“It’s not often that you have me at a disadvantage, is it? I wouldn’t get used to it.” Aimi laughed. “All talk, big man. We’ll see how you go at training this afternoon, sunshine.” She blew him a kiss and closed the door softly on her way out.”

“Does that mean you aren’t going to be so grumpy?” she teased. He gave her a crooked smile. “It depends on how nice you are to me.” Aimi laughed and threw a napkin at him.”

“Seriously", Macey snapped. "go. Kiss. A baby""can you believe her?" Preston asked, coking his head towards macey." everytime she sees me, all she does is call me baby and talk about kissing."Macey looked like she wanted to kill him. But I kind of wanted to laugh.”

“She sometimes thought she was going crazy. Her first thought when she woke up was always how to get him out of her thoughts. And she would keep watch, hoping to see him next door, while plotting ways to never have to see him again. ”

“And I won’t get to see Hikari or Aimi again? How can that be fair? What have I done to deserve this?”-“It’s not what you’ve done, Sam. It’s who you are. You are destined for greater things because of who you are.”

“You don’t understand.She was mean to me. Very mean. And she’s dangerous. A very dangerous girl. I’m your guardian, Ayden. I have to protect you!It’s my sworn duty. My sworn duty!”“Protect me?”“Yes!” Pearl hovered frantically in front of “her boy,” and slathered her voice with disgust. “She threatened to…” Oh, she wouldn’t.“Kiss you!”She would. My cheeks fired. I stared at the floor.Ayden laughed. “Kiss me?”“Yeeeeesss,” Pearl wailed in agony. “She promised a big juicy kiss! On a real date. No pretending. With hand holding and—and cuddling!”And I thought it couldn’t get any worse.”