Bang (Blast Brothers #2) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,56

know," I said. "I'll let you know when I get there."

"Oh, please," she said. "You're the kind of guy who sends others to hell, not the other way around."

I gave her a tight smile of my own. "Thanks."

"It wasn't a compliment."

"Says you." I wasn't joking. When it came to judgment, it was always better to be giving than receiving.

And, if I hadn't known this already, the look on Cami's face was proof enough. If she were a judge, and I were the defendant, I'd be heading straight to the gallows.

It was a new sensation, and I didn't like it. When she made no reply, I said, "Good thing you're not mad, huh?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"You tell me."

"If you're implying that I lied when you asked, you're remembering it all wrong."

"Am I?"

"Yes. Because I never said I wasn't mad."

"Wanna bet?"

"What I said was, I'm not mad at you."

"So you're mad at someone else?" I studied her face, wondering who had angered her, and what I could do to fix it. "You should've said something. You need help?"

She stared up at me with apparent confusion before saying, "Oh, I need help, alright."

With growing concern, I moved closer. "What kind?"

With a light scoff, she replied, "Probably psychiatric."

Something in my shoulders eased. She was joking. I knew this, because Cami was one of the sanest people I'd ever met.

And yet, she wasn't looking quite as sane as she'd been looking only a few moments ago.

Funny, I wasn't feeling so sane myself. I told her, "I know the feeling."

"Good."

No. It wasn't good. I replied, "Says you."

"Well there ya go," she said. "And I thought we were gonna talk on the patio."

"Not in this weather."

"Oh, please," she said. "It's not like it's snowing. And besides, the cold doesn't bother you. You said so yourself. Remember?"

"I was thinking of you, not me."

"Oh." She paused. "Well that's nice."

Her words said one thing, but her expression said another. I wasn't sure what was going on, but the more we talked, the less I liked it. She was acting like I'd taken her against her will.

And we both knew that wasn't the case.

I said, "Hey, there's always the pantry."

She stiffened, but made no reply.

And now I felt like a dick. "That was a joke."

"No it wasn't."

She was wrong. Maybe it hadn't been a good joke, but I had been joking. "And you know this, how?"

"Because you weren't smiling."

She didn't need to tell me. I felt like I hadn't smiled in weeks. "You don't need to smile to make a joke."

"Alright," she said. "Then your joke was in poor taste."

Shit. She had a point. And the truth was, I liked that about her, how she cut through the bullshit without kissing my ass.

She was one of the most genuine people I'd ever met, which made her recent behavior all the more baffling.

Whatever was wrong, I wanted to make things right.

Deliberately, I softened my tone. "Maybe."

"There's no 'maybe' about it," she said. "But you know what? It's not worth arguing about."

"Cami—"

"Forget it." And with that, she turned and walked away, heading not toward the stairway, but toward her own bedroom. Over her shoulder, she said, "See you on the patio."

I felt my eyebrows furrow. "I hope you're going for a coat."

I knew she heard me, but she didn't turn around. Instead, she disappeared into her bedroom and shut the door firmly behind her.

And me? I headed straight to the patio, because one way or another, I was going to get some answers.

Chapter 34

Cami

It was a conversation I'd been hoping to avoid – not because I didn't have the guts to face him, but rather because no good could come of it.

For me, anyway.

But now that he'd insisted, I was actually glad to stop pretending. Like a junkie in need of a fix, I'd been going slowly insane over the past few weeks – even more so because I'd been working so hard not to show it.

The truth was, everything about Mason was driving me crazy, and not in a good way. Even that reminder about grabbing a coat, it made me want to let him have it.

And I didn't mean the coat. I meant a piece of my mind, even if his reminder had been surprisingly thoughtful.

But even that was a problem. And why? It was because with a hatchet hanging over my head, I'd be a total idiot to ever let down my guard.

Still, I stalked to my closet and grabbed my warmest winter coat – not because he'd