LITMIR.BIZ

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you’re ready to take a closer look at yours.”

      I had no idea what to say to that. So Nash was getting a little pushy. That was nothing compared to Doug breathing toxic fumes all over her.

      In the lot, Doug’s arm twitched as he pulled open his car door. Emma didn’t even notice, but I knew what those twitches meant, and I was pretty sure I knew what he had to do before he picked her up. I had to tell her something—had to at least warn her, if I couldn’t keep her away from him.

      I took a deep breath and twisted on my stool to face her as Doug pulled out of the lot. “Emma, Doug’s into something new. Something really bad. It’s called frost.”

      She frowned, ignoring the customer who stepped up to her window. “What are you talking about?”

      “Just listen. Please. It comes in a black balloon, and it will kill him. And if you inhale any of it, it could kill you, too. Or drive you insane. For real.”

      Emma’s frown deepened. “You’re serious?”

      “So serious.” I looked straight into her brown eyes, wishing she could see the sincerity surely swirling in mine. “Nash and I saved your life once and I’m trying to do it again. If you see Doug with a black balloon or even if he just starts acting weird, go home. Okay? Whatever you’re doing, just stop and go home.”

      The man in front of the glass knocked on the window, but we both ignored him.

      Emma’s eyes widened and she clutched the counter. “Kaylee, you’re kind of creeping me out.”

      “I know.” I took both of her hands when she started to turn toward the window. “But you have to promise you’ll go home if he starts acting weird. Swear.”

      “Fine, I swear,” she said as the man knocked harder and a second customer appeared in front of my window. “But I gotta tell ya, you’re the one acting weird right now, Kay.”

      I knew that, too. But at least my brand of weird probably wasn’t going to get anybody killed. No one other than me, anyway.

      “YOU WANT THE GOOD news, or the bad?” Nash asked as soon as I opened the front door. I took the pizza from him and he pulled the door shut as he stepped inside.

      “Bad first.” Because I was a “get it out of the way” kind of gal. I set the pizza box on the coffee table and headed into the kitchen for a couple of sodas. He tossed his jacket over one of the chairs around the table in our eat-in kitchen.

      “Okay, Carter has tried the balloon, and I think he was still flying pretty high when I got there this afternoon. He was talking fast and leaping from one subject to the next. I could hardly keep up with him.”

      “But Doug didn’t act anything like that. He was slurring and reacting kind of sluggish. And seeing things.”

      “I know.” Nash flipped open the pizza box and sank onto the couch. “It seems to be affecting them both differently. But the good news is that Sophie’s at the Winter Carnival committee fundraiser, so the chances of her inhaling anything from him tonight are pretty slim. If that’s even possible. She’s probably safe until tomorrow.”

      “This good news isn’t sounding so good.” I set a Coke can on the end table nearest him.

      “Okay, then how ‘bout this …” He pulled me onto his lap, and my unopened soda fell from my hand to roll under the coffee table. “I talked him into bringing the balloon to school tomorrow, so I can ‘try’ it.”

      My smile reflected his own. “And we’re gonna get rid of it before he has a chance to share, right?”

      Nash’s grin widened, and he kissed me before lowering me to the couch next to him. “That’s the plan.”

      “Okay, I like that part. So, how are we going to get the balloon? Ask Tod to pop in and snatch it for us?”

      “Even better.” He leaned to one side and dug in his hip pocket, then pulled out a single key with an electronic lock on a plain silver ring.

      I frowned. “You stole Scott’s car key?” Yes, it was convenient, and meant we wouldn’t have to actually break into the car, which was equally illegal. Still.

      Nash shook his head. “I just borrowed it from the kitchen junk drawer. He won’t notice it’s gone until he locks himself out of his car again, and with any luck, I’ll have it back way before then. How else are we supposed to get into his car?”

      “Tod can do it without stealing a key.”

      He raised a brow in challenge, pulling one slice of pizza free from the others. “Does that make it morally acceptable?”

      “No, that makes it easier and safer. Tod won’t get caught, and we won’t be connected to a B and E on school grounds.”

      “Tod got in trouble for missing too much work,” Nash said around a mouthful of pepperoni. “So he’s working for the next forty-eight hours straight, with no breaks. Evidently some poor old lady lingered on the wrong side of a second heart attack when the first should have done the job.”

       Great …

      “So unless you know how to pop a car lock, this is our best bet.” Nash held up the key, and his nonchalance made me distinctly uncomfortable. Unfortunately, he was right.

      Was unlawful entry really any worse than theft, anyway? And did confiscating a toxic Netherworld substance even count as theft?

      I nodded reluctantly, and Nash slid the key into his pocket. “You don’t trust me.”

      “It’s not about trust. I don’t want to get caught breaking into Scott’s car.”

      “We’re not gonna get caught. And if we do, he won’t get mad. No one ever gets mad at me, Kaylee. I have a way with words… .” He leaned closer, teasing me with a short kiss, his mouth open just enough to invite me in. Just enough so that I missed his lips the moment they were gone.

      “I got mad at you this morning,” I whispered as he angled us back on the couch, reaching down to lift my right leg onto the cushion.

      He pulled my left leg up on his other side, bent at the knee, then leaned over me, propped up on his elbows. “Yeah, but you got over it.” Nash kissed me, and I got lost in him. I wanted to be lost in Nash, to forget about fear, and danger, and death, and everything that wasn’t him, and me, and us. Just for a few minutes, to forget about everything else. Nash made that possible. He made that inevitable.

      He made me feel so good. Beautiful, and wanted, and needed, in a way I’d never been needed before. Like if he didn’t have me, he wouldn’t have anything.

      And I wanted him to have me. I wanted to have him.

      But I couldn’t. Because what if Emma was right? What if he was like all the others, and once I’d been had, he’d need someone else?

      His tongue trailed down my neck and my head fell back on the throw pillow, my mouth open. My eyes closed. His hand slid beneath my shirt and I gripped the cushion under me. I could feel him through our clothes. Ready. Needing.

      But Nash was right before—I didn’t trust him. I couldn’t, because if he wasn’t perfect, I didn’t want to know about it. Not yet. I wanted to sleep with Nash, but that’s not what I needed.

      I needed him to break the mold.

      “Wait.”

      “Hmmm?” But then he kissed me before I could repeat myself. His hand slid farther, his cold fingers crawling over my ribs. His mouth sucked at mine, and I couldn’t talk. I could hardly breathe.

      When his other hand found the waist of my jeans, I turned my head and shoved him with both hands. “I said stop.”

      He frowned. “What’s the problem? I’m not using any Influence.”

      “I know. Just

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