The Departed

too.
    Slipping her hand into her pocket, she pulled her phone out, staring at the message that had come through on her way up to the floor. It was from Desiree Lincoln. I’ll be there in fifteen or twenty minutes.
    She’d be there.
    But what could she do? Tiffany wondered. What was Tiffany supposed to say… I saw a shadow, and the more I think about it, the more I think it was probably Brendan… She couldn’t swear to anything. There was just something about the way she’d seen the other boy looking at Beau, something about the way he stood there.
    Something about the way he had watched her only minutes ago with those cold, flat shark eyes.
    Fear was slippery and cold, turning her flesh to ice as she leaned against the nurses’ station counter and smiled at Laney Boldary, one of her mom’s Bunco buddies. “Hi, Laney.”
    “Hey…if it isn’t the local hero!” Laney said, smiling broadly.
    Tiffany flushed. Shit, she was tired of hearing that.
    Her throat went tight as Brendan came to a stop next to her. She couldn’t keep from tensing as he reached up and tugged on her hair. “That’s what I was calling her,” he said. “Saved my best friend’s life. Maybe the local hero would let me buy her dinner some night.”
    Laney lifted her eyebrows.
    Tiffany scooted away from Brendan before she even bothered to look at him. Once she had a few feet between them, she angled her head toward him and studied him.
    He had half the girls in school all but drooling over him—she knew that. Yeah, he was cute, but he was an asshole. And that overlong haircut was way overdone, she thought. Hell, everything about him was overdone, including the way he stood there watching her with his hands in his pockets and that waiting, expectant smile on his face.
    Like he just knew what her answer was going to be. People didn’t tell him no, right? His fucking looks didn’t even matter . The longer she stood there looking at him, the more certain she became. He’d been at Beau’s last night. That look on his face…yeah. He had been there. Even the way he moved, the way he was standing right now was eerily familiar. The same way she’d seen that shadowy figure moving.
    People didn’t tell him no ?
    Wanna bet? Tiffany stared at him silently for a few seconds and then looked away. “No.”
    She watched as Laney lowered her head to hide her smirk. From the corner of her eye, she saw Brendan—saw the way he stared at her, like he couldn’t believe what she had just said.
    She was standing close enough that she saw a flash of something in his eyes, saw the way his shoulders stiffened. But it was gone, fast; that angry, ugly look was gone and once more he was relaxed and easy, smiling at her.
    “Not even dinner? Lunch?” he teased.
    “Not even a piece of bread from the cafeteria downstairs,” she snapped, glaring at him, suddenly enraged. That bastard. It had been him last night—she knew it.
    His eyes narrowed on her face, glacier cold.
    Oh, God… She thought he’d been angry a second ago. She’d been wrong. So damn wrong. Fear could chase away anger in a heartbeat, Tiffany realized. Oh, hell. He knew. He knew that she knew—
    She backed away a step, and then another—
    Crashing into Dez Lincoln.
    “Whoa, Tiff.” One hand, soft and gentle, but strong, closed around her shoulder, squeezing lightly. “You need to kind of watch which way you walk, you know. Pay attention to what’s around you.”
    Tiffany darted a look up over her shoulder at Dez before looking back at Brendan. He was still staring at her and those lifeless shark’s eyes were looking at her like she was a bleeding seal.
    “Do you pay attention to things, Tiffany?” Dez continued, still holding her shoulder lightly. Protectively, it seemed. “I do. I see things. People. I watch them. Notice them…I bet you do, too.”
    Abruptly, Brendan jerked his gaze up, staring at Dez. Those shark eyes had found a new target, Tiffany thought, dazed.
    “Hello,” he said quietly.
    Dez smiled. “Hi, there.” She moved around Tiffany and stuck out her hand.
    COME on, you little prick .
    She didn’t want to be here—she had other things she needed to be doing. Taylor weighed heavy on her mind, and her heart broke for him, for Anna, for their parents.
    But she hadn’t been able to ignore that text from Tiffany, either. A cold shiver had danced along her spine—whether a reminder of the promise she’d made to Tristan or just a warning, she didn’t know. But