Up in Smoke (King, #8)

by T.M. Frazier

I might be a liar, but what I told Duke earlier is the truth. I don’t like high school all that much. Not now, and not when I graduated the first time. Four years ago.

The best organization in the world can’t protect a leader who continually runs his mouth all over the place.

“Stop houndin’ her, you brute. She didn’t want to get who she saw as an innocent mixed up in your affairs. She’s a smart one. A kind one to boot. A good combination, if you ask me.”

“The best jobs are the ones you don’t ask for. The ones you don’t get paid for. The ones you learn something from.” Zelda leans in and whispers in my ear. “Stay strong, lass. When he gives you hell, show ‘em your horns.”

“Never ever underestimate a woman, especially yourself. We are in charge despite what anyone might say or think. You have more control over your life than you give yourself credit or blame for.

“He is. It’s not that he doesn’t feel anything, it’s that he feels everything. And for a man capable of such atrocities it’s hard for him to justify it any other way.”

“The look that says she’s gotten to you,” Bear says, downing his own whiskey. His grin is of the shit-eating variety. “Some people say that a good woman can tame a man. Train him. Make him less violent,” King says. He chuckles. “It ain’t true. It makes you more violent. It makes you more everything.” “Ain’t that the fucking truth,”