But I’m not a coward. So I brushed his black silky hair off the smooth skin of his neck — the same neck I had kissed not long ago. I could smell his clean Fang smell, the one he inexplicably had even when he was noticeably filthy and covered in gore.

And I looked.

And saw … just smooth, plain, tan Fang skin. I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

“No date,” I quickly told the others, and they visibly relaxed.

“Do I have a date?” Dylan’s quiet voice almost made me jump — I’d forgotten that he was there.

“I don’t know,” I said. “You were made by different people, I think.”

uncertainty played across his once-again-gorgeous face. I took pity on him. “I could … look. I guess.”

He came to stand close to me, and turned his back. His streaky blond hair wasn’t as long as Fang’s, but I still had to push it out of the way. And tug down a tiny bit on the neck of his maroon T-shirt. I hadn’t been this close to Dylan before, and I realized that he smelled good in a completely different way. Clean. Spicy.

Then I realized what I was thinking, and my cheeks burned. I took a fast look at his neck and snatched my hands away. “No date. Not that that means anything.”

“At least you don’t have one,” said my mom. “We know what having one means; we don’t know what not having one means.”

Still, Angel’s note had reignited the fears I’d tried to bury. What if all of the attacks in recent days had been meant for Fang? The Eraser attack, the Cirque shooter, the Furioso incident — what if all of these had been designed to get Fang? I remembered how Dylan had chopped the woman’s gun out of her hand at the restaurant.

He just might have saved Fang’s life.

Chapter 69

69

“WHERE DOES DR. GOD hang out?” I asked. “Where exactly has Angel gone? How did she know where to find him?”

Nudge headed to our computer. “On it.”

“I’ll go with you,” Fang told me, already starting to load his pockets with knives, throwing stars, Snickers bars.

“No,” I said, trying to sound calm. “I’ll go by myself.”

He straightened up, and let me tell you, it was all I could do not to crumble and beg him to come with me. Any fight was possible with Fang as my backup. Any trip was more fun. But what if this was all designed to get him? I just didn’t know. I couldn’t take that chance. The thought of anything happening to Fang … it was much worse than thinking of anything happening to me.

Fang, typically, didn’t start pelting me with questions. Instead he looked at me, cocked his head slightly, and thought things through.