Heroes 'Til Curfew (Talent Chronicles #2) (8 page)

It was like this right after the big fight
with Marco. Right after he laid that kiss on me, it was all Dylan,
all the time in my head. Then when nothing really happened after
that, I kind of settled down…a little bit. That whole thing with
him riding to my rescue last night just got me worked up all over
again. I can be such a girl sometimes.

So…what?
I swear this was the longest
chew and swallow on record.

“Did you want to talk about what happened
last night?”

That was pretty open-ended. Was he trying to
tell me he wanted to know how it went down, or was he asking if I
had feelings I wanted to share? Let’s face it: I’ve never been real
good on the sharing. Doesn’t mean I don’t ever kinda long to talk
to someone, you know? It just means I don’t really know how.

“Um, what part?”

“Any part you want. Or no part, if you don’t
want to talk about it.”

“Oh. Um…I don’t know.”
OMG, why am I such
a loser? Because you’ve spent your entire school career avoiding
any kind of conversation?

Dylan almost never asked me direct questions
or put me on the spot. Unlike Kat, who would constantly direct the
conversation my way, which I knew was her way of trying to include
my awkward self in her circle of friends, Dylan didn’t do that.
He’s the kind of guy who always wants to smooth things over and see
everyone getting along. He was really good at making people feel at
ease.

It wasn’t his fault I’d had this stupid
crush on him forever, I was always nervous around him, and was a
total social misfit besides. If he wanted to hear about it, I
really
wanted
to talk to him. But what was I supposed to
say?

“You said Marco didn’t seek you out just to
mess with you, so how did you guys run into each other?”

So I told Dylan about walking home past
Dog-Eared and what I saw.

“I know it was reckless to just go in there.
I didn’t know Marco was there yet, but still, I didn’t have enough
information to do what I did. It was really stupid.”

“It wasn’t stupid. You saw something wrong
and you stood up. That’s cool. I hope you’ll call for backup before
you go after a bunch of guys by yourself, if there’s a next
time.”

“My dad didn’t think it was so cool.”

“I’m not your dad.”

Well duh.

“The firebug was Tony D’Attaviano—Marco’s
cousin. He was a senior when we were freshmen. Real dick. He and
Marco like to make trouble together. Last year they made Rob use
his Talent to make all these fake orders over the internet that
showed as paid. Then they got all this stereo equipment delivered
to Tony’s house, which they then sold for profit.”

“Nice.”

“That thing with Bella kind of freaks me
out. I wonder if you can see her when she’s…out of body.”

“Don’t like the idea of not being the only
invisible guy around?”

“I guess not. Now that I think about it,
it’s kind of creepy, huh?”

“Invisibility? On Bella maybe. But unless
you decide you’re going to go be a lookout for Marco—”
Oh my
God, can I just curl up and die right now?

“Again? No, thanks.”

“You know, I think I took a blow to the head
last night.” I reached up and rubbed at my skull, partly just to
hide how red my face was. “The part of my brain that’s supposed to
keep me from saying stupid stuff is damaged.”

Dylan’s hand covered mine. “Right here?
Yeah, I think I feel a lump. You know, I was born without that
brain center, and they tell me it’s possible to live a long, full
life.” His hand slid away, skimming my hair like he had wanted to
touch it.

“Well, that’s a relief.”
If I don’t die
from embarrassment.
Even my voice was absurdly high and
breathy.

“Joss?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re…okay, right?”

“Um, yeah.”
Why so serious?

Dylan’s hands twisted around each other
between his knees. “When I talked to Heather, she said that you
were really scared.”

“I was. But that’s all over with.”

“And she implied that Marco and Jeff wanted
to…hurt you.”

“Well, that’s no surpris—oh. Oh. No. That
did not happen.”

“Would you tell me?”

And have you run off and commit
Marco-induced suicide? No, not likely.

“Nothing like that happened. They marched me
over to the factory, shoved me around some, said some rude things,
but that was the extent of it.”

Dylan blew out a breath and raked both his
hands through his hair, neither of which seemed to do anything for
his tension level. I couldn’t think of anything to say that might
put him at ease, partly because I wasn’t even really sure what it
was all about.

