“Yeah,it’s kind of a hobby. What’s yours? Kicking puppies?”

“Is this what you do with your spare time?” he asked me, ignoring his sister.“What—are you deciding to talk to me now?” Smiling tightly, I grabbed a handful of mulch and dumped it. Rinse and repeat. “Yeah, it’s kind of a hobby. What’s yours? Kicking puppies?”

“I bit back a gag. “Gods, your breath is kicking.” I pulled the blade free, revolted by the sucking sound. “For real.”Cocking its head to the side, it blinked. “Kicking?”“Yeah.” Spinning around, I planted my left foot and kicked out, catching the fury in the stomach. It flew back, smacking into the tree. “See? Kicking.”

“Jesus.” Blake rubbed his throat. “You have anger management problems. Its like a disease.”“There’s a cure and it’s called kicking your ass.”

“Cold up there, huh?” Yeah, it kind of was. “Stupid down there, huh?” Seth’s brows flew up. “For one in such a precarious position, you sure don’t know how to talk yourself out of it.” “That’s because it’s hard to reason with idiots.” I gave him a cheeky grin. “Why bother?”

“You quoted Oscar Wilde.” I smiled. Hayden laughed. “Yeah, that was, like, the height of geekdom.” “No. It was kind of cool.”

“It’s not great. What kind of connection is this? A one-way hotline to Pervyville?” I took a step forward, on a roll now. “It’s disgusting. Freaky—stop laughing, Seth!”