Showing your ass...Covenant Series, book six...
"Hanna drops her stance and center of gravity. She makes a narrow target and pushes a hand out as a distraction. The waif of a woman applies all of the steps in the training he’s shown her so far and he would be proud to see that under any other circumstance. “Hanna, he isn’t your little brother, and I’m not your dad.”
"There are those times in a man’s life, especially when speaking to a woman, when he realizes he’s done irreparable damage without ever meaning to. All those shared smoke breaks in the middle of the night, all those moon and cherry lit conversations. No, not conversations, confessions. They weren’t things meant to be shared, only no one ever said it out loud. He offered, she shared, he pantomimed sentiment and offered a few genuine anecdotes and she bared her fucking soul to him."
"Randall stops looking so hard and almost forgets the razor in his hand, Hanna sneers and lunges. It’s a perfect feint. Well timed and aimed, but its just a matter of mass. Hanna shifts her weight and kicks out and lands against him. The kick connects but there is no give and it nearly upends her. He can see the second of consternation and the following second where she considers lying to Randall about his statement."
"Saving face means offering sacrifices. He grabs at her spindly ankle and holds on so that she forgets about making any bullshit, half assed comments to her junkie confidant about how he’s been too far gone to be her preferred emotional tampon these last few months."