LEO"Leo Robert Taylor." At Mrs. Colby's not-so-gentle nudging, I stumbled across the grass, earning snickers from the row of guys sitting to my right. I shot them the finger as I crossed in front of them, earning a gasp from Mrs. Colby. I glanced back over my shoulder at her and grinned, shrugging. What was she going to do to me now? Sure, she was our history teacher and class advisor, but I was graduating. Like, now. As in, out of here. Forever. And good fucking riddance. Dr. Rider, the superintendent, stood at the podium, watching me approach. He offered me his hand to shake and a black cardboard folder to take. It was supposed to look like it was the diploma, but we all knew the folders were empty; the diplomas would come via mail next week. We might have been high school graduates, sure, but we weren't quite trustworthy yet. "Mr. Taylor." He didn't let go of my hand right away, as he'd done with everyone ahead of me. "Congratulations. We expect great things from you in the

LEOThere was an annoying buzzing somewhere near my head, and still mostly asleep, I frowned. The wrinkling of my forehead sent an ache through my head, and for a moment, I was pretty sure I was going to puke.The buzzing sounded again. I'd thought it was a mosquito, but as awareness seeped in, I realized it was a telephone vibrating somewhere. Close to me? I couldn't tell. A distant part of my brain considered moving my hand so I could grope around for the damn thing, but apparently some of the synapses had been damaged, because my hand didn't do anything. After a few seconds, the buzzing stopped again, and I drifted back into some kind of pseudo-slumber. "Taylor! You in there, dude?" The voice was loud and unfamiliar. I groaned and covered my head with one bent arm."Taylor. Leo. C'mon, man, you gotta wake up." The guy I didn't know sounded upset. And then he shook me, and bile rose in my stomach. "Stop." I ground out the word. "I'm going to fucking hurl on you, whoever the fu

LEO"Can't you drive this fucking car any fucking faster?" I hunched over, one hand braced on the dashboard, as though I could move us along the freeway. "No, I can't. Or let me amend that. I won't. I'm going five miles over the speed limit. That's the best I can do." I glowered at the guy behind the steering wheel, wishing like hell there'd been anyone but him sober enough to drive me home. His lips were pressed together and his jaw was tense, probably because I'd been repeating the same words more or less for the past thirty minutes. He glanced in my direction and sighed, his mouth relaxing just a little. "Look, dude, I get it. You need to get home. But me breaking the law so we get stopped for a ticket, or worse, get into an accident, is only going to slow us down. So chill, okay? Put your head back and get some sleep. I got the address in my GPS, and I'll wake you up when we get there.""I'm not going to sleep." I growled the words. "I can't. I-I just need to get to her." S

LEOBefore I could figure out what she meant, Quinn kissed me, open-mouthed and hard. There was nothing uncertain about her; on her lips I felt desire and desperation. Her hands tightened on the back of my neck. I knew that a stand-up guy, someone here to comfort his friend, would not take advantage of the fact that said friend was currently thrusting her tongue into his mouth, with her boobs, boobs that he'd been dying to touch again for over a year, teasing against his chest. He would not be getting hard and horny as hell, and he'd just hold her, so that nothing happened that she might regret. I was not that guy.With a sound that was combination groan and growl, I raked my fingers through her hair, holding her head in place. As hard as she'd been pressing her mouth to mine, I kissed her even deeper, angling her body closer against me. "God, I've missed your hands." She covered my fingers, still deep in her hair, with her own hands. "Missed them on me. Missed you touching me.

NATEBy the time the sun rose, I could barely keep my dry eyes open. Every time I blinked, it felt like sandpaper scraping over my eyeballs. My mother, who'd been putting away a few things in the kitchen, touched my shoulder. "Nate. You need to go home and get some sleep. Dad'll drive you. He should sleep some, too, in his own bed instead of that chair."I shook my head. "I don't want to leave Quinn." I knew it was idiotic. I wasn't doing her any good, but the idea of not being with her made me panic. "I think maybe if you go get some sleep, she might, too. Just a few hours, honey. C'mon. I can't have you getting sick. I can't deal with it."That was what finally got to me. I nodded reluctantly and stood up. Quinn glanced at me without even a flicker of interest in her eyes. "I'm just going home for a little bit. I'm going to get some sleep, and you should, too." "Nate's right, Quinn. Why don't you go lie down, sweetie?" Lisa rubbed Quinn's back. "I'll get you tucked in. Com