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tube of antibiotic ointment in
the middle drawer, but before I can even take the top off, he takes
it from me. He clasps my injured hand in one of his and rubs the
medication into it with the other. Taking care of me.
    It's weird. No one has doctored my
booboos in years. Probably not since I was about five.
    Brett keeps his focus on my hand. "What
were those things?" His voice is low, serious.
    I freeze. Only for a second, but with
my hand in his, I’m sure he notices.
    "What do you mean?" I ask, faking like
I don't know.
    He lifts his face and frowns at me,
quirking his eyebrows. "They had fangs," he says. "Super strong.
Remember?"
    "Bad Halloween costume?" I rip my hand
away from his and snatch up the cream, slipping behind him on the
pretense of caring for the wound behind his elbow.
    He doesn't buy it, watching me intently
in the mirror.
    But I can't tell him. He isn't a
Chaser, and normal humans aren't supposed to know about the vamp
population or our activities.
    I rub the medication onto his skin,
focusing on what I'm doing.
    "That's your story?
Seriously?"
    I shrug, not meeting his eyes in the
mirror. "Done," I say.
    "Uh-uh," he grunts, pointing to the
scrape on his jaw.
    I raise my eyebrows at him. Clearly he
can reach it himself.
    But he waits. And waits.
    So I huff a sigh and move in front of
him. He crowds me into the counter, all up in my personal
space.
    I dab the stuff on his jaw as quickly
as I can. "It's not that bad," I murmur.
    Thankful. It could've been so much
worse.
    "So what are you going to tell your
mom?"
    I look up at him. He's so
close. I flick my eyes down. " We're going to tell her that we fell off the
four-wheeler, but it wasn't a big deal."
    He scrutinizes me, eyes stormy. "You
think she'll buy that? She just saw us ride up on the
bike."
    I nod.
    "So you want me to lie to your mom, but
you won't tell me what I'm hiding for you?"
    I should make something up, tell him
he’s crazy for thinking those guys were anything but normal humans.
I should, but when I look into his deep blue eyes, all the
intelligent thoughts leak out of my head. "Basically, yeah," I
blurt before I can think better of it.
    "You're going to owe me."
    I can't tell if he's joking.
    At this point, I'm willing to do
anything to keep my mom from finding out what happened.

 
     
    7 - Emily
    I'm brushing the last of the tangles
from my hair before bed when there's a knock on my bedroom
door.
    My mom peeks her head in. "Just how
naïve do you think I am?"
    My heart starts pounding. I turn away,
yanking on a particularly stubborn knot, pretending I don't know
what she's talking about.
    Did Uncle Felix narc on me?
    She steps into my room without waiting
for an invitation. Usually, that means she's upset with
me.
    I'm hot all over, trying to come up
with something to say that will make her understand that I didn't
have a choice but to fight back against those vamps. They were
trying to kill us.
    "You and that boy, Brett. I can't
believe you haven't told me you're dating someone."
    Relief soars through me. This isn't
about vampires. At the same time, I tense up.
    "Mom, we're not really—" I
start to say, we're not
dating , but stop myself. "We're not
serious."
    "That's not how it looked to me. Just
how long have you been seeing him?"
    I shrug and place the brush back on my
mirrored-dresser. "We practice at the same dojo. We've known each
other for years."
    When I turn back to her, her face is
shining with joy.
    She looks older somehow. Two years ago,
before my dad died, she spent most of her time working with local
charities on their board of directors, eating lunch with her fancy
friends.
    I don't think she's been out of the
house in weeks, even though she's been heavily involved in
preparations for my big event, the cotillion.
    "Will you invite him to your party?"
she asks.
    Heck no .
    But she's so hopeful that the denial
sticks in my throat. It's been a long time since she's been
satisfied with me. What could it hurt to let her