“All this faux flattery. It's not enough to make me forget he's a dick. Admittedly, though, he's sort of a charismatic dick.”

“He really is alive.” “No thanks to you dicks.”

“I’ll be here if he needs me. I’ll watch his back.” Carmel smiles. “Better watch all sides. He can be downright clumsy sometimes.”

“Every time I question him about the feasibility, he smiles at me like he's Yoda and I'm just a dumbass without the Force.”

“When he realizes that Carmel’s standing behind me, he quickly checks his face for drool and tries to smooth his hair down. Unsuccessfully.”

“I’m staring at Anna’s house again. The logical part of my brain tells me that it’s just a house. That it’s what’s inside that makes it horrifying, that makes it dangerous, that it can’t possibly be tilting toward me like it’s hunting me through the overgrowth of weeds. It can’t possibly be trying to jerk free of its foundation and swallow me whole. But that’s what it looks like it’s doing.”

“I come in all big and bad, and you use me for a game of handball.” I grin. “Makes a guy feel damn manly. She grins back. “It made me feel pretty manly.”