Page 59 of Touch of Evil

She was always just a kid.

I march ahead, keeping my attention on the lamppost that starts flickering out, and the one after that.

“You cold?” I mumble, wanting to know when I lost my ability to enunciate.

“Yes,” she answers.

“You’re hungry, too. Right?”

“Yes,” she answers slowly. I feel her looking up at me. I don’t bother to return the favor.

“I suppose you want to get clean and dry?”

“Um. Yes?”

I turn onto the next block, no longer afraid and maybe more than a lot relieved.

Okay. Yeah. She just wants to wash up and get into some clean clothes. That’s all it is, numb nuts. Save that horny crap for the ladies back at the Hole.

My hand drags along my hair. It’s still soaked like Emme’s. No wonder the poor kid wants to get inside and warm up. Hell, it’s still another ten-minute walk to my place then another twenty by car back to her house.

“I think Heidi might have some stuff at my place,” I say.

“Heidi?” she asks. “You’re thinking about Heidi? Now?”

“Yeah,” I say, wondering why Emme looks so surprised. “She used to leave a lot of clothes behind when she started dating Dan. I’ll hook you up.”

“Oh. Of course,” she says. “Thank you.”

Like a moron, I make the mistake of looking at her. The makeup she wore, if she wore any at all, was washed clean in the water. Her eyes, face, and full lips, every part of her carries a tinge of blue. She should be miserable, bordering on psychotic. But here she is, beaming.

Aw, hell. That smile she gives me, it’s like, I don’t know, like no one else exists. Except we’re just going to my place just to hang out, to get dry, and definitely not have sex.

No sex.

Not for this guy.

Not for me.

Not for Emme.

Sex. I had to go and say it.

Now, that’s all I can think of.

And I’m thinking about it with Emme.

There are dumbasses, and then there’s me. All I see is her, spread across my bed, her back arching just so when I—

“Are you all right with taking me home?”

I’m ready to tell her no. That it’s a bad idea. That she’s better off strolling into a frat house naked with a trayful of cookies and a beer keg strapped to her back. But then she crinkles her nose in that adorable way and, and, and,blushes, and I know that I’m done for.

“Oh,hellno.”

Her cheeks go from soft pink to I’m-on-fire crimson. “Did you just say no?”

Another blush, another confused yet adorable look, another sparkle across her eyes. Damn. What guy stands a chance with her? I’m only half-human after all.

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