Page 125 of Vengeful Guard

He lets out a sigh of relief. “At least there’s that. I know you want your happily ever after, Bree, but this isn’t the way to go about it.”

“Oh, we get to choose who we fall for? That’s news to me.”

I don’t like the way he’s talking.

What does he mean, like that makes it better? Like Kael is just a fling, a nobody?

Kael means something to me, he means a lot, in fact, but that’s something I haven’t even told him, much less Declan.

“Why not? Why not Kael?” I demand to know.

“He’s not the right guy, Paige.”

“Why do you get to decide that? You’re not my father.”

“Don’t bring up Da right now,” Declan growls. “You think he’d be happy that you’re kissing Kael Sullivan, the man we paid to keep you safe? He’s taking advantage of you, Paige.”

“No, he’s not!” I take a deep, shaking breath. “I went after him, Declan?—”

“Spare me the details.”

I don’t know what to do.

Declan calls over Gray, letting me go down to the kitchen, and their voices are risen and angry in the living room.

I press my face against the wall to try and make sense of what they are saying.

“She did what?” Gray breathes.

“Yeah. I came in to find them all over each other.”

“Kael? Kael Sullivan? The guy who always pays for it? Kissing Paige?” Gray mock gags, and I roll my eyes, wanting to stalk in there and tell him he’s an idiot.

What, am I just some kind of bag of potatoes to them? Someone that can’t make decisions and needs to constantly be protected? It’s like I’m eighteen months old.

I don’t even think Da would be upset about me and Kael. He’d let me make my own choices.

“What the hell’s going on around here?” Gray demands to know, walking into the kitchen, and I stand up straight, not wanting them to know that was listening.

“Nothing.” I look right up at Gray. “Or rather, it’s none of your bloody business.”

“You’re our baby sister. Of course, it’s our bloody business,” Gray hisses, and I take a step toward him.

Declan steps between us. “What, are you going to hit him?”

“I’m twenty-seven years old, not twenty-seven months,” I shoot back. “I can make my own decisions about who I kiss and who I don’t kiss.”

“It’s all coming together,” Gray says from the background, and I sure am tired of the peanut gallery. This should be between me and Kael, not me, Kael, and my brothers. “Maybe that’s why you almost got taken. Kael was distracted.”

“He helped a lot that day,” Declan says seriously. “Don’t accuse him of something when you don’t know the whole story.”

“It’s not like either of them are going to tell us the whole story.”

“I’ll tell you nothing because like I said, this is none of your business. Besides, it’s not like either of you did any better when I was attacked the first time. At least he taught me to defend myself.”

Gray shakes his head. “Low blow, sis.”

“Low blow? Low blow is both of you sitting there, tag-teaming me, trying to dictate who I can and can’t kiss.”

---