Finally, we pulled to another stop and Nixon turned off the car.

I still refused to look at him or take my hands off my face. He was going to have to use the Jaws of Life on my hands. No chance in hell was I going to—

“Hey!” I shouted when he pulled my hands free of their grip.

I closed my eyes again. Maybe if I couldn’t see him, he couldn’t see me? You know, like when you play hide and seek when you’re little?

“Trace.” Nixon’s voice held little humor so I opened one eye then two. “Are you okay?”

“No.” I shivered. “I’m not okay! We could have died! Who were those people? Why did they have guns? Is it like this all the time when you’re out and about in public! What the hell, Nixon! I need answers!”

“As well as a volunteer…” Nixon chuckled.

“Come again?”

He burst out laughing. “Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“My answer.” He winked. “Just name the time and place. I’ll be there.”

Oh my gosh. He didn’t mean…

“It would be an honor.” He bit down on his lip and happily hit the steering wheel. “I mean, I would love to be the one guy going into uncharted territory and…”

“Shut up! Just shut up!” I clapped my hands over my ears, convinced they were so red they were going to literally fall from my head. “Oh my hell. I’m so embarrassed.”

“Hey, that was a real bonding experience back there,” Nixon whispered as he neared my face and then very gently removed each hand from my head and kissed the inside of my wrist. “And don’t worry… we’ll wait until you’re ready.”

“You’ll be waiting a long time…”

“It’s not like you didn’t,” he retorted, and before I could come up with a snappy reply his lips were crushing mine — devouring was more like it. Instinctively I wrapped my hands around his neck.

“Now is good too.” He groaned as I opened my mouth to him.

A knock jolted us away from one another.

I turned around and was immediately face to face with Grandpa.

An entire day early.

Pointing at me with a frown on his face.

And make that two of my most embarrassing moments in one night.

Chapter Twenty-one

Grandpa did not look pleased. In fact, if people’s stares could set clothes on fire… Nixon would be doing the stop, drop, and roll right about now.

We both faced him like teenagers who just got caught making out. Which, to be fair, was kind of true considering I was only eighteen. But still, I didn’t think of Nixon as being in college. Maybe it had something to do with him being so protective? Or adults being afraid of him? Or the gun? Yeah, the gun probably did it too. Grandpa would have a stroke if he knew the truth.

Not that I knew the truth either.

But I’m pretty sure it had to be bad. I mean, why else would people be chasing Nixon and pointing guns out of their cars? I was surprised how well I was handling everything, but at that moment my embarrassment was trumping my fear… which was probably a good thing.

“Hey, Gramps, you’re early.” I gave him an awkward hug and waited for the yelling to start.

He hugged me and then shot daggers at Nixon. “You.”

Uh oh. Grandpa didn’t know who Nixon was. He had no idea that cops called him Mr. Abandonato, and that women nearly fainted in his presence. He didn’t know this world, so he didn’t know that narrowing his eyes at Nixon was like a death wish.

“Me,” Nixon repeated. “Great to finally meet you, Mr. Rooks.”

“I didn’t catch your name.” Grandpa crossed his arms refusing to shake Nixon’s hand.

“Really? I could have sworn you knew it already.” Nixon was almost chest to chest with Grandpa now. Crap. They were going to kill each other. I tried to step between them, but the minute I moved, both of their arms shot out and pushed me gently out of the way.

Weird.

“I’m old.” Grandpa let out a hollow laugh. “Tell me again, what’s your name… son?”

Nixon’s jaw flexed. “Nixon Abandonato. But most people around here just call me sir.”

“You’re too young to be a sir.”

“And you’re too old to be protecting your granddaughter.”

“I’ve been protecting her my entire life.” Grandpa poked Nixon in the chest, but Nixon didn’t budge. “And last I checked I don’t take orders from a mere child.”

“Maybe it’s time to let someone else protect her.”

I raised my hand and cleared my throat. “Um, just FYI, I’m standing right here, and I have no idea why you guys are being such idiotic men right now, but I really want to go inside. I mean, I did almost just die back there.”

Grandpa’s nostrils flared. Without warning he reeled back and punched Nixon in the face.

I groaned into my hands. “Grandpa, he saved me. He—”

“He…” Grandpa pointed at Nixon. Blood was gushing from his nose. “Is bad news, Tracey! I don’t want you seeing that boy anymore!”

“No!” I yelled. “Why are you being like this? Grandpa, I miss you. I haven’t seen you in weeks, and you just punched my boyfriend in the face! Are you insane?” Whoops. I may have dropped the boyfriend word too soon. Nixon probably thought I was so stupid. One date did not mean we were boyfriend and girlfriend.

“Boyfriend!” Grandpa wound up his arm to punch Nixon again, but this time I stepped in front of my bleeding date, making Grandpa drop his hand. “Trace?”

