"Maybe he could help me out," Ileana said thoughtfully, "Hopefully anyway. Anyone who'd attack me would probably be bigger than me, so I'm not sure how much good it'll do." She laughed a little, trying to push off the seriousness of talking about having to protect herself. "Curse being half the size of everyone!"
Ileana made a little noise in agreement, "Mm. But we," meaning her and Stefan, "had come from living out of campers and trucks. I don't have a problem with it usually, but sometimes it can get at you. Especially when they're rich and jackasses." She had someone in mind when she mentioned that.
She bit her lip before she told Cole, "He's a nice guy, except a few issues."