I was still confused, shocked really, when I realized someone else leaned over me now, holding his hand out to pull me up. I could barely see him at first with all the flashing lights and fake fog, but when I finally focused on his face, I gasped.
I didn’t know who I’d expected to have come to my rescue—maybe Daniel had secretly followed me here, or perhaps even Jude had come out of hiding when he saw his sister and girlfriend in distress—but I certainly hadn’t expected the boy in the flannel shirt to be the one who’d saved me.
CHAPTER NINE
Talbot
OUTSIDE THE CLUB
The next thing I knew, I was being pulled through the throng in the club toward the exit, April following close behind. People practically jumped out of the flannel-shirt guy’s way in order to let us through. It wasn’t until we were up the stairs and outside in the slightly fresher air—and I realized that the guy was holding me by my hand—that I got my bearings enough to react.
“Where are you taking us?” I tugged my hand from his grasp, expecting him to keep it imprisoned in his, but he let go without hesitation.
“To your car,” he said. “I assume you drove a car here. You don’t seem like the girls who live nearby, and I’m guessing you’re not the public-transit sort.”
I hugged my arms around my bare stomach. I’m sure that only reinforced his assumption that we didn’t belong here.
“We’re the Corolla at the end of the street.” April pointed in the direction of my car, parked near the only working meter we could find. “We drove all the way from Rose Crest.” April sounded all breathless, and I couldn’t help noticing her smiling at the guy in an all-too-friendly way.
“April,” I snapped. I gave her a look that was supposed to say, We don’t know this guy from Adam, so don’t tell him where we live!
“What?” she whispered, not quietly. “The dude just saved our lives … and he’s cute.”
For some reason, heat flushed into my cheeks. I couldn’t deny the guy was attractive—in a down-home boy-from-the-farm sort of way, with his milk-chocolate-brown wavy hair, dimples, green eyes, and massive forearms that made it look like he’d spent hours baling hay. Even his flannel shirt and faded jeans screamed Clark Kent—without the superpowers, that is.
But it certainly didn’t mean anything that I’d noticed all of those things about him, right? And it especially didn’t mean I should trust him right away.
“I think we’re good from here,” I said to him. “Um, thanks for your help.”
“No way. Those guys are going to be pissed,” he said. “I’m not letting you out of my sight until you’re driving far away from here.”
“Really, it’s like two blocks to the car. You can go now.”
“Grace, you’re being rude,” April said. She swooped in and grabbed Mr. Flannel by the arm and pulled him toward the car. “I’m April, by the way. Thank you for helping us. What’s your name?”
“Talbot,” he said, looking back at me as if checking to make sure I was following. Which I was—begrudgingly. “Nathan Talbot, actually. But I go by Talbot. My good friends call me Tal.”
“Well, Tal,” April said, “I’m glad you were there to help us out. We would have been toast without you.”
“Toast?” Talbot asked. The twang in his voice made it sound like he was thoroughly amused by April’s friendliness. “What are you girls doing here anyway? Doesn’t seem like your kind of scene.”
They were too far away for me to kick April in the shin before she could share any more information about us. “We’re looking for Grace’s brother. His name’s Jude Divine. He’s missing, and we think he may have been hanging out at that club.”
Talbot stopped and turned back toward me. I almost ran right into his chest again. “Really?” he asked. “What does your brother look like? Maybe I can help.”
I looked up at him. He grinned down at me with a friendly smile that made his dimples extra pronounced. Something about him put me on edge—made my heart beat faster when he looked at me. Maybe it was the way everyone else in the club had seemed a little bit afraid of him.