Nick blushed as his gaze went from her to the rest of the dancers who worked with his mom who'd come over for his party. Even John and Greg, two of the bouncers from the club, were here.

They were clapping and smiling at him, making him extremely uncomfortable with the attention as they congratulated him on being a hero.

Funny, he felt more like a fraud.

Menyara put the cake down on the counter for him. "C'mon, cher, and blow out the candles before they ruin your beautiful cake."

He always loved the lilt of Menyara's Creole accent whenever she spoke. A voodoo priestess and midwife, Aunt Mennie, as he cal ed her, was also his G.o.dmother and his mother's best friend.

She'd been the one who'd brought him into this world and who'd taken his mom in after her parents had tossed her out.

When he'd been too young to go to the club with his mom, Mennie had been the one who kept him. For that alone, he'd do anything in the world for her.

"Thanks, everyone," he muttered as he went to the cake and blew out the candles.

His mom stood behind him with her hand on his uninjured shoulder. "We're al so proud of you, baby."

"That's right." Greg, a huge bear of a man with long brown hair and pockmarked skin, stepped forward to hand him a box. "We took up a col ection for you at the club. Hope you like it."

Their kindness touched him. It felt more like a birthday than a return home from the hospital.

Ripping the box open, he found a Street Fighter video game and a T-shirt that said: nick gautier. superhero of the day.

Nick didn't have the heart to tel them that he didn't have a gaming system here. Any more than he could tel them that he hadn't been a hero. He'd only been trying to make something right that he'd let go terribly wrong.

"Thanks, everyone. I real y appreciate it." Tiffany stepped around Greg and pul ed an envelope out of the box. "You forgot this."

Nick handed the box to his mom before he took the envelope, but since his left arm was stil in a sling, he couldn't open it.

"Here, child." Menyara took it and opened it for him.

He gaped as he saw five twenty-dol ar bil s in her hand.

"What's that for?"

Tiffany smiled. "Your col ege fund. We know it's not much, but it'l cover most of the days of work you missed while you were in the hospital."

He looked at his mom, who was smiling in grat.i.tude. But he didn't feel grateful. He felt weird about it, especial y knowing how hard al of them worked for it. "I can't take this." John snorted. "Take it. Don't make me have to whup your b.u.t.t and put you back in the hospital, snotwad. Just be grateful for it and don't ever spend it on drugs or cheap women 'cause I know what I'd have done with it at your age and we're al raising you to be better than that."

Nick didn't know what to say. "Thanks, guys. I real y appreciate it."

Then someone turned up the music to play Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" and the party started even though it was hard to move in their smal condo. Then again, the dancers were used to being up on the thin catwalk in the club so they did what they did best and made his face so red with their dance moves that he was sure it glowed neon.

Nick took the money to his jar they kept under the kitchen sink and dropped the twenties inside while his mom and Menyara cut the cake and handed out slices to everyone.

"You okay, child?"

He nodded as Menyara handed him his cake and a plastic fork. "Just tired."

There was something in her gaze that made him wonder if she could read his mind. It was eerie.

"Your mom told me that you'l be working for a man named Kyrian Hunter. Is that so?"

"Yeah. I gotta pay him back for the hospital bil s."

"Then I want you to watch yourself, Nicholas. This man, he's ..."

When she didn't finish the sentence, he finished for her.

"Evil?"

She laughed and brushed her hand through his hair. "No, not evil. But working for him wil change you, I think. Hopeful y for the better. I just wanted to say that you should be very careful with what you learn from others and who you let into your life."

Her emotionless tone gave him pause. Mennie knew things, lots of things, before they happened. Her clairvoyance was unrivaled. "Is that your wicked psychic powers talking again?"

"Maybe it's my wicked overprotective ways." She kissed him on the brow. "You be a good boy for me, Nicholas. Always.

"Yeah, okay." He wasn't intending to be a bad one, since the last time he'd done that hadn't gone wel for him. As it was, his shoulder was on fire and he had months of painful therapy ahead to get his arm to work right again.

Believe me, I'm done with this. Next time he saw Alan and group, they were the ones who were going to be limping.

' Cause I'm gonna put my foot so far up their b.u.t.ts they're going to burp shoe leather.

Or in the case of Nick's cheap shoes, man-made material, whatever that was.

He frowned as she stepped away to join his mother and Tiffany. There was something cold in the air that made his neck tingle.

