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won’t argue with you, because I need to get to my Aunt Lottie. Uh, thank you.”
    She walked out the door while I stood in line impatiently waiting my turn. Finally, I just dropped a fifty near the register and burst out of the diner door, looking for her. When I found her I froze.
    Aubree had crossed the street, and her path was now blocked by a hulking Daniel Langston, deceptively handsome, and six feet, two inches of just plain mean. Not the kind of ring-your-doorbell-and-run prank kind of mean, but evil mean. He wore his blonde hair combed straight back from his face, drawing attention to his eyes, which were the color of amber, and to his controlled, cruel smile. I wanted to plant my fist in his face. Already, at nineteen, lines of indulgence were etched beside those tawny eyes and around his weak mouth.
    Adrenaline shot into my bloodstream. I crossed the street quickly and heard him say, “Where you been at, Aubree? Too bad about your aunt.”
    Aubree looked up at him, her brows pulling together in annoyance, her face pale. When she reset the Einstein bag on her shoulder, her fingers were trembling. An irritated spark ignited a fire in my belly.
    “You know where I’ve been. This town is always a hotbed of gossip. And you sound soooo sorry about my aunt.”
    When she tried to go around him, he stepped into her path again. “Don’t you have time for an old school buddy?”
    Aubree laughed harshly. “We were never buddies , Daniel, and this is getting old. Move out of my way.”
    “I was just wondering. Back last summer before you left for school, did you happen to see my brother? Damien always had a soft spot for you…or should I say hard spot?”
    I watched her turn paler, and I damned Daniel and his no-account brother to eternal Hell. My own personal philosophy was live and let live. But when Langston messed with people weaker than him, I couldn’t look the other way. And now the bastard had gone too far. He was hurting Aubree.
    “No. I didn’t see him. We both know how your brother felt about me.”
    All pretense of good cheer left Daniel’s voice when she shouldered past him. “You little fucking do-gooder. Don’t turn your back…”
    His tawny eyes were cold and flat as gold coins. She kept walking. He jumped after her and fastened his big, hammy hand over her shoulder, preparing to spin her around.
    The fire that had burned low leapt inside me. I came up behind him and wedged the toe of my sneaker in front of the bastard’s ankle. As Aubree twisted away from the man’s touch, I jerked back, and he went sprawling face-down into the gutter. His breath gusted out of him in a painful grunt.
    “Oh, hey, I’m sorry, Danny boy,” I said without a drop of sincerity. “I guess I wasn’t lookin’ where I was goin’.”
    Langston shoved himself up onto his hands and knees, coughing and spitting dirt in between curses. He shot a nasty look at me over his shoulder, his face almost purple beneath the layer of gritty dirt.
    “Langston, watch your tongue. There are young’uns around here. What would your daddy, the pillar of the community, say to that?”
    “I should have known you’d be sniffing after her, Outlaw. Like a cur in heat,” Langston snarled. He hauled himself to his feet, trying in vain to dust his clothes off. His eyes locked on to me in a stare as hard and cold as the hounds of hell. “You trying to polish up that white trash reputation?”
    “No, my reputation has to do with an almost two-hundred-year old relative. What’s your excuse?”
    “I don’t have to take that from you, Outlaw,” Langston said, his voice low and thrumming with anger. He took a step toward me.
    “Go ahead, Langston. Take a swing. Please.” I said, just as low, but my voice was calm as the gulf before a hurricane. My brothers hated it when I talked like that. They knew it meant I was about to blow.
    “Mr. Big-Shot-Best-Selling-Author. You’re nothing but a no-account, conceited piece of trash. All the