We heard them before we saw them—loud boots over the stones and their rowdy hee-hawing. We knew they were trouble based on that alone.



Dale dropped his hand from my waist and took a small step backward. I hated how that was his instinct.



I closed my eyes and willed the low-hanging branches to hide us, wished for them to pass by.



They did not. I recognized Lucian Hardy as he poked his tow-head through the leaves into our sanctuary. Lucian and his two lackeys, Tallen Cavenaugh and Thad Phelan. We’d gone to school together since the first grade. I hoped that would buy us some mercy.



It did not.



“Is this guy bothering you?” Lucian’s voice was too loud. Obnoxious.



“No,” I said slowly, stepping out to face him in a move braver than I felt. “But you are. Could you move along?”



There’s an unspoken rule: this tree is sacred space; you don’t bother couples at the Kissing Tree.



“Are you sure about that?” Lucian and his gang were not going to give up. “I thought you said you weren’t dating…”



“Not dating you, that’s all.”



Even in the dusk I could see his face go blood red. I remembered him looking red as he leaned against my locker at school, trying to look casual. You wanna see a movie sometime? So vulnerable in his awkwardness, big shoulders slouching forward, that I almost took pity and said yes. But he was more pink than red, then. Now he was not vulnerable. He was livid.



“I guess I see why,” Lucian spit, “Now that I know what you’re really into. Guess I dodged a bullet with you.”



I felt Dale’s hand tighten around my wrist and interpreted its warning. Back off. I didn’t want him to signal that to me. I wanted him to shout it at them, to claim our spot here, claim our right to be. But he hadn’t said a word. There were three of them and two of us, and Dale was never one for fighting. He preferred to hang back and study it all. That’s what made him so smart.



Dale's empty hand thrummed nervously over his pocket. Here he was again, being smart.



“You ain’t dodged nothing yet till you move along,” I said, keeping the heat in my voice at a low simmer.



“And let you ruin yourself with him?” Lucian said, flinging his arm toward Dale. I could hear Tallen and Thad snicker behind him.



“That’s my problem, isn’t it?” I wanted them gone.



“Well, now that we’re here, it’s our problem too,” Lucian said. “What would it say about us if we looked the other way now?”



“I’d say you’re decent people,” I said, just above a whisper.



Lucian smirked, a hard glint in his golden eyes. “Look who’s talking about decent people,” he said. “Looks like you’ve got no ground to stand on, pervert.” He was in my face now, leering down. I could smell the beer on his breath.



“Would you like to see us to the car?” Dale spoke up for the first time. I felt the heat and tension in his hand around my wrist, the sweat starting to break out.



“I'd like to see you in that tree,” Lucian hissed.



My blood was ice in my veins, but I stayed rooted to that spot. “We’re all gonna keep our feet on the ground tonight. Keep a level head, right? We can all go home right now.”



“Come on.” Dale pulled my wrist and turned to go, but the other two boys blocked our path.



“I’ve got a better idea,” Lucian drawled. I could sense the way he relished toying with us. “How about you go home, and we’ll take care of your girl?”



“She seems a little lost,” said Thad.



“But we know where she lives,” Tallen added.



“Sorry, fellas. That just wouldn’t be responsible,” Dale said, pulling me in closer to him. “I promised her mom I’d have her home by nine, and I intend to see it through.”



“We’ll just have to make sure to get her back by eight-thirty, then! Couldn’t take more than an hour to set her straight...” Lucian wrapped stubby, calloused fingers around my other wrist.



“I can’t let you do that.” Dale’s voice was hard. His left hand clung to mine while his right hand traveled into his pocket. I knew what he was about to do.



Behind us, sap still oozed from the wound where he carved our initials into the tree’s taut bark. Minutes before, I’d watched that tough skin slide open beneath his blade, bleeding the same amber inside each of our letters: D♡E.



The boys howled as Dale flipped open his pocket knife. “Oooh, I always knew you were trouble. What’re you gonna do with that?”



“I’m going to see my date to the car,” he answered, his voice somehow even.



“You see that?” they asked each other. “He’s threatening us.” They circled in, hungry jackals.



My eyes locked for a moment with Dale’s, both of us searching the other’s for answers. We’d never talked about what we’d do in this kind of situation. I guess we should have. In our love, we’d been lost in the beauty of things—all bird songs and rustling leaves and streaks of purple in a sunset. We hadn’t looked up to think about how ugly people could still be.



I saw cold determination in Dale’s eyes and I knew he was willing to do what it took to get us back to the car. His eyes didn’t linger on me for long; they darted back to our would-be captors.



They smirked, their teeth yellow under a crescent moon. They had nothing to fear. Tallen’s father was a police officer, and so was Lucian’s uncle.



And what if Dale hurt one of them? We might be safe for a while. We might even make it home. But what about when the police showed up at his door?



“What are you going to do with that, boy?” They continued to jeer, their bodies pressing in.



I couldn’t let them take Dale down that way. “Give it to me,” I whispered, hoarse, into his shoulder.



I felt the knife’s wooden handle, cool and solid, in my hand. I loved it that he trusted me, that he saw what I was capable of.



“I dare you to leave a mark on either of us,” I said and watched Lucian’s golden eyes widen, his smile freeze.



Dale’s hand led me back toward the road and I let my feet follow, but my gaze didn’t leave our attackers. “A lady has a right to defend herself,” I said as we walked through the wall of their bodies. “You’d best dodge.”





Adam + Ellery, 1999



We’re deep in the woods, but not too deep. Just far enough that the roar from the old road disappears into the leaves and moss.



“Here it is,” Adam says. “This is what I wanted to show you.”



He takes my hand and leads us toward the biggest tree I’ve ever seen. It stands alone in a clearing. It must be a hundred feet tall. Above my head, a crown of dark green leaves flutters over a trunk that Adam and I couldn’t circle with both our arms together—not even close.



Wandering under the canopy is like entering another world. It’s cool and dark. Branches twist down, forming thick buttresses. Its mossy roots are like fingers digging into the ground.



I hold on to Adam’s hand, enjoying his fingers laced through mine. “It’s amazing.” I mean it.



“It gets better,” he says, walking up to the trunk like he’s greeting an old friend. 'This is my last-ditch effort to change your mind.”



As he leads me around the trunk, I notice a maze of hearts and pluses and an alphabet of initials carved into the gray bark. “What is all of this?” I ask.



“They call this the Kissing Tree,” Adam says, settling into a cleft between two rope-like roots.



“Does that mean you’re going to kiss me?” I swallow my smile, or maybe half of it.



“Maybe…” The color rising to his cheeks makes my stomach flip. He looks down at