Trick asked when he showed up on the front porch in the morning. His long-sleeved black T-shirt was pushed up to his elbows, and his forearms were muscled and heavily veined, like an athlete’s. Trick was not some malnourished romantic poet. A solid guy stood before her, with great shoulders and a killer smile.Katelyn winced at him as she moved the bag of ice cubes to a different part of her shoulder. “My grandfather tried to teach me how to shoot yesterday.”“Looks like that went well,” Trick said, raising a dark eyebrow.Katelyn walked back to the kitchen and dumped the melting ice cubes into the sink. She returned to the door, grabbed her backpack, which was beside it, and headed outside.“Yeah, it was genius,” she said bitterly.He took the pack from her. “Are you good to go to school?”“According to Ed. I told him I was hurt and his response was to tell me to put more ice on it and try harder next time.”“You’ll get the hang of it,” Trick said as they got in his car and pulled away.She stretched the seat belt off her shoulder, imagining the repercussions if Trick had to slam on his brakes, which seemed likely, given the speed he was going.“I don’t want to get the hang of it.”“You know, living out here in the middle of nowhere, it is a good idea that you know how to defend yourself.”“I got this book out of the school library.