“I like him.” I leaned back into Nixon’s frame and sighed as his arm came around me and held me against him. “He even beat up a guy that bullied me. He’s good. And I was going to tell you all about him over dinner tomorrow. Actually, I was going to invite him, but now that you’ve punched him in the face—”

“Trace.” Nixon’s voice was raspy. “It’s fine. You should spend some time alone with your grandpa tomorrow. Don’t go to class. Take a day off. Really, it’s probably best that you do, all things considering. You had a rough night.”

Perplexed, I turned in his arms and stared at him. His eyes were ice cold. No emotion was behind them. It was like staring at a statue. “Why are you doing this? Come with us tomorrow, it will be—”

“It will be best if you do as your grandfather says,” Nixon finished and licked his lips. Blood was still slowly trickling over them. “It was… interesting meeting you again, Mr. Rooks. Be sure to keep an eye out for the shadows tomorrow evening. They’ve been lurking.”

I didn’t turn around in time to see Grandpa’s face, but he suddenly seemed very old to me as if his wrinkles had taken on enough lifetimes. He looked away. Tears welling in his eyes. “And tonight?”

Nixon released me. As he walked away he said, “The dove’s existence is not yet known.”

“What?” I yelled. But Nixon was already jumping into his car and driving off. Grandpa wrapped his arm around me.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Trace?” he whispered as his hug tightened around my shoulders.

“Yes, but…” I looked back at Nixon. “I don’t understand.”

Grandpa chuckled. “He’s an interesting boy, that Nixon. But you cannot see him anymore. It isn’t… smart. You’re such a young girl and—”

“Gramps.” I pulled out of his embrace. “Did you really come all this way to do insurance stuff and talk me out of dating my boyfriend? Or did you want to spend some time with me?”

His worried face broke out into a smile. “I wanted to spend time with you, of course.” He walked me to the door of my dorm. “Why don’t you skip tomorrow? I’ll pick you up around eight for breakfast?”

I nodded. “Grandpa.” I licked my lips. “Things are weird here. They… I don’t know, sometimes I feel like everyone knows me better than I know me. Does that make sense?”

“Yes. And I promise I’ll do what I can to clear things up. But not tonight. Now, off you go. It’s late.” He shooed me inside. I watched him walk away into the darkness and pile into a waiting black Mercedes. Weird. He must have been upgraded or something.

****

Two hours later Nixon still hadn’t texted me back. Monroe had gone out with Tex and decided to stay over at his place, whatever that meant. So I was alone and still a bit freaked out. Didn’t help that it was around eleven and I still couldn’t sleep.

I tried Nixon again.

YOU GONNA TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TONIGHT?

I threw my phone onto the bed and groaned. Finally, two minutes later he responded.

SURE! YOU OFFERED ME YOUR BODY — I’M FREE IF U R?

I laughed.

U R AN ASS AND THAT’S NOT WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!

If evasiveness was a sport, Nixon would be an Olympian, seriously. Now that I really thought about it, even in the car he had changed the subject to my embarrassment and then kissed me.

Well, either I was really easy, which could be true considering Nixon does crazy things to me, or he didn’t want me asking questions.

My phone went off again.

I’M AN ASS? THAT’S NOT WHAT YOU WERE SAYING WHEN WE WERE KISSING. WANT ME TO COME OVER?

I stared at the text message. Did I? Grandpa would be ticked, but he didn’t have to know. And I was lonely.

WILL YOU ANSWER MY QUESTIONS?

He responded immediately.

MAYBE.

I smiled and typed, BRING POPCORN.

Chapter Twenty-two

I tried to get into the latest zombie novel I’d bought on my e-reader but every time the author described the hero’s eyes, I thought of Nixon. Every time the couple kissed, I thought of his lips.

Really, it was pathetic.

A half-hour after Nixon’s last text, I heard swooning women in my hallway. Okay, so maybe I couldn’t hear them, but I did hear Nixon. He was laughing.

I sighed held my e-reader close to my heart. I loved his laugh.

Seriously, someone needed to come in here and smack me with my e-reader. I was acting crazy. I’d known him for what, two weeks? Not even.

I was worse than a twelve-year-old Justin Bieber fan with the fever, or whatever they called it.

My door swung open.

“Do you have access cards to every room or something?” I jumped off my bed and fought the urge to tackle a smiling Nixon.

“Of course.” He grinned in a way that said, I’m important, so there.

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t see popcorn?”

“About that.” He scratched his head. “Chase was bored so…”

“The party is here!” Chase shouted from the doorway, loaded with enough groceries to feed a small country. “Move over, Nixon. It’s chick flick time and I’ve got the goods.”

“Is he high?” I crossed my arms and examined Chase’s eyes.

“No,” they said in unison.

“I’m my normal awesome self. I have had two Red Bulls though, so my bad for the loudness. Damn, I was bored. You saved my life.” Chase winked and set the groceries on the shared desk in our dorm. I always seemed to forget how attractive he was. I almost felt sorry for whoever ended up with the guy. Next to Nixon he was the hottest guy here and probably just as much trouble to deal with. Well, maybe not just as much, but close. After all, they were family.