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“Someone told me Nemo was cool.”
“She was lying.”
“What are we still doing out here? My dad’s probably gone by now.”
Blaze turned. “Why? Do you want to go back to the carnival? Maybe go to the haunted house?”
“No. But there’s got to be something else going on.”
“Not yet. Later there will be. But for now, let’s just wait.”
“For what?”
Blaze didn’t answer. Instead, she stood and turned around, facing the blackened water. Her hair moved in the breeze, and she seemed to stare at the moon. “I saw you earlier, you know.”
“When?”
“When you were at the volleyball game.” She motioned down the pier. “I was standing over there.”
“And?”
“You seemed out of place.”
“So do you.”
“Which is why I was standing on the pier.” She hopped up onto the railing and took a seat, facing Ro
Ro
“Does he live with his girlfriend?”
“I don’t think he has a girlfriend. Why?”
“Consider yourself lucky.”
“What are you talking about?”
“My dad lives with his girlfriend. This is his third one since the divorce, by the way, and she’s the worst by far. She’s only a few years older than I am and she dresses like a stripper. For all I know, she was a stripper. It makes me sick every time I have to go there. It’s like she doesn’t know how to act around me. One minute she tries to give me advice like she’s my mom, and the next minute she’s trying to be my best friend. I hate her.”
“And you live with your mom?”
“Yeah. But now she has a boyfriend, and he’s at the house all the time. And he’s a loser, too. He wears this ridiculous toupee because he went bald when he was like twenty or something, and he’s always telling me that I want to think about giving college a try. Like I care what he thinks. It’s just all screwed up, you know?”
Before Ro
Ro
“Do you know him?” Ro
Blaze nodded. “That’s Marcus.”
“Is he wearing some sort of protective coating on his hands?”
“No.”
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
“Not if you hold the fireball right. It’s awesome, though, isn’t it?”
Ro
“Where does he get the fireballs?”
“He makes them. I can show you how. It’s not hard. All you need is a cotton T-shirt, needle and thread, and some lighter fluid.”
As the music continued to blare, Marcus tossed the three fireballs to the guy with the Mohawk and lit two more. They juggled them back and forth between each other like circus clowns using bowling pins, faster and faster, until one throw went awry.
Except that it didn’t. The guy with the pierced eyebrow caught it soccer-ball style and began bouncing it from foot to foot as though it were nothing more than a Hacky Sack. After extinguishing three of the fireballs, the other two followed suit, the entire troupe kicking the two fireballs back and forth between them. The crowd started to clap, and money rained into the hat as the music built to a crescendo. Then all at once, the remaining fireballs were caught and extinguished simultaneously as the song thundered to a close.
Ro
“Who’s that?” he asked, motioning in Ro
“That’s Ro
Mohawk and Pierced Eyebrow joined Marcus and Blaze in their scrutiny, making Ro
“ New York, huh?” Marcus asked, pulling a lighter from his pocket and igniting one of the fireballs. He held the flaming orb motionless between his thumb and forefinger, making Ro
“Do you like fire?” he called out.
Without waiting for an answer, he threw the fireball in her direction. Ro
“You three,” he called out, pointing. “Out. Now. I’ve told you before that you can’t do your little show on the pier, and next time, I swear I’m go
Marcus held up his hands and took a step backward. “We were just leaving.”
The boys grabbed their coats and began moving up the pier, toward the carnival rides. Blaze followed, leaving Ro
4 Marcus
He’d known she would follow them. They always did. Especially the new girls in town. That was the thing with girls: The worse he treated them, the more they wanted him. They were stupid like that. Predictable, but stupid.
He leaned against the planter that fronted the hotel, Blaze wrapping her arms around him. Ro
Blaze, meanwhile, was nibbling on his neck, but he ignored that, too. He was sick of the way she always hung on him whenever they were out in public. Sick of her in general. If she weren’t so good in bed, if she didn’t know the things that really turned him on, he would have dumped her a month ago for one of the three or four or five other girls he regularly slept with. But right now he wasn’t interested in them, either. Instead, he stared at Ro
He pushed against Blaze’s hips, wishing she weren’t here. “Go get me some fries,” he said. “I’m kind of hungry.”
Blaze pulled back. “I only have a couple of dollars left.”
He could hear the whine in her voice. “So? That should cover it. And make sure you don’t eat any of them, either.”
He meant it. Blaze was getting a little soft in the belly, a little puffy in the face. No surprise considering that lately she’d been drinking almost as much as Teddy and Lance.
Blaze made a show of pouting, but Marcus gave her a little shove and she headed to one of the food booths. The line was at least six or seven deep, and as she reached the end of it, Marcus sauntered toward Ro