“Bryce looked at his mom, “I’m sick of talking to this old coot. Hit me with another present.”She tossed him one, hard. It hit him in the chest. He mock glared at his mom. “You said hit me,” she smiled.-Bryce and Amy”

“We both laughed. Bryce pulled into the parking spot next to Caeden’s and hopped out. He looked between the three of us. “I missed something and it was big. I know it,” he said. Caeden ruffled his younger brother’s hair. “Don’t worry. It was just Travis, like always.”Bryce shook his shaggy hair, once again reminding me of a dog, and said, “Want me to teach him a lesson?” he did a karate chop in the air. “I can take him,” he added.-Bryce and Caeden”

“The first time my mom told me liars didn't go to heaven was when she tried to get me to confess to hitting my eight-year-old brother. I was seven.”

“She was easy to talk to, easy to look at it . . . and when she smiled at him . . . well, he couldn’t call that easy. It hit him in the chest, in the weirdest damn way.Swallowing, she licked her lips and then she could have whimpered, begged for mercy, because she could taste him. Taste him, and it made her want to throw herself against him and kiss him. Again, and again .”

“You big crybaby," I whispered into his ear. "Now you know why your mom warned you not to hit girls. Sometimes they hit back.”

“Now that the house was securely hidden, the fact that he was holed up with Havily sent a wave of heat over his body. I'm not going to be able to keep away from you, he said. Tell me you know that. Tell me you understand.Her eyelids fell to half-mast as she released a deep sigh. Another wave of honeysucke hit him square in the chest. No one is asking you to, Warrior.”