Page 74 of Vengeful Guard

“Aye.” A smile creeps across his face, and that’s when it hits me.

I plop down on the chair, pouting. “You let me win.”

Kael’s blue eyes widen. “What? Of course, I didn’t.”

“Shut up,” I mutter.

He grins. “Another hand? I promise I’ll beat you this time.”

“Let’s go.”

After I lose a handful more times, I’m getting bored.

“Tell me a story or something.”

Kael doesn’t look up from his cards. “Like a fairytale? God, you are a princess.”

I groan. “No. Like, I don’t know, a gangster story. Tell me something exciting.”

“I’d have thought you had enough excitement on that front.”

“It’s not scary if it’s not happening to me.”

Kael looks up from his cards to see me pouting, and finally, he sighs.

“Fine. You want to hear about how I went to juvie?”

20

KAEL

“You went to juvie?” She places her hands in her lap and leans forward to listen.

I chuckle. “I was fifteen. My dad wouldn’t buy me a car because I wouldn’t turn sixteen for a month. And he said I had to wait until Christmas. My birthday is in July.”

“So, you stole a car?”

“Not just any car.” I smirk. “Niall Murphy’s GT Shelby.”

Her beautiful green eyes widen. “You did not.”

“I did.” I grin. “It’s a classic model, so I was able to hotwire it easily.”

“What happened then?”

“I took it on a joyride. State patrol caught me doing a hundred and twenty-five on the interstate.”

“Did you run from the cops?” She’s leaning all the way forward.

I laugh, throwing my head back. “Nah. I pulled over and put my hands on my head like Da taught me.”

She laughs, too, probably imagining a skinny, fifteen-year-old me with his hands on his head in Murphy’s muscle car.

“They sent you to juvie?”

I shrug. “Only for a couple of weeks. Da got me out, but he wanted me to learn a lesson.”

“Did you learn it?”

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