“My palms itched to have a close encounter of the bitch-slap kind with his face.”

“The little ball went up, then down, then up in his palm. My inner golden retriever couldn’t look away.”

“Why me?" I blurted out, and then closed my eyes briefly. "Okay. Don't answer that."The food arrived just then一thank God一and the conversation was deterred...for about two minutes. "I'm going to answer that question," Cam said, peering at me through his lashes.I wanted to face-plant my stuffed chicken. "You don't have to.""No, I think I do.”

“This guy was flipping my bitch switch like nothing else.”

“My eyes locked the fury's and I smiled.She hesitated.I snapped to my feet. "Bitch, please.”

“Oh. Wow.''What?'He held my hand up between us. 'Look.'I squinted at my hands. 'I don't see anything.' Sighing, he flipped my hand over, and my jaw hit the ground. A faint blue line marked the center of my palm with a smaller line through it. It would've looked like a cross, except the horizontal line was slanted.'Oh. My. Gods.' I jerked my hand away, scrambling back. 'I have a rune on my hand. It's an Apollyon rune, isn't it.'Seth rested his hands on his knees. 'I think so. I have one like that.''But why is it still there? Why is it there at all?' I flipped my palm over several times, shook it, but the faint blue tattoo was still there. 'You can see it, right? Like right now, you can see it?''Yes. It hasn't faded.' Seth leaned forward, catching my hand. 'Stop shaking it like it's a damn Etch-A-Sketch. That doesn't make them disappear.”

“I've always avoided confrontation in the past, but this guy was flipping my bitch switch like nothing else.”