Did he really feel that strongly about me?
But that didn’t make sense. If he did, why didn’t he say anything?
Obviously he cared, right? He kept hanging around, showing
interest…Clearly he had some kind of feelings for me. Did guys get
this intense over girls they’re just friends with?

Or maybe I was supposed to say something?
Maybe I was supposed to give him some kind of sign. Like what? This
sucked. It should not be this complicated. Either he was interested
or he wasn’t right? How much longer was I going to keep making
myself crazy trying to figure this out?

“Do you ever think of me as more than a
friend?”

I stopped myself from clamping my hands over
my mouth. Just barely. It was too late anyway. My stupid question
was already out there, hanging in the air between us.

Dylan grabbed me, just grabbed me, and his
mouth was on mine. And
oh, God,
it was just like I
remembered it, only more intense. His lips ground so hard against
mine I could feel his teeth behind them. He had one hand in my
hair, cupping the back of head so that I couldn’t have pulled back
if I’d wanted to. I didn’t. If anything, I just wanted more. I
wanted to climb inside of him. I was practically in his lap, with a
death grip on his collar, and his arm was wrapped around me to keep
me there.

Everything in the world was just this
moment. Everything was Dylan. I didn’t even have enough brain to
worry if I was doing it right, I just kissed him back, and kissed
him, and thought I might die if I couldn’t get closer to him. My
hands were in his hair. It felt amazing. The way he tasted, the way
he smelled, it was like my brain was just going to explode from the
pleasure of being this close to him.

The bell tore into our world like a scream,
making us jump back from each other. I missed the landing and would
have gone headfirst down the stairs if Dylan hadn’t caught me and
set me back. He leaned his forehead against mine and we both took a
breath. Then he backed up.

I raised my eyes to his face. He was
grinning at me. Then he swiped his thumb against my bottom lip.

“Nope. Never.”

And took off down the stairs.

What?

Chapter 5

Dylan

“
Nope. Never.”

Why did I say that? I’m such an idiot. The
perfect opportunity to have it all settled—and where I wouldn’t
hardly even have to
say
anything and risk saying something
stupid, and what do I do? Try to make a joke of out of it and say
something stupid because being around Joss was just way too
intense.

I wasn’t paying attention. Some freshmen
slammed into me accidentally and I banged into the doorframe. My
cool factor was taking serious hits today. I was in a hurry to get
out of the building, though, get some air. I should have gone right
to Joss at her locker and apologized for before, but I didn’t want
to do that in front of people and embarrass us both. I was just
gonna park it out here on the planter and wait to walk her home or
to work or whatever. That would be better.

She was probably pissed off at me for
jerking her around. Part of me wanted to keep my distance, wait and
see. But that was lame, and being chicken-shit about talking to her
was part of the problem. And let’s face it, most of me thought that
if there was any chance of getting to kiss her again—sometime
really soon—I should wait around for it.

Marco flopped down next to me on the
concrete wall. “Hey, man, got a smoke?”

“Fuck off.”

He reached into his jacket, pulled out a
pack, and went through the ritual of tapping and lighting. I
crossed my arms over my chest. I didn’t really miss the nicotine or
the taste of it, but I missed having something to do with my
hands.

“How’s our girl today?”

“Stay the hell away from Joss.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve
been
staying away. She came to me, so seems like—”

“I know what happened.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever she told you. You hit
that yet?”

“Fuck you. Why are you fucking talking to
me? Get lost.” That’s why he was talking to me, because he knew I
couldn’t make him get lost, and he knew I hated it.

“I’ll take that as a no. What’s up with
that, D? You losin’ your touch or are you just scared of her? Not
that I’d blame you. That is one freaky chick and you’re not exactly
a match for her, are you?”

“And, what, you are? How many times she turn
you down already? Get a clue, get over it, and move the fuck on,
man. This torch you’re carrying for her is pathetic.”

