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“And that’s not the only thing he’s done with me,” I whispered in her ear.

Dawn turned bright red, then laughed out loud.

The X-rays showed that no bones were broken. Her pointer was just bruised, and that would heal quickly. But her middle finger was in worse shape: A small fracture had formed in the bone, causing pain and swelling. She’d have to wear a splint for two weeks, take painkillers, and avoid using her fingers until her follow-up appointment in three weeks.

When we left the treatment room, Dawn placed her head on my shoulder. “Please don’t tell Spencer about this. That would be embarrassing.”

“My lips are sealed,” I promised her with a laugh, and even gave the gesture that went along with the saying. But Dawn wasn’t looking at me anymore. Instead she stared into the waiting room at Spencer, sitting there next to Kaden. Kaden said something, Spencer laughed and patted him on the back. His right eye looked bad: blue and purple and nearly swollen shut.

Why was he here? Had Kaden called him?

As if he’d read my mind, Kaden looked up. He began to smile but stopped when he saw the bandage on Dawn’s hand.

We went over to them. Dawn was shifting her weight from one foot to the other. I’d never seen her embarrassed.

“The way the two of us look,” she murmured, raising up her bandaged arm. “Like a gang of thugs.”

Spencer grinned. With his swollen eye he did look pretty scary. “An unsuccessful gang of thugs. And Allie is our boss or something like that. She’s the only one who’s come away unscathed.”

“Spencer,” growled Kaden.

“Of course I could help out with that and give you a few black and blue marks, so you could feel like you belong. What do you think?”

Kaden’s fist went into his arm.

“Oh, come on, dude! Do you have to?” Spencer groaned and rubbed the spot.

“Yes,” we chimed in together.

Then we all burst out laughing.