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Grant offered, but I don’t want it like that.” I was sorry I’d brought it up at all. It wasn’t a discussion I wanted to have with Tyler and Nathan a few feet away.
    “So you want, like, romance?”
    Was that what we called it? “I guess.”
    Tyler came back into the room, pushing his cell phone into his front pocket. “You ready?”
    “Yeah.” I found my crossbody bag on the floor and put it over my head.
    “Tyler, Rory wants romance,” Jessica told him. “What do you think of that?”
    My face burned with embarrassment. I didn’t want to be the subject of discussion. I didn’t want Tyler to stare at me the way he was, dark eyes scrutinizing mine. He was the typical bad-boy type—which was why Jessica liked him—and I was the kind of girl he would never notice. And he hadn’t ever noticed me, not really. I was the quiet friend of Jessica and Kylie whose presence he tolerated. But now his eyes were sweeping over me, assessing, and I couldn’t read his expression.
    “I think she should have whatever she wants.” He reached out and took the beer can from my hand, his fingers brushing mine. “But nothing says romance like a six-pack. I need to pick up more beer.”
    I shivered from his touch and from the inscrutable look he was giving me.
    “I’m staying here,” Jessica stated. “It’s too cold outside to go home. See you tomorrow, Rory.”
    Kylie was already curled up on the couch, in a praying position, half-asleep as she gave a weak wave. “Bye, sweetie.”
    “Okay, bye,” I said, shoving my hands in the front pockets of my jeans, wishing I had worn a thicker coat. I was cold and I wanted a hot shower to wash away the beer and the fear and the feel of Grant’s wet lips on me. But first I had to sit in the car alone with Tyler. A perfect ending to a crap night. Awkward small talk with my roommate’s Friend with Benefits, who had punched his own friend on my behalf.
    As I followed Tyler down the metal stairs, the smell of fried foods strong in the hallway, I thought that was the end of any talk about my virginity.
    I didn’t know it was just the beginning.

Chapter Two
    Nathan’s apartment was on McMicken Street, off-street parking only. Tyler’s car was a rusted-out sedan, at least twenty years old, with a maroon door that stood out in stark contrast against the car’s white body.
    “It’s unlocked,” he told me as he stepped into the street.
    So I pried open the passenger side and climbed in, shivering, crossing my arms over my chest. I checked for a seat belt, but there didn’t seem to be one, and so I just sat there, stiff, my rain boots shuffling through a pile of discarded fast-food bags and Coke cans. I didn’t know what to say to Tyler. I wanted to thank him for rescuing me. Because that’s what he had done. I wasn’t sure I could have gotten away from Grant on my own.
    I forced myself to glance at him, but he was just looking back over his shoulder as he pulled out of the spot. He had a strong jaw and a little bump in the center of his nose that I had never noticed before. With his sweatshirt swallowing him, and in profile, somehow he looked younger, less intimidating than when his tattoos were on full display, and his dark eyes were staring at me. It gave me the courage to say, “Thanks.”
    My voice came out like a hoarse whisper and I cleared my throat, embarrassed.
    “No problem,” he said. “You can’t walk through this neighborhood by yourself at night. This fucking hill alone would kill you if the ghetto rats didn’t.”
    Whether or not Straight Street got its name from the fact that it was virtually a ninety-degree incline or not, I didn’t know. It was definitely unwalkable, even during the day. But I wasn’t talking about his giving me a ride, though I was grateful for that. “Yeah, but thanks for . . . Grant.” I didn’t want to get more specific than that.
    He turned now, and I was sorry he did when he gave me a look that I couldn’t read. “Sure.