Quinn shrugged. “My life is full of secrets. Sometimes I’m sick of keeping them.” She paused, wondering if she was stupid to be here with Tyler. He hated the Merricks, that much was obvious. It was probably a violation of her friendship with Nick that she was even sitting here.

But she could hear every ounce of pain in Tyler’s voice when he spoke about what had happened to his sister. Could she blame him for that? If someone contributed to the death of someone in her family, then wandered around town like they hadn’t done anything wrong, how would she have dealt with it?

Well, if someone did something to her older brother, she’d probably send them a thank-you note.

She thought of Tyler’s anger in the driveway, when he’d confronted Nick. Was some of that pain? Resentment? Tyler had been a dick, for sure. But then again, Nick had threatened to kill him.

Who was right? It didn’t feel like either of them was.

“I’m really sorry about your sister,” she said quietly.

Tyler looked up at the sky. “Me, too. I was a crap brother. I wish I could go back and fix it.”

“Do you—”

“Hey.” He looked over, and she could see emotion in his eyes. “Would it be okay if we talked about something else?”

“Yeah.” She paused. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “Stop. Something else. Anything. Talk about dance. I was serious, earlier. Why aren’t you trying for a scholarship?”

“You don’t really care.”

“I do, actually. When I was watching you, I was thinking—” He broke off.

Quinn straightened. “What were you thinking?”

His voice turned sheepish. “Nothing. Forget it.”

She could only imagine what he’d been thinking. “Now you definitely need to tell me. Was it that you didn’t realize a full grown hippo could do spins like that?”

His head snapped around. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I know I’m not built like a typical dancer.”

“What does that even mean? Are you another one of these girls who tries to live on carrots and hot water?”

She waved the taquito in his face. “No, but I probably should be.”

“You’re insane, baby girl.” He paused and rubbed at his jaw. “I was thinking that Nick Merrick is one lucky bastard.”

Quinn flushed, pleased.

At the same time, she felt a curl of anger. Sometimes she hated being Nick’s pretend girlfriend.

“Yeah,” Tyler continued, “I don’t know a whole lot about dance—just what I remember from Emily—but if anyone is going for a scholarship, you should be.”

Quinn swallowed. “There’s an application fee, and it’s extremely competitive, and I don’t—it’s just—”

“Afraid of competition?” His eyes were dark and shadowed, his voice rough. “You don’t strike me as the type.”

He did not sound sexy. He did not.