Page 61 of Lawton

Okay, I knew I'd been drinking, but even if I were stone-cold sober, this still wouldn't make any sense. If not my house, why not her own?

I paused. "My car?"

"Yeah," she said. "Itdoeshave heat, right?"

"Um, yeah?"

"And then," she said, "you could just give me a ride. See? Problem solved."

"A ride?" I felt my eyebrows furrow. "Where?"

"Um, well, I'm not sure yet."

I leaned closer. Was she hurt more than she looked? Slowly, careful not to startle her, I reached a hand to the side of her face. Her skin was dangerously cold. She leaned into me, and something in my heart melted. I wanted to gather her up and take her inside, whether she agreed or not.

But why wouldn't she agree? "How's your head?" I asked. "You bump it on the way down?"

"What?" She pulled back. "No. Of course not." Again, she glanced toward my house. "It's just that, well, you probably have people over, and –"

Suddenly, her reluctance made sense. Obviously, she'd heard the music, or maybe saw the cars.

"So?" I said. "I'll get rid of 'em."

She shook her head. "You don't have to do that."

"No big deal," I said. "It'll take just a minute."

She gave the house a worried look. "How manyarethere?"

I considered the mass of bodies. My house was big, and the place was packed. I shrugged. "Not that many."

From a few feet away, Bishop gave a snort of laughter.

God, did he have to be such a dick? I turned toward him and asked, "Don't you have something better to do?"

"Well," Bishop said, "I figure in a minute, I'll be asking fifty or so people to get the hell out of your house. So 'til then, I figure I might as well take it easy."

Finally, he was making some sense. I gestured toward the house. "Hey, do that, will ya?"

The corners of his mouth lifted. "Take it easy?"

This was no joke. "Quit messin' around," I told him. "No. Go back to the house, and get rid of them. I dunno, use your dick powers for good, not evil, or something."

"Well, this should be fun," he muttered, turning to go.

"Hey!" I called after him. "On your way back, cut the lights, will ya?"

His voice echoed through the trees. "Sure thing, Romeo."

I turned back to Chloe. She was shivering again. I reached out. "Come here," I said, wrapping my arms around her. She didn't fight it. Instead, she burrowed closer, snuggling against me like her life depended on it, which for all I knew, it did.

But when she pressed her cold cheek to my bare chest, I felt my body react with more than concern. I reminded myself that it wasn't me she wanted. It was the warmth. I wrapped my arms tighter, trying to shield her nearly naked body from the cold night air.

"You're freezing," I murmured into her hair. "Sure you don't want to head inside now? It's a big house. You wouldn’t have to see anyone, if that's what you're worried about."

She shook her head.

"You sure?" I asked.