He chuckled. “And I’m supposed to tell you to go home and get some rest.”

“Huh?”

“The Lieutenant’s about six steps ahead of you on this one, Captain. Take a night off, Lela. Things have been quiet.”

I gripped the phone hard. “Fine. What are you up to?”

“Tegan called me. She’s having a thing tonight at her house. People getting together to share their memories of Aden and the other girl who killed herself.”

Jim’s job tonight was to monitor and guard our friends. That usually meant phone and Facebook, but today was Friday. “Her name was Nadia,” I said. “I might see you there. I’m waiting for Ian.”

Jim grunted. “All right. Malachi’s not going to be happy. He wanted you to get some sleep.”

“It’s none of his concern,” I said, mimicking Malachi’s cold words from earlier. “He needs to focus on patrolling the East Side and making sure no one gets dragged away. Let’s leave him to it, okay?”

“Far be it from me to interfere.”

“Thanks. And Jim? No drinking. No … doing other things. Remember what we talked about.”

“Sure, Captain.”

Ian came out of the field house carrying a long duffel bag. His hair was wet from the shower, and he’d changed into jeans and a long-sleeved sweater that was snug across his chest and shoulders.

“Hey,” he greeted, his face brightening with his dimpled smile.

I clicked my phone off without saying good-bye to Jim, my mouth suddenly a little too dry as I processed what Tegan had said about Ian. “Hi. I assume we’re going to Tegan’s?”

He looked down at his feet. “Would you mind if we didn’t?”

If we went to Tegan’s, I could help Jim guard the others. If we went somewhere else, all I’d have to do was guard Ian, although, looking up at all six feet four inches of him, it didn’t really look like he needed it. If we were alone, I might have to worry more about guarding myself.

“Um.” I cleared my throat. “What else did you want to do?”

Without raising his head, he said, “Movie? I just … don’t want to think about anything. I want to do something fun.”

He’d echoed my wishes exactly. I didn’t want to be a friend in mourning. I didn’t want to be a Guard. I wanted to be a girl. A normal girl. One who went to movies and ate popcorn and didn’t kill people. For just one night.

“Sounds good,” I whispered.