Okay. He clearly had no interest in that subject either, so she tried another. “How come you moved four months before graduation?”
“Fuck if I know. Ask my dad. I learned not to question that asshole a long time ago, but you’re more than welcome to, if you feel like trying to have a conversation with the wall.”
She weighed that, slotting it into her mental calculus of him.
Nick apparently had no interest in further conversation. He gazed out the window at the skeletal trees. Beyond them, the steel mill loomed against a crystalline winter sky.
“Where do you live?” she ventured, once they’d reached town.
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “I’m not going home.”
She paused. “Okay. Where to, then?”
“I don’t care. Just... not there.”
His clipped tone silenced her again. Definitely not a happy home life.
She drove on, stealing sideways glances, lingering on the contour of Nick’s cheekbones, which looked even more prominent with his face angled away. Those, along with the upward tilt of his eyes, gave him a regal look, spoiled only mildly by the ruby bead welling on his lip.
She should probably get him cleaned up. If he didn’t soak the blood from his sweatshirt soon, it would stain. Thehowdidn’t pose much challenge—her parents would be at work for a few more hours, so she continued through Henderson and into her neighborhood.
Nick finally roused from his ruminations when she killed the engine in her driveway. “Where are we?”
“My house.”
He leaned forward for a look through the windshield. “You brought me to yourhouse?”
“Yeah. But don’t worry. No one’s home.”
“What? That’s even worse.” He twisted to look at her, his mouth a beautiful, bloodied slash. “I mean, I could be anybody. I could be some psycho trying to take advantage of you.”
“I’m pretty sure you aren’t.”
His brows knitted. “No, you’re not. You don’t know the first thing about me.”
Her fingers twined in her lap. He sounded almost affronted that she’d dared to trust him. “Yeah, I do. You let Gallant hityou. On purpose, just so he’d be the one who started it, not you. That tells me more than you realize.”
He sat back, blinking. “No. I wasn’t being... honorable, or anything. I just know what happens when the broke-ass new kid is the one who picks the fight. And it’s never good.”
She studied him. Spots of color battled for purchase on his cheeks, a betrayal.
“I think there was more to it than that,” she said. “I think you’re better than he is.”
“Not even a little.”
She chewed her lip and changed tack again. “Okay, fine, if not better, then more... gallant. Morenoble, if you will.”
That did the trick. His frigid standoffishness cracked. “You have to admit, that name is fucking ridiculous.”
A chuckle bubbled out. “It really is. Now come inside.”
She popped her door and climbed out. Nick stayed behind, frowning at her through the windshield, but eventually, he grabbed his backpack and emerged into the bracing air. He followed her to the front door, where she fumbled with her keys. Normally, she had the door open in seconds, but with those watchful dark eyes weighing her efforts, her fingers moved in slow motion.
When she eventually stepped into the entryway, he stayed on the stoop, first gazing up at the house, then at her. He seemed to wrestle with something.
Finally, the slope of his shoulders lowered, and he came inside. But not before he muttered under his breath, words Aubrey just barely caught.
“Why do I have the feeling I’m going to regret this?”