He snorted smoke through his nose. “Yeah,
I’m so into her,” he said, heavy on the sarcasm. “And I’m the one
that’s pathetic. I heard you showed up last night. Don’t know why
you’d bother. Get your girl to do your fighting for you again?” He
didn’t wait for me to come up with a comeback. “She’s not exactly
your type, is she? Not really…attractive. But I can kinda see why’d
you’d be into her. I mean, she’s got a nice rack.”

I got up quick and shoved at him. “Shut your
mouth.”

He grinned up at me, thrilled to get a
reaction. “And the Talent. A lot of power. It’s kinda hot, isn’t
it?” He stood up, faced off against me while I was remembering that
“kinda hot” was exactly what I’d thought when I first found out
what Joss could do. “You need that, don’t you, Dylan? I mean, if
you’re gonna break from me, you need someone else to look after
you. And that’s bitch’s got a lot power packed into that tight
little body.”

“You need to quit fucking talking about
her,” I ground out, giving him another shove. Now that he was on
his feet, I only succeeded in pushing myself back a step, which
made me look like an idiot.

He laughed and I lashed out with the one
weapon I could think of, “How’s your mom these days?”

He jerked in reaction before he could stop
himself, then took a drag on his cigarette. He held the smoke for a
moment, blew it out slowly, watching me the whole time through
narrowed eyes. “Fuck if I know.”

“She’s never getting out of the nuthouse, is
she? And it’s sad, the risks your parents took to get away from her
family and hide a Talent like you from organized crime. Does your
dad tell her what you’re into? It must just break her heart, not to
mention what’s left of her mind.”

“Like I give a shit. And like you’re one to
bring up fucked up family to me. At least I’m doin’ something.”

“What are you doing? The bookstore thing?
The same petty crap you’ve been doing. It’s tired and it’s boring.
We’re too old for this shit and you’re a moron.”

“Yeah, we’ll see who’s bored when I own this
town. We’ll see how you feel when I’ve got everyone in it under my
thumb, especially when I’ve got Joss under me, wr—”

“I told you—” Someone grabbed my arm and I
looked to see that it was Eric yanking me back a few steps.

“Cool it, you guys. Assistant Principal Sims
and Mr. Dobbs are standing right over there watching you.”

I followed his glance. Sims gave me a nod
when our eyes met, that
I’m keeping my eye on you, son
look.
I was pretty familiar with it, and I didn’t need another
suspension. I turned back to Marco who flicked his half-smoked
cigarette into the planter.

“You may not think much of me, but I am
telling you now,” I said, low, slow, and deadly serious, “I know
what’s in your head, and if you
ever
touch her I will find
you where you sleep and I will put a knife in your ribs. I don’t
need your kind strength for that. If you hurt Joss, nothing that
was between us in the past is going to keep me from fucking killing
you.”

Marco laughed in my face. “Thanks for the
warning. I’ll have to remind you about that while I’m making you
watch.”

“All right, we’re done now,” Eric said,
stopping my lunge by putting himself between us and walking me
backward. “Just cool it,” he said to me in a low voice. Dobbs and
Sims were on high alert, just itching to come over and break
something up. I let Eric keep pushing me. After several steps he
spun me around, got a grip on my shoulder and marched me off toward
the parking lot.

The power play wasn’t necessary, I couldn’t
take Marco and I knew it. I was letting Eric lead me off. It was
just a show for the benefit of anyone else who’d been watching.
Because Eric was cool like that.

“Thanks,” I told him.

“You can’t let him get to you like that.
Anyway, we’ve got a date with pizza and destiny.”

“Can’t. I have to find Joss.”

“She’ll be there. Kat’s looking for her now.
Matt’ll bring the girls over, but I saw you with Marco and figured
we’d go on ahead.”

“But Marco—”

“Is already leaving.”

I turned and saw Marco strolling off toward
the faculty lot. My gut was churning with frustrated rage, and
pizza was about the last thing I wanted to think about. I found I
wanted to think more about killing Marco with my bare hands, and
that wasn’t like me.

I thought about Joss.

Maybe it should be.

* * *

Marco

“
I will find you where you sleep and I
will put a knife in your ribs.”