If it weren’t for the fact that this was the last guy Kori had gone to see and I’d been desperate to know why, I’d have assaulted him with my bag and taken off like a track star, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I should stay. That if I understood why Kori had gone to meet him—I’d understand why she was gone.

“I didn’t call the cops, my paranoid friend did.”

His shoulder twitched, and some of his anger slid away. “Right. Well, just keep your book bag holstered, okay?”

I shrugged it off and set it down as a show of good faith. “Like your hair. Looks better dark. What happened to your gang tatts?”

“I was …” He tucked his chin and let out a low masculine laugh. He no longer seemed all that set on intimidating me, so I let myself relax a little. “Okay, this is embarrassing. I was in character, you could say, for my little cousin’s birthday. She’s obsessed with Eminem. The blond hair was supposed to be temporary. The box lied.”

I wanted to smile, because it sounded funny and kind of sweet, and I was picturing him with a turban towel and latex gloves, but still—this was a guy who I’d last seen being hauled into a police car.

“Was it you on the computer?” His eyes hardened again, making me step backward. “The whole time?”

“No. I mean at first, yeah. But I told her about it. She’s the one who asked you to meet her in Golden. That wasn’t me. Um, did you …”

“What she and I did or didn’t do is none of your business.” He closed the distance between us. I took another step back and he stopped. “So, why did you want to meet me?”

“I …” I tried to swallow but my mouth had gone a little dry. “I don’t want anything.”

He softened, hearing the discomfort in my voice, and said, “Sorry I scared you.”

I nodded, not feeling like he was all that sorry.

“I thought you were Kori. You’d been sitting with your friends, and I kept waiting for you to be alone. When you were, I just reached out and grabbed you, not realizing how it would look or seem. Not realizing you didn’t know who I was.” He flexed his jaw. And when I dared to glance up, I saw that his eyes were vacant and hard. “I didn’t know what had happened to Kori. They told me when they brought me in and started asking me all sorts of questions.”

“I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have had to find out like that.”

“So?” he asked, mildly impatient. “Why did you want to meet me?”

“You were the last one to see—” I swallowed, but her name stayed thick and unmoving in my throat.