“Swimming was the last thing I wanted to do. Drowning him? Maybe.”

“You know what?” His breath was warm against my cheek. “There are a lot of stupid things to do, but I really want to do the stupidest thing possible.”“What’s that?”“I want to kiss you.”

“The last thing he felt was Bethany being pulled from his limp arms. A finality of black crashed over him in waves he couldn’t surface from, welcoming him into the nothingness that dug in deep, refusing to ever let him go.”

“Daemon practically knocked me over to get in one last comment. “Don't forget. There are cooler things out there than fallen angels and dead guys. Just saying.” He winked.I pictured an entire legion of females swooning. Pushing him aside, I winced and clicked the off button on the webcam page. “You like seeing yourself being recorded.”He shrugged. “That was fun. When do you do another?”

“I can be a dickhead and I do it on purpose. I tend to bully people into doing what I want. And I let everything that had happened with Dawson amplify those…uh, personality traits. But—” He removed his finger, and his grin spread into a smile. “But you…you make me want to be different. That’s why I didn’t kill Blake. It’s why I don’t want you making those decisions or for you to be around me if I am choosing those things.”

“No." I backed up, running my hands along my hips. "You told me to not give up on Seth. And now you want me to?""I don't want you to give up on him," he said, voice taking on a pleading edge. "There's still hope for him, but only if you can truly reach him. And being the head of Seth's fan club isn't going to do it."I laughed then. "That was so you when you were... you know, around. You totally had a boy crush on him.”

“Oh, I still want to strangle you. But I'm insane. You're crazy. Maybe that's why. We just make crazy together.”