“That kid’s weird,” Graham said before crossing his arms and looking back to Ash. “So I know Kincaid talks a lot and she trusts you.”

“Right,” Ash said, still not following.

“So you must know who’s on her list.”

The final bell for bus riders sounded as a few freshmen hurried by. Ash’s dad’s bulldog voice came over the intercom, announcing football practice would start fifteen minutes late. The requisite shudder at hearing his father’s voice went through him. Ash closed his locker and turned to Graham. “Her list?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged a shoulder. “You know, of guys she’s slept with.”

Ash stiffened. “What?”

“Come on,” Graham said, tone light but brown eyes serious. “You two have been friends forever. You know who she’s dated.”

Ash scowled as he hitched his backpack onto his shoulders, and the two of them started to walk down the hall. “So do you.”

“Yeah, but a lot of those guys were just casual things. I’m talking about the ones who were more than that. I mean, I’m assuming that asshole Nick Lightman because she wouldn’t have pulled that stunt last year when he cheated on her if he hadn’t meant something to her.”

Ash smirked. He’d helped Kincaid buy the discounted dog food at the Feed and Farm for that big show. It’d taken the two of them a full hour to load Nick’s convertible with all that kibble. But when Nick had walked outside and seen the word Dawg scrawled across his windshield and his precious Mustang filled with dog food, Ash had almost given himself away because he couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. That prick had had it coming.

But Ash didn’t like the direction this conversation was going. Graham was a good friend to him, a good guy in general. But lately, the way he’d been talking and acting about Kincaid was giving Ash a queasy feeling. “If you want to know, why don’t you ask her?”

“Because she made me promise early on that we wouldn’t discuss past relationships.” Graham peeked over his shoulder as if to verify Kincaid wasn’t behind him. “I think she worries that I’m going to think she’s a slut or something.”

The word was like a record scratch in Ash’s ears. Of all the things someone could call Kincaid, that word would cut her the deepest. “You can’t blame her for being worried. It’s been thrown at her before.”

“It’s not her fault who her mother is,” Graham said with a frown. “You know I don’t judge her for that.”

Ash adjusted his backpack on his shoulders, the weight feeling somehow heavier all of a sudden. “But would you if you found out she’d slept with ten guys before you?”

His head turned Ash’s way, his jaw hardening. “There were ten?”

Ash’s frown deepened at Graham’s reaction. The guy looked ready to crack someone’s skull. “Dude, calm down. I have no idea what her number is or who’s on her list. She doesn’t tell me about that stuff. But why does it matter? As long as she’s not sleeping with other people while she’s with you, it’s the past. You have a list, too.”