Shadow growled, exposing his yellow teeth to Henry. I tugged him close to my thigh, sucking in air. Shit, shit, shit.

“Where you headed, Jesse? Night shift at the brothel? Let’s have some fun,” Nolan hollered from the hood, flicking his cell phone flashlight on and aiming it at me.

“Yeah, Jesse. You looking for trouble? We can do a round two for old times’ sake. Just don’t tell Emery. Though, really, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. He has a nice, respectable girlfriend now. The kind who doesn’t open her legs so often that she can’t even remember who popped her cherry.”

I didn’t know which part felt worse: hearing Emery’s name, or knowing that he’d moved on without any consequences. Or maybe it was the reminder that the night in the Indian alleyway really had happened. Though I had plenty of reasons to remember it, even beyond the physical damage. Weeks after, Pam had taken me to a clinic outside of town to have an abortion. I’d begged her not to, but she was adamant that “it” would ruin our nonexistent image in Todos Santos.

I turned around and started running toward the main road.

“Stop,” Nolan snarled. His hand burned its pattern on my shoulder. He swiveled me around with enough force to remind me he was capable of much more. Shadow growled again, and Nolan kicked his front leg. My dog collapsed to the ground, whimpering.

Staring at Nolan, I tried to cut myself some slack for not realizing how sadistic he was, sooner. He was boyishly good-looking, with soft blond curls and hazel eyes, now with crow’s feet gathering like an elegant fan around them.

Wholesome. Handsome. Fearsome.

I jerked my arm like his touch was cold fire. I was about to swing my fist directly to his nose and pick up Shadow again when dark, violent energy crackled around me like electricity. A metal-hitting-metal thud and screech penetrated the air and everything stopped like someone hit pause. We both twisted our heads back.

Bane. Clouds of playground sand dancing around his army boots.

Bane. His stony jaw set in anger I could feel all the way down to my toes.

Bane. Holding Henry in a headlock, the preppy boy on his knees, staring at Nolan with horror I could decipher even with only the poor lighting of the streetlamp. Wren was in the car, holding her face and screaming. That’s when I noticed he’d smashed into the back of the Camaro with his truck, and not by accident. The car had slid to the concrete sidewalk bordering the playground. A swing swayed from the impact.

Up, down. Up, down.

I finally picked Shadow, hugging him close to my chest.

“Well, this is awkward.” Bane flashed a wolfish, badder-than-bad grin. “A sober dude crashing his truck into a bunch of sorry-ass tanked teenagers. Wonder who is gonna take the blame for that one?”

You could feel the atmosphere shifting in the small things. Nolan’s body going slack. Wren bowing her head down in defeat. A terrified tear rolling down Henry’s cheek. Nolan lifted both his hands in surrender, taking a step back.

“Stay where you are,” Bane ordered.

He did.

“I believe a trade is in order. This dipshit is of no interest to me, and you have no business touching Jesse Carter,” Bane said, tucking a joint between his lips and lighting it up with his free hand. He tilted his chin up, letting the smoke crawl upwards in a curly ribbon.

Jesse Carter. He knew my name, and probably everything else there was to know about me. Stupid me thought I could escape him by withholding information from him.

Wild relief washed over me when Nolan pivoted to face the big, blond surfer, forgetting all about me. I gathered Shadow into my arms again, watching the golden locks of Nolan’s hair from behind, wondering if I had it in me to grip a handful of them and smash his head against the concrete under our feet.

“Bane Protsenko?” Nolan scratched his smooth forehead.

“C’mere.” Bane curled his ringed fingers that held the blunt, beckoning. Henry was still on the ground, choking on a sob. Bane’s jaw was locked so tight I thought his teeth were going to snap out of his mouth. Nolan walked over to them, coiling into himself as his posture caught up with his pulse.

“What’s going on? We were just having fun.” He sounded like the good boy his mother probably thought he was.

“Was it fun for Carter?”

“Yeah!” Henry yelled, gagging around Bane’s arm. “We know her. We went to school together. R…right, Jesse?”

I shook my head. I may not have had the balls to kill them, but I would never protect them. “I went to school with them, yes, but they’re harassing me.”

I wasn’t sure if Bane was trying to blackmail me or simply do the right thing by me, but it didn’t matter. He was helping me, and I needed him there. Nolan stopped a good three feet away from Bane and Henry.