“Please don’t attack the police officer that we know and love,” Otter muttered to me, which for a brief moment, made me angrier before I deflated. He was right, of course. Besides, I’d made it this far without getting arrested, and knowing Dominic, he would totally do that just to prove a point.

So I said the only thing I could. “All you need to do is remember to just breathe, okay?”

The Kid nodded at me, and I let Otter start to pull me away. And because I needed to make sure Dom understood that none of this was okay, I snapped over my shoulder, “And take those cuffs off him. As much as he deserves them, they’ll only make things worse.”

I didn’t look back after that.

“I AM going to kill him,” I growled to no one in particular as I paced back and forth in the kitchen of the Green Monstrosity.

“Is he talking about Hot Cop or Tyson?” Kori whispered to Otter.

“Hard to say at this point,” Otter whispered back. “Probably both.”

“Ah. That… doesn’t clarify anything, actually. Dammit.”

“Yeah, you’d think you’d know that by now.”

“Throwing shit through windows? Who the fuck does he think he is?”

“Ah,” Otter said. “We’re on Tyson now.”

“Thanks for clarifying,” Kori said. “Because I never would have figured it out on my own.”

I whirled around on her. “And you.”

“Eep,” she said. She cleared her throat. “Let me try that again. You startled me.” She coughed before she squared her shoulders. “Me? What about me?”

“You should be on television,” Otter said.

“Thank you. I think so too.”

“You let him throw a rock through a restaurant window! I know he can be stupid sometimes, because it’s genetic, but I expected more from you.”

Kori squinted at me. “Did—did you just insult yourself while also trying to make me feel bad? Because that’s impressive. And to reiterate, Tyson didn’t throw anything. It was the beach hippies.”

“Who couldn’t be bothered to also be arrested,” Otter said. “I never get to do anything fun.”

I glared at him. “You’re going to be in trouble too if you keep talking.”

“That was surprisingly attractive,” Kori said. “You two should seriously consider making a sex tape. For science.”

“Well, we tried once—”

“Otter!”

“I mean, we’ve never done that before nor have considered it. And we certainly have never set the camera up but then just forgot to turn it on.”

Kori gaped at us. “I’m going to go masturbate—meditate. I’m going to go meditate. At the idea of your sex tape.”

“You sit your butt down,” I said. “You’re in trouble too.” I turned and gripped the edges of the kitchen sink, trying to calm myself down.

“Ugh. That’s unfortunate.”

“Hey,” Otter said, coming up behind me and hooking his chin over my shoulder.