Defeated, Jada’s murder victim disappeared around the corner. Jada gasped as she finally noticed what had happened to Graham. Piper raced to him. Rivulets of mucky water splattered his skin and clothes. A dab of mud had even lodged in that formidable cleft in his chin. His jeans were filthy, his hands grubby. She went to her knees next to him. “Oh, God... Are you okay?”

Jada charged down the alley. “Coop! Please don’t tell Mom! Please!” She whipped toward Piper. “I would’ve been killed if it hadn’t been for you!”

And now Graham was going to kill Piper. Not with a Nerf gun, but—if the look on his face was any indication—with his big, filthy hands.

Muddy water seeped through the knees of Piper’s jeans as she leaned back on her ankles. “You’d... better go inside, Jada.”

Jada didn’t need prodding. With one backward, pleading glance at Graham, she, the grocery bag, and her Nerf disappeared into the building.

Piper was alone in the alley with a man who’d built his career on single-mindedly dismantling his opponents. As he shifted his weight from the pothole, a desiccated grapefruit rind slid off his shoe. She reached out. “Let me help you up.”

“Do. Not. Touch. Me. Ever.” He came to his feet with both the grace and the deadly intent of a leopard. Who could blame her for stumbling a little as she stood up? Clenching his teeth, he ground out the words “Never touch me again! Do you understand?”

The murderous heat in his eyes was more than a little disconcerting. “Yes... sir.”

His icy rage turned hot. “What the hell is it with you?”

“I’m a finely tuned fighting machine?” She’d made it a question instead of a statement, but either way, it was a big mistake because his expression grew even more thunderous.

“What I did was instinctive,” she said quickly. “You were in the way, and I reacted automatically to protect Jada.”

“From a fucking Nerf gun!”

“Yes... I know, but...” Now didn’t seem like the most opportune time to explain about the Pius Assassins, so she settled on the abbreviated explanation. “It’s a game. Money and peer acceptance for the new kid are at stake.”

“In case you didn’t get the memo, I am not one of the players.”

“No. Absolutely not. If you hadn’t been standing in the way, I’d have blocked the shot myself.”

The muscles tightened at the corners of his eyes. “Barely ten minutes ago, you were bragging about taking a bullet for me. How’s that working out?”

“Well...” She gulped. “Now you know exactly how fast my reflexes are. That has to be sort of comforting. How many humans on this planet are quick enough to sack you?”

Uh-oh. Wrong thing to say, because the steam boiled right out of his ears. “You didn’t sack me! You ambushed me.”