“Let me know how much it would be and I can pay you.”

“No payment needed for labor. If I have to order a part, I’ll let you know.” He grabbed another cookie humming in food induced pleasure. Cinnamon sugar collected on his fingers. He licked it clean as another of my delicious treats disappeared into his face hole.

“So kind.” My mom patted his bicep. “Isn’t he such a gentleman?” She smiled and made a face at me like ‘isn’t he adorable?’ No, that wasn’t exactly the word I’d use to describe him.

“Maybe Bay could make you a few more to thank you.”

“That would be outstanding.” He grinned wide. A smug smirk while eating my cookies that emboldened me the second my mom left the room.

“What the hell, Dare? Give me my damn cookies.” I held out my hand.

“Your mom gave them to me as a gift. What kind of asshole would I be if I turned it down? Are your cookies as good as these?”

“You’ll never know.” He didn’t need to know that I’d planned to finish that batch off when my mom left for work. That was none of his business.

“Oh, I’m sure I will.” His grin took shit-eating to a whole other level. I’d never wanted to hit someone before, but he tested my limits of civility and not being an asshole.

“I’ll be back later, Molly.”

“Thank you so much, Dare,” she called from the kitchen.

“Give them to me.” I held out my hand, jamming my pointer finger into my extended palm.

He laughed, took two steps backward wearing his smug smile. “Nice PJs.”

“I’ll—” I looked down at myself. Bare legs, bare arms, and a gap between my top and the waistband of my boxers. My instinct was to yelp and run screaming from the room. Instead, I stood my ground and glared right back at him as he pushed through the screen door.

“Bite me!”

“That can be arranged, Bay. Anytime you’d like.” He grinned, laughing as the door closed behind him.

Hanging out in my living room. Stealing my damn cookies. Calling my mom by her first name. Dare might not have known it yet, but he was on the top of my shit list. Not that he hadn’t already been there, but the marks against his name grew by the minute.

This included dangers such as under my breath grumbling, glares, possible smudges to his papers that he passed to the front of the class and…who am I kidding? There wasn’t anything I could do to Dare, but I needed to hang onto the annoyed anger. Scratch that, righteous anger.

If I didn’t, the sweetness of what he did and planned to do might weave a magical spell wiping our first meeting away that would only get me into trouble. He wanted to pretend he was a nice guy now? I ran through my first day at Greenwood Senior High. The vivid details craved an excruciatingly clear memory of just the kind of guy he was. Even if he didn’t remember, I certainly did.