Dismissing it, he ate his cake then joined the others, who kept playing old seventies songs. Gah, could we please move the music forward to the correct decade? What is it with old people and their music?

Wel , at least it wasn't disco.

The party didn't last too long, since his mom was afraid of making him too tired. One by one they left until it was just him, his mom, and Mennie.

At his mom's urging, Nick headed to his bed while they cleaned up. He was on the verge of fal ing asleep when his mom disturbed him.

"You ready to go back to school tomorrow?" Hardly. He'd real y like a few more decades before he had to go back and face the mutant idiots. ...

But he didn't tel her that. Man up, Nick, and take it. "I guess so."

"Okay, but if you don't feel like it, let me know. You're stil healing and I don't want you to do anything to stress yourself." Yeah, but he was already so far behind he wasn't sure if there was a shovel big enough to dig his way out of his back work. Any more days and he'd have to repeat a year.

Kill me first.

She brushed the hair back from his forehead before she tested his brow for a fever. "Mr. Hunter said that he'd have a car waiting to pick you up after school and take you to his house. He promised me that it was just an introduction for you and that he wouldn't make you do anything too hard. You okay with that?"

He reverted to his standard answer. "I guess so." She rol ed her eyes. "Al right then. I'l let you get your rest.

You let me know if you need anything. Oh, and I had to put those flowers your friends Bubba and Mark sent to you in the hospital out on the front porch. They didn't real y fit in the house. Leave it to them to overdo it."

That was one way of saying it. Bubba had practical y sent him a tree, with one little note.

Hospitals wig me out unless I'm the one being tended.

Sorry we're not there, kid. Get wel soon. Remember next time ... Double tap.

Bubba and Mark Nick watched as she left and then closed his "door." Rubbing his sore eye, he ignored her talking with Menyara until he heard his name mentioned.

"You think this mess wil stunt his growth, Mennie?" Menyara laughed. "No, chere. Your boy's going to be a fine, tal man one day. I promise you."

"I don't know. My dad was awful y short. Barely five foot four.

I know Nick's tal er than that now, but I'm scared to death he's going to stop growing and be a munchkin like me."

"That's 'cause you're Cajuns, child. You're supposed to be short. Be weird if you weren't. But Adarian's a tal , handsome man and his boy's going to be just like him in looks. Trust me." Those words made Nick's blood run cold.

Adarian Malachai was his father and he was a monster. The mere mention of his name conjured up an image of a giant, hulking beast of a man in prison threads, covered in heavy tattoos. Nick had never seen the man when he hadn't been snarling at everyone around him and shoving people who got near him-including Nick's mom.

Angry, bitter, and rude, his father was a rare piece of work and he was glad his mother hadn't married him and given Nick his last name. Even though his Gautier grandparents didn't want anything to do with them, he stil preferred having their name to Adarian's.

Malachai. Heck, he didn't even like the way it sounded.

Bleh.

Nick raised his voice to speak so that they'd hear him. "I'd rather be short, fat, and ugly than take after that man." His mother sighed. "That man is your father and you're supposed to be asleep, young man. Not listening in on our private conversation."

What did she expect when al that separated them was a thin blue blanket? "And you're not supposed to be talking about me where I can hear it. You always told me that was rude."

They laughed.

"Go to sleep, Nick."

Go to sleep, Nick, he mouthed, mocking an order that was easier said than done. Especial y since his pain meds had worn off and his shoulder was throbbing like fire again. But he didn't want to take any more. That stuff made him too groggy and il feeling. He'd rather hurt than be a zombie.

Besides, if he acted like a zombie, Bubba might mistake him for a hal ucination and shoot him.

Rule One, boy: shoot first then ask questions.

Rule Two: Double tap just for good measure. Better safe than sorry.

Nick smiled at Bubba's laws until he looked up at their stained ceiling and wondered just how miserable tomorrow would be at school.

Blinking back the agony, he pul ed Nekoda's Nintendo out of his front pocket. He didn't know why, but just touching it made him feel better. Like he had someone in the world watching out for him.

How stupid was that?

He turned it on and kept the sound off. His mom had no idea he had this. She'd probably flip out if she did and he couldn't real y play it with only one hand anyway. Stil , he liked the thought of having it. It made him feel special. Like he was connected to someone not related to him.

