“Who, me?” I ask.

“No, him. He can’t seem to find the right way to get people to like him. Plus, being thirteen sucks.”

“True.” I think about when I was thirteen. It was the first time Ellen left me alone for more than a few days. Thirteen was also the first time I stole a wallet and ate out of the garbage. And then there was Bree Ann. I suck in a sharp breath and let it out to clear my mind. I don’t want to think about them now.

Gracie comes out in her snowsuit and stiffly walks over to us. We grab the sleds and Cami leads the way through the backyards. I drag Gracie along by the hand. Apparently there’s a big snow hill at the elementary school nearby.

Confession: I’ve never been sledding. Not that I remember, anyway.

It’s a freaking big hill. And we aren’t the only ones to think of doing this today. The place is overrun by little kids.

I hop on one sled and situate Gracie in front of me.

“Ready, guys?” Cami asks.

“Ready,” Gracie and I say. Cami pushes on my back and gets us going, and then we’re flying down the hill. The wind rushes through my hair and past my ears, and I grip the edge of the sled with one hand, hanging on tightly to Gracie with the other, wondering a little too late how to steer. At the bottom, we hit a snowdrift and for a moment we’re airborne before we land and fall off. Gracie’s laughing and has snow all on her face, and my butt hurts.

“Now what?” I ask her.

“Now we climb back up and do it again.”

I flop back in the snow and look at the sky. “Climb all the way back up?”

“Yeah! It’s easy.”

“Maybe for a little kid.”

She laughs again and flops down on my chest. I pick her up and hold her up above me, then set her down on her feet. “Come on,” I say, reaching out my hand. “Pull me up.”

She tugs my arm like she’s really trying. I roll to my side and get to my feet. We drag the sled up the hill. Cami’s nowhere to be seen—I can only guess that she went down a different way.

And then I see her over to one side. Talking to Blake. Blake gestures with his hands like he’s agitated. I squint to get a better look. Cami points in our general direction, and Blake looks around, but he doesn’t see us. I glance down at Gracie, who’s sitting patiently on the sled again, ready to go. I hop on the sled and we scoot forward until gravity helps out, and then we’re flying once more. We almost get sideswiped, but I’m figuring out how to steer a little, and magically we avoid a total collision.

Back up the hill, and Blake finally sees us and comes stomping through the snow. Cami shrugs helplessly at me.

“Uh-oh,” I mutter. I don’t have a good feeling about this.

Blake looks furious. “What are you doing?”

“We’re sledding. Obviously.”

He glances at Gracie, sitting again in the sled, waiting. “I was going to take her sledding.”

“Well, we’re already here. So.”

“So, leave.”

“No,” I say through my teeth. “You leave.”

“Forget it.” And then he shoves me.

Fuck.

Why’d he have to go and shove me?

CHAPTER 35

I pound him. I do. With a rush of anger I shove him back, and when he falls, I jump on him, and then before I can even believe I’m doing it, I’m pounding him. His face, his chest, his stomach . . . everything. It’s like I’m outside my body, watching myself, completely out of control.

Granted, with me wearing gloves, and him wearing a coat, the damage could have been worse. And if Cami hadn’t been there to scream some sense into me and pull me back, it could have been a lot worse. But God. Why does he keep doing things like this? What the hell is wrong with him?

So there he is, his nose bleeding and his lip swelling up, the snow all on one side of him red . . . it reminds me of a cherry sno-cone. And for about ten seconds, it feels good that he’s lying there sniveling, because he fucking deserves it.

But I don’t know what will happen now.

And there’s Gracie, bawling. A crowd gathers around to see what happened.

I’m such a fucking loser.

I get down on my knees in the snow next to Blake. And I offer him my hand. “Come on, man. Get up.”

“Go to hell,” he says.

“Look, I’m sorry I hit you, but you need to stop starting this shit. Let’s get you home. Here, put a snowball on your lip. Come on. Gracie’s crying. Everybody’s looking.”

“Good. Let ’em look. It’s good to have witnesses.” He narrows his eyes and shoves himself up on his elbows, ignoring my outstretched arm. He rolls to his side and pushes to his feet, and then spits on the ground. “Come on, Gracie,” he says, leaning down and grabbing the sled’s rope. “Mama won’t want you anywhere near him after she hears about this.”

My gut twists at the satisfaction in his voice, and suddenly I realize what the bastard is doing. “You planned this?” I ask, incredulous.

Cami’s eyes go wide and her lips part. She turns to look at me.

Blake doesn’t answer. He pulls Gracie in the sled toward home, and the crowd of onlookers breaks up when there’s nothing more to see.

After a minute, I grab the other sled. “Can you come home with me?” I ask. “I might need a witness.”

“Sure,” Cami says. “I just can’t believe this. You really think he did it on purpose?”