open grave, two of them sitting on nearby headstones. I’d wandered outside of the party area, all of the noise and light behind me.

Shit. Was that grave empty?

“Looks like she scares easily,” another one said, getting up from the stone and blowing out smoke. “Works for me.”

What?

I started to back away and turn around, but then one of them stepped in front of me, making me jump.

“Want to play a game?” he asked, mischief in his brown eyes.

“No.”

“It’s called Seven Minutes in Heaven.” He took my hand, handing me a penny. “Toss this into the air. Whichever one of us catches it gets to take you there.”

‘There?’ Heaven?

“No, thanks.” I turned in a circle, looking for anyone. Lev’s black Mohawk, David’s shaved head, Damon’s cigarette smoke billowing in the air…

“Toss it,” another guy demanded.

“Bite me!” I threw the fucking penny at him, and all of a sudden, every single one of them dived for the coin.

Shit! They scrambled, falling over each other and laughing, but before I thought to spin around and get my ass out of there, the brown-eyed one with the black leather jacket stood upright, raising his fist triumphantly, no doubt with the penny inside of it.

“Get her!” he shouted.

“What?” I blurted out.

They all rushed right for me, and I reared back as they grabbed my arms, the skin of my wrists burning as they hauled me forward.

“No, no!”

But they didn’t listen. They swung me over the hole, and I squirmed and struggled, but they quickly dropped me the shallow distance to the bottom of the black grave.

I landed, stumbling to stay on my feet, and slammed into the wall of the grave, my wrist suddenly aching. I sucked in breath after breath, instantly spinning in a circle to make sure the grave was empty.

Dirt all around, dirt under my shoes…I didn’t know if this was a fresh grave dug for a service this weekend or an old grave just not dug deep enough to reach the casket underneath.

“Oh, God.” I jumped up, trying to grab hold of the land at the top, but I only got dirt, my fingers sliding right through it.

“Get me out of here!” I barked.

I tried the other side of the hole, jumping again and again, trying to get a grip.

But then a figure landed to my right, and I turned around, facing the brown-eyed one again.

“It’s only seven minutes,” he said in a cocky tone. “How much damage can I really do?”

“Let’s find out!” one of his buddies crowed.

Brown-eyes smirked and moved for me. “Come on, baby.”

“Stop!” I shoved him, twisting around and jumping up, pushing myself as high as I could and finally catching some grass.

But my fingers tore right through it, and I fell back down, crashing into the other side of the grave. My bare arm ground against the wet earth, the roots spilling out and scratching my skin.

And he was on me again. He pushed me into a corner, gripping my waist. “What’s your name?”

“What’s your name?” I retorted, gritting through my teeth.

“Flynn.”

“Good.” I pushed his hands down, trying to get out from the corner. “I hope you like snakes, Flynn.”