Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page A

me. More than that, he’d probably have to pay the hospital bil —which at last check had already added up to more than his first two years of col ege tuition combined
    —out of his own pocket.
    Why couldn’t Alan have shot him in the head and ended it al ?
    I was cursed from birth. Couldn’t he ever catch a break with anything? Disgusted, he hung his head and started back toward Bubba’s store.
    “Nick Gautier?”
    He turned at the unfamiliar voice to find the man he’d seen sitting in the black BMW, now stepping out of it. He was probably mid to late thirties. With dark blond hair and extremely clean cut (in other words he stank of serious money), he reminded Nick of someone, but he couldn’t quite place it. “I don’t know you.”
    The man smiled. “No, you don’t. My son, Kyl Poitiers”—gah, he said that name like a true snotty blue blood: “Pwa-tee-aa”—“is one of your classmates. Kyrian asked me to pick you up after school and take you to his house. So here I am.” Yeah, right … “How do I know any of that’s true?” Other than the fact that he did look like Kyl, which was why he’d seemed familiar. That stil didn’t make him safe or friendly.
    “You don’t trust me?” Mr. Poitiers asked.
    “I don’t trust nobody. My mama ain’t raised no fools. I don’t get in cars with people I don’t know. Ever. You could be a pervert or psycho or something. No offense.” Mr. Poitiers laughed. “None taken. Tel you what …” He pul ed out his wal et. “I’m going to give you fifty dol ars for a taxi and write down Kyrian’s address. I’l see you at his house.
    ”
    Nick hesitated. The offer did nothing to al eviate his suspicions. “How do I know you’re sending me to his house and not someone else’s? For al I know that’s the address where you take al your victims.”
    “God, I hope my son’s as streetwise as you are.” He pul ed out a cel phone and dialed a number. After a few seconds, he spoke. “Hey, Kyrian. Sorry to bother you. I’m here with the kid, but he won’t get in the car with me. He’s even more suspicious than you told me he’d be.” He held the phone out to Nick.
    Nick narrowed his eyes on the man as he placed the phone to his ear. “Yeah?”
    “Hi, Nick. Phil won’t hurt you. Get in the car and you’l be over here in a few minutes.”
    Uh-huh. Nick stil wasn’t sold. The voice was familiar, but …
    “How do I know you’re Mr. Hunter?”
    “Because I’m the only person, besides you, who knows you were helping your friends mug those tourists when you changed your mind and saved them.”
    Nick’s stomach hit the ground at those words. He hadn’t breathed a word of that to a single soul. Not even his priests.
    That was a secret that was supposed to be between him and God and no one else. “How did you know that?”
    “I was there longer than you suspected and I saw everything.
    Now get in the car.”
    Nick hung up the phone and handed it back to Mr. Poitiers.
    “Okay, I believe you.” He held the money out to him too.
    Phil refused to take it. “Keep it.”
    Nick shook his head. “I real y can’t take this.”
    “Yes, you can. Just consider it a reward for being a smart kid.”
    Unused to people not being angry at him, Nick was stil reluctant to accept the money. “You’re not mad at me?”
    “For protecting yourself? Not at al . I tel Kyl al the time to behave just like you did. It does me proud to see a kid with a brain. Now get in.”
    Nick hesitated. How weird for someone like Phil to not look down on him. It felt real y weird.
    He got into the car and buckled himself in.
    Phil pul ed away from the curb then turned his radio down so that he could talk. “I should have brought Kyl with me to ease your mind.”
    “It wouldn’t have eased it. My mom says pervs use other kids to lure vics too.” Not to mention Kyl didn’t exactly travel in Nick’s circle of friends. He was a stuck-up snot who annoyed him almost as much as Stone