Secret (Elemental 4)

“We went to school together. I didn’t know your brother was Jake Briscoe. Talk about how the mighty have fallen.”

Quinn blinked at him. They’d come to a red light, and it reflected off Tyler’s fair skin and hair, making him look a little softer. “What does that mean?”

“Didn’t he win a scholarship to Duke or something?”

“Yeah. He’s home on a break.”

Tyler looked over. The expression on his face said, Come on, don’t be stupid.

But she must have been, because she didn’t get it. “What?”

“What break? It’s the middle of October. I’m not on break.

Why would he be?”

“You think—you think he left school?”

Tyler snorted. “He’s smoking crack with a high school dropout.

I’d bet my truck your brother got kicked out of school.”

Kicked out of school. The golden boy.

Quinn wondered if this added a new intensity to her parents’

problems.

And it wasn’t like things were great before.

“Was my mother okay?” she whispered.

“She was lit,” said Tyler. “Where’s your dad?”

Quinn shook her head. “I never know anymore. Sometimes he works nights, but sometimes . . . I try to stay out of there as much as I can.”

And now she’d burned her bridges with Becca and Nick.

She had nowhere to go.

Tyler was silent for a long while, and she watched the lights zip by outside his truck.

“You want me to take you somewhere else?” he finally said.

“You have a friend you want to stay with or something?”

Quinn shook her head. “You can just—” She had to clear her throat. “I’m all right. You can let me out at the next street corner. I’ll call someone.”

“You think I’m buying that?”

She had no idea what to say. She had no idea what Tyler expected. Just like before, she felt trapped by circumstance. She could get out of this truck and . . . and, what? Sleep on the street? But if she went home with Tyler, would he be looking to hook up?

She kept thinking of the way Anthony had grabbed her ass.

He certainly wasn’t the first of her brother’s friends to lay a hand on her. She swallowed.

At least Tyler’s apartment would mean a place to sleep. At least he wasn’t a total stranger.

“Your place is fine,” she said. “If the offer is still open.”