“That’s okay,” Tracey said. “He isn’t really a flower type of guy. But definitely add it to your list. Flowers tell a girl she’s special and that you’ve been thinking of her.”

“I think about her all the time,” Adrian said. “I’ll add it to my list. Diesel, if you ever want a girlfriend, you should add it to your list, too. I’d better go.”

“Do you want me to push you across the lot?” Tracey offered.

“No thanks. Number five on my list is that I can handle my current responsibilities, and being independent is one of them.” He beamed at Diesel. “Thanks for the book. You should make Tracey your girlfriend. I like her.”

“Christ, kid. Now I gotta make you a new list. What not to say around chicks.” He ruffled Adrian’s hair. “Get outta here, kiddo. Have fun with Marnie.”

As Adrian rolled away and they headed up to the ordering window, Tracey said, “So, you like hobbits and you make boyfriend lists. Diesel Black, you just got a lot more interesting.”

He scoffed.

They ordered pizza, and Tracey talked with Paolo while they waited for the pizza to cook. She was so easy and warm and sweet, she reminded him of how his mother used to talk to people she’d just met like she’d known them forever.

When their pizza was ready, Paolo gave him an approving look. As if he’d sought approval for a damn thing in the last twenty-plus years?

Tracey plunked her hot little self down right beside him at a picnic table. “I love pizza.” She took a bite and closed her eyes. “Mm. So good.”

He imagined her saying that when they were naked and he was buried deep inside her. He cleared his throat and took a bite of pizza to try to fend off those dirty thoughts.

“How do you know Adrian and Paolo?”

“Adrian was getting bullied at school, and his father reached out to the Dark Knights. I shadowed him to classes and after school for a while, made sure nobody gave him hell.”

“And did it stop the bullying?”

“Yeah.” He finished his slice, remembering how awful it was to see that great kid in so much misery.

“How does that work? Intimidation? Isn’t that the same thing as bullying?”

“I like to see it as opening the kids’ eyes. When kids pick on who they consider to be an underdog, we go in and show them that they’re the underdogs. We’re not there to scare them. We’re there to teach them.”

“What do you mean?”