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like he’d been. But he was mostly distant. It broke her heart.
    Adrienne was a little in love with Badger. Maybe fifty percent in love with him. But he didn’t feel that way about her, so she didn’t let herself get any further than the crush stage. She’d tried to make something happen a few times, and they’d made out a few times, but he always set her away right about the time she thought they’d go further than just kissing. He only wanted to be friends. She’d rather be friends than nothing, so she’d stopped trying to make it more than that. She knew it was true that he didn’t want more, because he wasn’t jealous. He didn’t mind when she was dating. In fact, he’d talked her through a rough breakup a year or so ago. He’d talked her through a couple of breakups, actually. She’d been dumped a lot. She didn’t really meet guys’ expectations.
    She and Badger, though, were buds. He was her best friend, really—which was probably sad, since they lived a thousand miles apart and she had this massive crush on him. But he was easy to talk to, and he didn’t just chat about nonsense like the girls she was supposed to be besties with. They talked about things that mattered—at least the things that mattered to them, to each other. Over the years, he’d learned more about her than anyone. Probably more even than her family. And she thought the same was true about how she knew him.
    But other than those few kisses, the closest they got physically was sitting together watching horror movies in Show and Shannon’s living room, when she’d bury her face in his arm or his chest during the scary parts. She made sure to be ‘scared’ pretty often.
    When she’d visited in January, he wouldn’t touch her at all. Not even a friendly hug. Heck, not even a handshake. She’d been in town for four days, and she’d seen him one time, and they had not touched even in passing. She’d left heartbroken, thinking that he didn’t even want to be friends any longer.
    And then, a couple of weeks later, he’d called her. Sobbing—and very clearly wasted out of his head. He’d been almost impossible to understand, but he’d rambled on about nightmares and pain and blood and…Adrienne had thought he’d had some kind of hallucination, because half the things she’d been able to make out from his garbled ravings had been too horrific to be real—too nightmarish even to be nightmares.
    Except when she took into account Show’s back. And Len’s eye. And Havoc. And Badger, who was just…broken.
    He’d seemed to come out of his fit a little at the end of the call. Panicking about what he’d disclosed, he’d sworn her to secrecy. Not sure exactly what secrets he’d revealed, she’d promised not to say anything to anyone. And she hadn’t. But then he’d cut contact completely. Until last week, when she’d threatened to tell Show. At least then, she’d gotten a text back.
    Something was really wrong. And even though he’d pulled away—or maybe because he’d pulled away—Adrienne couldn’t just sit in her father’s house in New Paltz, New York and wonder. She had to know. Without breaking her promise, she had only one option: see for herself. So here she was, getting out of her car in the Night Horde clubhouse lot.
    The night air was chilly and a little damp on this March night, so there were only a few people milling around outside, none of whom she recognized. They all watched her go in, though, their curiosity whetted. She smiled at their stares and opened the door.
    The room was redolent with sounds of country music and chatter, and the smell of weed, cigarettes, and booze. Except for the country music, it wasn’t that different from the few frat parties she’d attended at Columbia. Stopping just inside the door, she took it all in. Not a bad crowd, though not really a wild one. Some people were playing video games. Others were playing pool. Everybody was drinking. A couple of girls were dancing in a