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trying to pull him up again. “Asshole doesn’t even begin to cover it. So again, fuck no.”

    “I’m getting out, Nat. I swear it, or I wouldn’t have come to you.”

    “I want that for you, Josh. I really do. But you can’t come here and make these pretty promises, these lies. Not this shit all over again. I’m too old for it.”

    “You’re as old as me. Youngest person in your graduating class in med school. I read it in the paper.” I blush. Now, intellectually, I shouldn’t trust a damn thing this boy says. My heart never quite catches up to my brain when it comes to Josh, though. “Mighty impressive,” he adds.

    “I didn’t even think you knew I was back home, Josh.”

    “You’re my best friend, Nat. I’ve read every email and every update. And your friend Summer at the hospital told me that you were back at the old house.” Heat pricks behind my eyes, and I look away. I won’t let him see me tear up. “Please Nat. I won’t bug you again. But there are things in motion here, and I need your help.”

    “Fine,” I say. “But you need stitches, and I guess I have to drag your sorry ass up to the clinic to do it.”  

    I pause for a second and wonder if it’s worth risking my job for this man. The head nurse there had told me I could come any time, but the hospital would probably take a different view entirely.  

    Josh grabs hard onto my arm and catches my gaze. “Thank you,” he says again.

    “Come on, you trifling douchebag. I’m not getting any younger.”  

    I try to ignore the laughter that bubbles out of Josh—and the rush of excitement I feel as we walk out of the door and into the rain.

    As good as I was, I always loved sneaking around with him. And if I get him out of my house in two days’ time, well, it won’t do me one bit of harm to take care of him for a spell.

CHAPTER THREE

    The wind rocks Natalie’s car from side to side on the bridge. Her poor Civic can’t keep up with the thunderstorms that blast through the sound in the early autumn. I haven’t sat in the passenger’s seat since the day I left Manteo high school for good, and fuck, she cursed me the hell out that day.  

    Dammit, Joshua. “Dammit” was a big deal for her back then—she still bought into that religious ideal her daddy preached, even when he was hitting the bottle hard and robbing the convenience store at three o’clock in the morning. Fine to steal and drink, terrible to curse or take the lord’s name in vain, God forbid. Dammit Joshua. You’ve gone and got me cursin’, dropping out of high school like every other idiot in this town. I laugh, and I can feel her rolling her eyes next to me. I can’t turn, but I know she’s got her eyes rolled so far back in her head she can probably see her big brain.  

    “You think this is funny? Coming out of nowhere and dragging me into your mess?” Her voice is ragged around the edges, and her eyes are bloodshot. I feel a pang in my gut. I shouldn’t have come to her, not yet. But the desire for her grew so great—especially when the hurt started consume me.

    “No, I don’t think it’s funny. I was just thinking about—”

    “You got a lot of nerve, boy. I’ve been worried about you for years, and you show up out of nowhere. I don’t even know if my car can make it in this storm.” Her voice is hoarse, knuckles white against the steering wheel. As if in response, the Civic nearly spins out when we hit a deep puddle half way across the bridge. A tractor trailer zooms past us, adding a gritty spray of water to the blinding sheets of rain.  

    “Might not. But as righteous as you are, I know you can’t resist this medical shit. I’ve got a really weird gash on my head, and I know your fingers are itching to stitch on it.” She laughs, breathy and fine.  

    “You got me pegged, I guess. That cut looks ragged. And I’ll sew it up, even though you disappeared and I ain’t heard from you until this very moment.” She