Page 124 of Vengeful Guard

I pull out my phone as I go.

I call the only friend I have other than the Burkes—Cillian.

He answers right away. “What’s up?”

“I need you to meet me at the nearest pub.”

“Is it drinking time?”

“Maybe.” I sigh, getting into my car and taking off.

Cillian is already there when I arrive, sitting at the bar with a couple of beers.

I down mine, and he stares at me.

“I can’t believe you just chugged that. You never drink like that.”

I shrug. “There’s a first time for everything.”

“What the hell is going on? You look like shit. Who beat your ass?”

I groan loudly, wanting to hail the bartender for another beer but not doing it. “I’m in love.”

Cillian says something else, but it doesn’t matter. None of it matters.

Everything I’ve been, everything I’ve known—it's gone.

34

PAIGE

Declan paces around the gym while I glare at him. He’s come back after physically throwing Kael out, presumably to talk to me.

I’m furious, but also a little afraid. He attacked Kael so brutally.

“You didn’t have to hurt him.”

He whirls around to face me. “I should have hurt him more. Better yet, kill him,” he growls. “What the hell were you two thinking, Paige? He’s supposed to be your bodyguard. Your protector.”

“He can protect me just fine.” I stand up to my full height, which is still half my brother’s height, or at least that’s what it feels like.

I tilt my chin up fiercely. I know I don’t cut an intimidating figure, but I’m trying to look as tough as possible. “I can take care of myself. Kael was teaching me self-defense.”

“With his tongue down your throat?”

I sigh heavily. “Why does that matter, Declan? It didn’t affect his job. It didn’t affect my safety. My body, my lips. My choice.”

“Oh, he was after more than your lips,” Declan insists, still pacing. “How could you even think about kissing at a time like this? Da’s between this life and the next, and you’re making out with your bodyguard?”

“And why is it that you can kiss whoever you want, but I can’t? Why is it that it’s wrong for me to kiss someone because Da’s in a bad place, but you can? You would know about falling in love with the wrong person, wouldn’t you? You have everything, Declan. Why is it so bad that I want the same too?”

Declan goes pale. “Don’t compare this to me and Bree.”

“Why not? Because it seems to me like you falling in love with Bree is a lot more problematic than me falling for Kael.”

His eyes almost bug out of his face. “You’ve fallen for him?”

My face starts burning up. “I didn’t say that.”

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