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“You drove my car here!”
“And I’ll drive it right back home if you don’t watch your mouth, Little Demon. You did skip out on our run. One on the way home now is just as good.”
“I swam with Vaughn instead.”
The playfulness in Kian’s expression clouded over. “No talking about him tonight. Let’s just go watch the movie.”
That was probably safer. The theater at Saint View wasn’t far from Psychos, so we walked the couple of blocks. Something I never would have done without him beside me.
“I’m jealous you don’t even have to worry about getting jumped out here alone at night.”
He glanced down at me. “You do?”
“Always.” I pulled my knuckle-dusters out. “These do help me feel a bit more secure. I didn’t have them that night when I really needed them though.”
“You needed a gun that night. Nothing else would have stopped them.”
I knew he was right. “Soon,” I murmured. I already had the gun, on permanent lend from my old neighbor. It held bullets mentally engraved with Caleb’s, Leonn’s, and Hugh’s names.
Kian’s gaze burned through me, but I didn’t look up at him.
“We’re here. After you.” Kian held open the door to the theater.
The inside was nothing fancy. Deep-red carpet with an elegant gold swirling pattern covered the floor. It had probably once been stunning but now it was dirty from the feet of thousands who’d watched movies here over the years. There were marks that even Kian wouldn’t have been able to remove with his selection of special chemicals and powders. One young woman worked behind the counter that served as both a ticket booth and a candy bar, and she busily served the short line of people waiting.
Kian and I joined the end of the line, behind an older man standing alone. He turned around and smiled when we stopped behind him, and I flashed one back.
The man did a double take and opened his mouth like he was about to say something but then just smiled again and faced the front once more.
I stared at his back. There was something familiar about him, and the way he’d reacted had been odd. But Kian hadn’t said anything, so maybe I was imagining things.
We inched forward, and the man spoke with the girl behind the counter, ordering a ticket for the movie marathon playing in the other theater opposite the one we were going to, as well as a popcorn and a drink.
She took his money and handed him his purchases. He walked away, but I didn’t miss the little look he shot me over his shoulder.
“Do you know that guy?” Kian asked, pushing some money toward the woman after ordering our tickets and snacks. He watched over my shoulder in the direction the man had moved. “He keeps staring at you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
Kian’s frown deepened. “Should I go tell him to back off then? I don’t like how much he’s looking at you.”
I gripped his arm before he could, a gut instinct fueling the action. I could feel the man’s gaze, but it didn’t feel creepy, like he was checking me out. More like he was trying to work me out.
Even weirder was the urge to do the same to him.
We eyed each other across the lobby, both of us waiting for the theater doors to open and our showing to begin.
At eleven twenty-five, an employee opened the theater doors from the inside, locking them into the open position so we could walk through. I was just about to enter when a hand grabbed my arm.
“Rebel?”
I spun to find the man from the line.
Kian knocked his hand away. “Hey. Don’t touch her.”
But the instant the man had said my name, I knew who he was. It jogged loose a myriad of old memories, ones I wouldn’t have been able to recall if you’d asked me, but they all came flooding back from the sound of my name on his lips. “Dad?”
Kian froze, but I couldn’t worry about him. The older man beamed at me and nodded quickly.