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When I peeked at him, I saw that he had his cell propped between his cheek and shoulder. He took a sharp turn skillfully, the phone not affecting his ability to handle the Jeep at all.
    “Come on…come on…” he muttered to himself as the ringing continued.
    I jumped a moment later, when he hurled the phone into the center console, and spit out a string of curse words. Apparently, he hadn’t gotten an answer.
    He took another hard turn, ignoring a stop sign, and I was glad I had thought to put on my seatbelt. If anything, it had kept me from being tossed into his lap. He screeched around a second turn, and I had to grab the dashboard to keep myself from flying into the door. I shot him a nasty look. From the familiar houses I saw passing by his head in a blur, I determined we were heading for my house.I stared at the road in front of us as he turned into the development without slowing down, and the white split-level appeared in the headlights. I pictured Gran sitting inside, working on one of her knits or watching David Letterman. 
    He brought the Jeep to a sudden stop in front of the house. My seat belt caught, keeping my head from slamming against the dash. He was already out, coming around to my side, and opened the door as I unhooked my seatbelt.
    “Come on,” he ordered, and started up the walkway without bothering to wait for me.
    He acted like he owned the place. I slammed the door behind me, and scurried to catch up to him. I froze half way across the yard when he opened the front door and strode on in exactly like he owned the place. 
    Oh, Gran was going to love this. I couldn’t help but grin as I ran the rest of the way. I didn’t want to miss the look on his face when Gran got ahold of him. I couldn’t imagine what she would do, but I didn’t want to miss it.
    The last thing I expected was for her to rise from her chair with a smile.
    “Nathan,” she breathed as she rushed forward to greet him.
    I hadn’t seen Gran move that fast, well, ever. So she knew him. And his name was Nathan? I made a face. That didn’t sound like such a bad ass name. For some reason, I had expected something tougher sounding. 
    As she pulled him in for a hug right in front of me, I realized I was the oddball in the room. And I had no idea what kind of screwed up world I had been living in all along.
    They dove into a rapid discussion with words I had never heard of before. Stunned from the start, I had a hard time following. One thing was for certain. I had not been randomly dropped off with Gran six years ago. He had chosen her, and Gran had known about him all along. I looked back and forth between them as they talked around me, and tried to make sense of something. Anything. Nothing clicked into place.
    He asked Gran about “the boy” I was with for the third time and that did it.
    “His name is Alec,” I snapped, “and he didn’t do anything. You pulled a knife on him.”
    They both turned to me. His eyes looked capable of cutting through steel. Gran’s were as soft as always. She offered me a sad smile before returning her attention to him.
    “I never met him,” she said with a shake of her head. “I never thought...” She trailed off, visibly upset with herself.
    “I was watching. He’s not one of us,” Nathan muttered. 
    I wanted to ask what Alec was then, but before I could turn the smart-ass-switch on, Nathan turned to me with another order. “Go pack a bag of some necessities, enough clothes for a few days.” He eyed my outfit critically. “You should probably change into something more practical, and comfortable shoes.”
    Other than to fold my arms over my chest, I didn’t budge. I was starting to hate this guy as much as I hated being talked down to by him. This was my hero? The guy I have, literally, dreamt of my whole life? He was kind of a jerk. I glanced at Gran, who smiled warmly at me. Why couldn’t some of her sweetness rub off on him?
    “Go on, honey. Pack quick,” she said,