Like a girl might actual y like him as something more than just a friend.

He wanted the courage to ask her to go and just have a beignet with him after school. But so far he hadn't been able to do much more than thank her for checking on him while he'd been in the hospital-which she'd done every time she had a shift. He'd looked forward to each and every one of those visits like a starving beggar getting his one meal a day.

It was hard, man, to get up the courage to ask her something so personal. He didn't want to be rejected and he knew better than to reach for the stars-which was what she was. A bright, perfect star who made him laugh whenever she came near.

And he was a loser. Don't put yourself out there unless you want to get shot down. He'd been taken down enough by his cla.s.smates; he wasn't about to give Kody the chance to kick his teeth in. At this point, he was lucky she'd even talked to him in the hospital. No doubt tomorrow she'd be just like al the other cool, rich kids and pretend he was invisible.

Rol ing his eyes at his own stupidity for even considering the thought of asking her out, he shut down the Nintendo and put it back in his pocket. Tomorrow he'd have to face the demon princ.i.p.al and the cretins of his school. To do that, he needed rest.

And maybe a flamethrower or two.

Nick was finishing up the leftover cake he'd eaten for breakfast when a knock at the door startled him. Since his mom and al of her friends except Menyara worked until dawn, he wasn't used to early morning visitors.

His mom went to open the door. In this neighborhood, he expected it to be cops wanting to know about something that'd happened while they slept.

What was there shocked him to the core of his being.

It was Brynna Addams dressed in a pretty blue dress and cream sweater. With her dark hair held back from her face by a thin lacy headband, she looked like an absolute angel. One that didn't belong in the run-down c.r.a.p hole that was their house.

"Hi, Mrs. Gautier. I'm Brynna-the friend of Nick's from school who's been leaving his a.s.signments at the hospital desk. Since it's his first day back and al , my brother and I wanted to give him a ride ... if that's okay with you?" His mother opened and closed her mouth as if she was as stunned by their offer as he was. Turning around, she met his startled gaze. "You know a Brynna?"

Heat exploded across his face, partly because he was embarra.s.sed by their shabby house when he was sure Brynna had never seen anything so run-down in her life and partly because his mother had a weird look on her face that he didn't quite understand while she stood barely dressed in an open doorway. "Um, yeah."

"You want them to take you to school?"

"I guess so." His stock answer any time he was unsure of something.

He picked his backpack up from the floor but before he could shrug it over his uninjured shoulder, Brynna took it from him.

"Let me carry it. You're stil healing." Nick tightened his grip as he pul ed it back. "No, thanks. I'm not having a girl carry my stuff. Wouldn't be right." And it would make him look like a mega wimp.

He could tel Brynna wanted to argue, but with a nod, she stepped back and let go of his patched and shoddy secondhand bag.

His mom moved forward to turn down the col ar of the oh so lovely blue Hawaiian shirt he wore-at least this one wasn't so foul it glowed in the dark. "You have a good day, baby." Yeah ... She should have just burped him while she was at it. Anything to shoot down his manhood.

Without a word, he gave her a quick hug since his dignity had already been shattered, then fol owed Brynna outside to where her brother waited for them in a new black Lexus SUV.

He let out a low whistle of appreciation. It was an obscenely nice ride. "You know, a car like that in this neighborhood -people gonna think you're both drug dealers." Brynna laughed as she opened the door to the front seat and stepped back. Nick ignored her invitation to sit up front and opened the back door.

"You don't want to be in the front seat?" He climbed into the backseat and shut the door before he answered. "No offense, I don't know your brother and I don't want anyone thinking anything funny about us. I'm not even sure why you guys are here. How did you know where I live?" Brynna buckled herself in, next to her brother. "Kyrian told us. He's the one who had me drop your homework off while you were in the hospital so you wouldn't fal too far behind." He froze. "Do what?"

"Kyrian Hunter?" she said. "Your new boss? He's an old family friend of ours and you'l see us around at his place from time to time. He asked if we could take you to school and watch out for you, so here we are. This is my brother Tad, by the way. Tad, say hi to Nick."

"Hi." Tad pul ed away from the curb.

Nick finished buckling his seat belt as he glanced back and forth between Brynna, who was turned around in her seat to look at him, and her brother, who ignored them while he navigated morning traffic. Dang, Tad favored her a great deal.

He was just tal er and hairier.