He looked at her. “Yeah, you look like you’re trying really hard. Let’s cut the crap. What’s really up with you and Merrick?”

“He’s busy, that’s all. What do you care?”

“Maybe I don’t want to babysit his girlfriend.”

“Fuck you.” Quinn stood with enough force to make the chair scrape back a few inches.

Tyler caught her arm. “Stop. I’m messing with you.”

She turned fierce eyes his way. “No one needs to babysit me.”

“No kidding.” His voice softened, just a little, just enough. “Sit down. Eat your taquito. I don’t like them extra spicy.”

She sat in the chair and unwrapped the paper, taking a small bite from the end. It was like a heart attack rolled up in a tortilla and fried, but she was starving. “What’s really up with you and Merrick?”

His voice was bitter. “You already know.”

“No,” she said. “I don’t think I do.”

“I don’t want to talk about them.”

“Do you really want to kill them?”

“I don’t need to kill them. That’s what the Guides are for.”

“Would you do it, if you could?”

“I don’t really want to go to prison for doing someone else’s job.”

“Aren’t you a big bad Fire Elemental? Couldn’t you burn down their house or something?”

“No!” he snapped with sudden fury. “That wouldn’t make me any better than them. That’s the whole reason they’re supposed to be put to death. They are a danger. Don’t you get that?”

She ignored his sudden vehemence, keeping her voice level. “Do you really think they deserve to die, for what they are?”

He didn’t say anything for a long while, twisting the bottle of Mountain Dew in his hands, making the plastic crackle. He sat that way for so long that she didn’t think he was going to say anything.

Finally, he said, “You were right. When my sister died, she was with that douche bag. My friends and I were going after them. But I didn’t start that fucking rockslide. And even if Mike Merrick didn’t start it, he sure as hell didn’t stop it.” His voice tightened. “That rock hit her, and he didn’t even get her out of the water in time. He let her die, okay? So if someone wants to come to town and kill them, I’m sure as hell not going to get in their way. If that makes me a psychopath, fine. There’s no secret about how I feel.”

“No secret,” she replied. “I like that.”

He turned and looked at her, eyebrows raised.