Page 44 of Talon

“Well?” she said by way of greeting, snatching one of the cups, clamping down on the straw like she wanted to bite it in half. “I’m mad at you, Em,” she announced without waiting for a reply. “You have me pick you up and drive you to the cove to meet Garret, and then you don’t even call to tell me how it went. I’ve been sitting on pins and needles for hours. So come on, Em. Spill...” She knocked on the table. “You and Garret were in the cove by yourselves, all afternoon. What happened? Anything fun?” She leaned in, smiling like a conspirator. “Did you show him how to skinny-dip?”

“What? No!” I made a face at her, feeling my cheeks redden. “Get your brain out of the sewer, guttersnipe. Nothing like that happened.”

“Butsomethinghappened, right?” Lexi watched me carefully, searching my face for the truth. Suddenly self-conscious, I shrugged, and she frowned. “Ember, please. I saw you two at the mall yesterday. I know there’s something there. As my best friend, you are obligated to tell me everything in your life that deals with or around gorgeous boys. That’s part of the deal.”

“I don’t remember signing that contract,” I mumbled.

“Read the fine print, darling. Did he kiss you?”

My pulse jumped, but I shook my head. “No.”

“Didyoukiss him?”

“Um...”

Lexi shrieked. I shushed her, frowning, and she lowered her voice, grinning like a loon. “I knew it! I knew there was something between you two.” She regarded me triumphantly. “Say it! Say I was right.”

“All right, yes! Fine, I kissed him. You were right.”

“Thank you. See, that wasn’t hard.” Lexi smiled sagely, and settled back to hear the rest of it. “So, what happened after you kissed him?”

“Nothing.” Now that I’d confessed, I couldn’t keep the sadness from my voice, the regret of what had followed. “I guess I freaked out a little. I had him take me home after that. We didn’t even talk.” Sighing, I picked moodily at the table. “I called you just a few minutes after he dropped me off. He probably hates me now, or at least thinks I’m an absolute freak.”

“I seriously doubt that.” When I didn’t answer, she drummed her fingers on the wood, impatient. “You are going to see him again, right? Tell me you’re going to see him again.”

“I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know? You like him, don’t you?”

“I...” I hesitated, thinking. I was a dragon; we weren’t supposed to have these kinds of feelings. But whenever I thought of Garret,somethingwas definitely there. What did attraction feel like, anyway? Was it grinning every time you heard his voice, or feeling breathless whenever he turned his gaze on you? Was it wanting to see his smile, to hear his laughter because you knew something you said made him happy? I’d neverfeltanything like this before, that sense of just wanting to be near someone, to be close. And if that was the case... “I guess...I do.”

I liked Garret. A human.

Lexi nodded. “And he likes you, too. Don’t give me that doubting look, Em. Trust me, I’ve seen it before, and the boy has it bad. Why do you think he keeps showing up and hanging around?” She leaned back and grinned, confident in her analysis. “He’s completely smitten with you.”

Strangely, that thought made my stomach flutter. That someone like Garret could return my feelings... But this was so new. I never expected I could feel like this. I wasn’tsupposedto feel like this, not according to Talon.

Glancing at Lexi, I gave her a pleading look, my voice coming out kind of desperate. “So, what am I supposed to do now?”

“Oh, Ember.” Lexi patted my arm with a confident smile, sixteen years of human experience shining through. “That’s easy. When you see him again, you pick up where you left off. And you don’t run away this time.”

“It might be too late for that.” I sighed, putting my chin in my hands, suddenly morose. “I have no idea where he is. I didn’t even get a phone number or an email.” Ironic, really, that my first real step as a human was also the thing that had driven him away. And now, I was dejected. Over aboy.Was this why dragons weren’t supposed to have human emotions? They made everything so complicated.

But Lexi was undeterred. “Ember, please. I know this town like the back of my hand, and it’s not a big place. We already know his apartment’s on the main strip. We’ll find him, trust me.”

“You’re awfully confident about that.”

She snorted. “A hottie like Garret kisses you and then vanishes without a trace? I’d be a sucky best friend if I didn’t help you get him back.”

Best friend.Until recently, I thought Dante was my only real friend. It had always been just us against everything. But I couldn’t talk to my brother about the human boy I had feelings for. He wouldn’t understand. Not only did Lexi understand these crazy, alien emotions, she was encouraging me to act on them.

I gave her a grateful smile. “Thanks, Lex.”

She grinned back, looking sly. “No problem. Just remember, when we find him again, I want to hearalllllthe juicy details from here on. That’s my fee for helping you. Leave nothing out, okay?”

I laughed. “You’re horrible.”

“A girl has to have a hobby. And admit it, you’d be lost without me.”

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