Inferno by Sherrilyn Kenyon

of blocks away from school … over on Bourbon.”
    She gaped at him. “You really live on Bourbon Street?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Isn’t it loud at night?”
    He wasn’t sure if she was horrified or intrigued by his address. “Not where we live. Once you get past St. Ann’s and head toward Ursulines, it’s really quiet … except during Mardi Gras. Then, there’s not much in the Quarter that doesn’t shatter the eardrums.”
    She pulled away from the curb. “Tell me about it.… Well, since we have to go down that way to drop you off, you want to stop for beignets at the Café Du Monde?”
    This was probably the first time in his life that he was turning down food, but for the sake of his sanity, he couldn’t bring himself to accept. It would just be too weird to be there with Casey. Not to mention, beignets were not first-date food since the loose powdered sugar topping made everyone who ate them look like a messy toddler. Really not the image he wanted her to have of him. Powdered sugar was the only thing on earth that could make his shirt uglier than what it already was. “I need to get home. My mom will be worried about me.”
    “You could call her and tell her we’re stopping off.”
    “Yeah, but then she’d drill me on who you are and why we’re stopping, and then she’d be offended that she didn’t get to meet you first.”
    “Your mom’s real strict, huh?”
    “You have no idea.”
    As she drove, she dropped her hand to rest on his thigh. Nick almost came out of the car seat as a rush of adrenaline tore through him. Especially when she began trailing her small, delicate hand closer to his “no zone.”
    He caught her hand to stop it in its torturous path before it struck gold.
    She scowled at him. “What’s wrong? Stone loves it when I do that to him.”
    Yeah, and he would like it, too. But he wasn’t that kind of guy. They barely knew each other. She hadn’t even bought him dinner yet.… “I’m not Stone.”
    “And don’t I know it. You’re a lot more delish.”
    Nick’s head spun. This isn’t real. I must have gotten hit by that chandelier after all. Yeah, that made sense. He was in the hospital, in a coma, and this was some far-fetched reality conjured by … too many cookies or something.
    But then he remembered what Ambrose had told him. Getting girls will not be your problem.… Casey will be a good girlfriend in high school and you’ll be friends long after that.
    Maybe this was how their relationship had started. Yeah, and maybe I’m in that coma somewhere. Swallowing hard, he watched the way her hair blew in the wind as they drove through traffic. It was a bit chilly to have the top down, but Casey didn’t seem to mind. She had the heat blowing on maximum.
    “You need to relax, Nick.” She stroked his thigh beneath his hand. “And stop being so hard on yourself.”
    “I’m not hard on myself.”
    “Yes, you are. You’re a great guy, you know? You deserve great things.”
    “I have great things.” At least now he did. His past, not so much.
    “You might have them, but you act like you’re waiting for someone to snatch it all away. Like you’re not worthy of anything, except table scraps and insults.”
    Was it that obvious? And here he’d always thought he had a pretty good poker face. Not as good as Ash’s …
    But he wasn’t about to admit any of that to Casey. “I don’t do that.”
    “Yes, you do. Case in point, yesterday at practice … The coach called your name as starter and you looked positively stunned. Like you couldn’t believe it. When you ran your drills, even with your helmet on, I could tell that you were waiting for him to change his mind and bench you. You do that with everything.”
    He opened his mouth to argue, then realized how right she was. He did hold his head low. Too many years of bitter poverty, of people looking down their noses at him, had left its mark on his soul. Half the school was convinced he’d cheated his way into