Page 28 of Guarded Rebellion

Eva stood, shoving her chair in with more force than necessary. It seemed like she wanted to preempt me and avoid my having a chance to tell her what to do. Stiff and jerky with frustration burning in her cool-blue eyes, she shot me a withering glare and stormed off past me.

I caught up easily, walking at her side out of this study area of the massive library. Silence hung between us, but the tension and mutual flurry of hot emotions crackled with every step wetook. The need to hold her arm and force her to look at me taunted me. This drugging pull to her tempted me to stop her in her tracks and scold her, regardless of the quiet mandated in this facility.

The second we were outside, though, I whirled her around to me.

“What the fuck was that?”

She tipped her chin up, not speaking.

“I told you?—”

“Not to talk to him,” she finished hotly. “I didn’t. I didn’t speak to him. Ask Kelly!”

“But you think it’s wise to kiss him?”

She softened her glare into an expression of sarcastic amusement. “Don’t worry. My ‘purity’ is intact.” Then she shook her head and walked off.

I caught up again, taking hold of her arm and stopping her again. “That’s not the issue.”

“Oh, it isn’t? Gee, here all this time I was assuming you were here to keep me alive and virginal.”

And she would be. Under my watch. But I doubted she’d kissed him in any effort to lose her virginity. “Why’d you kiss him?”

She shrugged. “Because I could.”

I shook my head, stepping closer and remembering Marcus’s comment about her not seeming interested in Bryce. “If you didn’t want to talk to him, why’d you try to kiss him?”

“Because.” She tried to wrench her arm out of my grasp, but instead of letting her go, I walked her to the car.

“Why?” I demanded once she was in the car and sulking, arms crossed.

“Because!” she shouted, losing her temper. “Because I wanted to make a stand!”

I ground my molars, pissed off to no end.

“I saw you rushing up close—mad,again—and I was sick of it. I’m sick of you ordering me around and being such an asshole!”

“This is my job.”

“Yeah, well you’re taking it too far. I can talk to a man without the risk of being fucked, Lev. I can even kiss a man and still be pure for the husband my uncle will force on me. For fuck’s sake, I just want to live my life andnothave to dwell on the fact that I can’t really have one.”

“And you think that’s the way to go about it?” I shot back as I drove.

“If kissing some guy can be a way to show you that I can’t be owned, then yes.” She whipped her head to stare out the window instead.

My fury scaled higher. Gripping the steering wheel tighter, I counted back from ten to keep a steady hand on my rage.

She’s not yours.

She will be owned, but she’s notyours.

She stewed and steamed, glaring out the window as I brought her to the apartment. With her silence, I tried to check my anger. To calm down before yelling how wrong she was. She would be owned, and she had no life other than being a pawn for her uncle. We both knew it. It was just the way of life. But I hated that it had to be so.

I had no right to her.

I had no grounds to tell her it didn’t have to be that way.

Thatwasthe way it would be, no matter how much I was starting to wish otherwise.

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