Page 132 of Bookworm

"But not as awesome as it'll feel after you answer my questions."

"One move, one question, Kent," he said.

"Two arms, so two questions, Stryker," I retorted.

"Fine."

"And I actually did six correctly, so…"

"Don't push it."

I didn't. Thinking fast, I asked the first question that came to mind.

"Why flowers?" I said.

"Huh?"

"The flower shop." I rolled my eyes. "I get why you love it here. The martial arts,the being all tough, the sweating because for some crazy reason you seem to enjoy that." Bo coughed to cover a laugh, but I went on. "Besides your grandma, why do you work at the flower shop?"

Bo shrugged. "I guess because it relaxes me. As a kid, I had a lot of pent-up energy and nowhere to put it.I got picked on too by older kids.My parents signed me up for soccer and all the martial arts classes in the area. Those helped. But working with flowers is what reallyquiets my mind.Still does.They let me escape the world for a while.Plus, I like the smell."

I nodded. "I get that. Books are my escape."

Bo lifted his chin. "Escape from what?"

"Life," I said.Feeling the need to say more since he'd revealed so much, I added, "After my mom left us,things were…bad. My dad and sister dealt with it in their own way. The library became like my second home."

"Where is she now?" he asked.

"France, Spain, who knows? She and her new family move around all the time. She doesn't call us much."

"That sucks."

"Yeah, it does" I said. Mom left when I was five, and Scarlett was four. I tried not to think about it, havingdecided long ago not to let her—or anything else—get me down. "But books were there for me when I needed them.They helped me believe things could be good again."

"I'm glad you had that," Bo said.

"Me too.What's your favorite flower?" I asked.

"Cherry blossom," he said.

My smile widened. "Really? My shampoo smells like cherry blossoms."

"I know," he said quietly, almost to himself.

"You know," I repeated.

Those dark, intense eyes of his met mine. "Drives me crazy most days."

I didn't know what to say to that.

Bo had me repeat the punches, and he put on padded gloves, so I'd know what it felt like to actually hit something.

The next move he taught me was how to disarm an opponent.I recognized it as the same one Mrs. Lee performed on the robber today.I tried it a couple of times slowly with Bo giving me pointers.

"Keep your arms strong."

"Don't forget about your legs."

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