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I seriously contemplated my options for about a na<strong>no</strong>second.<br />
All signs pointed to it being completely unsafe having Tucker here,<br />
especially <strong>no</strong>w that Gunner was involved. But the sight of his big<br />
brown eyes, his perfect skin, and those hands I impulsively wanted<br />
to reach out and hold ... they pulled me in. I shrugged, trying to<br />
pretend like my insides weren’t battling each other so viciously.<br />
“No, it’s okay. It’s good to see you.” I stepped around behind the<br />
couch and over to the armchair.<br />
Normally, I’d go right to the shower, but I didn’t want to<br />
leave them alone. All I needed was for Tucker to snap and start<br />
kicking my little brother instead of Trouble. Speaking of the dog —<br />
I glanced around. His little black frame was <strong>no</strong>where in sight.<br />
Normally when Tucker was here, he was all over him. But he wasn’t<br />
even in the room. Did dogs even remember when someone hurt them<br />
one time?<br />
“How was work?” Gunner’s voice brought me back to the<br />
surface of my mind and I took a breath.<br />
“Not too bad, thanks. <strong>The</strong> new Paul Rudd movie sold out<br />
again, even on Sunday night.” I pulled my hair out of its ponytail<br />
and immediately the smell of popcorn assaulted my <strong>no</strong>se. Scratch<br />
that. Not without a shower. I retied my hair to keep it out of my face.<br />
“What have you guys been doing?” Besides plotting to drive me<br />
insane.<br />
“Tucker was explaining pendulums to me. I didn’t get how<br />
they worked. Did you k<strong>no</strong>w you can make them swing one way or<br />
a<strong>no</strong>ther just by willing it to swing that way?” Gunner reached<br />
forward to a little velvet bag on the coffee table in front of him. He<br />
tugged out a pendulum on a silver chain.<br />
I hadn’t been involved in the para<strong>no</strong>rmal world long e<strong>no</strong>ugh<br />
to build much of a sensitivity to that kind of thing. Plus Tucker was<br />
looking at me and it was really hard to pretend I didn’t <strong>no</strong>tice. So I<br />
just <strong>no</strong>dded. “Sure. That’s pretty cool.”<br />
“Definitely. Now we’re watching Die Hard.” My brother<br />
held the pendulum up over his palm like the mediums do on TV<br />
when they want to communicate with the spirit world.<br />
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