Page 34 of Guarded Rebellion

“Cold, little lady?” a haggard man asked as he limped along, his eyes unfocused and wild.

“No,” I replied, clipped and stern.

“I can warm ya up.”

“No.” I repeated.

Okay, I really am alone out here… with this street bum.

But I wasn’t scared to not have Lev, Marcus, or any other Baranov man with me. I knew the necessary elements of self-defense and I would be far faster than this wiry old dude.

Before the situation could get dicey, Kelly appeared around the corner. She jogged, sending her blonde waves swaying in that high ponytail. A slim band of knitted blue wrapped around her head and covered her ears, but with that much of her face exposed to the elements, I worried that she was cold.

“Whew!” She grinned once she reached me, catching her breath. “That was much easier than I thought it would be.” Noticing the bum, she furrowed her brow and adopted thatdon’t mess with meattitude she sometimes let me see when she seemed to be intimidated—which was often. Kelly was shy, but I had a hunch she’d turn fierce when she had to.

“Easy? You call that easy?” I joked, huddling closer to her to give her some of my body heat as a bus approached. “My heart is racing. Like I’ve just done the unthinkable.”

“Have you ever snuck out before?” she asked in a whisper. Even though the bum had moved along, walking and limping further down the sidewalk, she kept our conversation confidential.

“No. Never.” I shrugged as she gestured for me to get on the bus first.

“Wow!” Kelly climbed on and we settled on a bench. No one else was riding, but that was no mystery. It was freezing out there. “Never? Not once?”

“I think you underestimate how confining my life is.” I grimaced as I admitted it. “I’ve never been without a guard.”

She frowned. “Are you… uh, are you really in that much danger?”

I would always be in danger one way or another. My family would have enemies until the end of time. That was just the waythis world worked. But I didn’t want to make her afraid. “No, not directly.” Patting her gloved hand, I smiled and shoved this worry aside. “I wouldn’t sneak out if I thought it would put my life—or yours—in danger.”

“Okay.” She laughed lightly, adjusting her scarf. “I mean, it’s just a frat party.”

Ha. Justa frat party? This was a naughty act of rebellion for me. Merely thinking about going to a frat party—unchaperoned—was a supreme gesture of defiance on my part. And it symbolized so much more. I would have an opportunity to mingle and people watch knowing I wasn’t being studied as well. I could say what I wanted. Act as I pleased. Even though I wasn’t an extrovert and had no plans to be wild, I looked forward to just being there. To tricking myself that I could fit in with normal people, others my age who weren’t worried about turf wars, rivals placing hits, and the law enforcement targeting them for any and everything they could think of.

No torture. No embezzlement. No racketeering.

Just a frat party with simple, ordinary classmates.

I couldn’t wait.

“Excited?” Kelly asked as the bus neared the campus boundaries.

“Yes.” I set my teeth to my lip, unable to stop smiling.

“Just stick with me, okay?” she asked. “I’ve never gone to one of these things before, either. I’ve heard stories, and that’s really the only reason I’m curious enough to go.”

“Me too. It feels like a social experiment. Just to see what all the hype is about.”

She nodded. “It’s an experience.”

One I would always remember as the time I dared to decide something for myself for once.

We arrived a decent distance away from the frat house, but the walk there wasn’t a burden. The wind lessened, reducingthe bite in the air as we hurried along the concrete path. Maintenance crews had plowed it and reapplied salt to melt the slickness earlier, but we still skidded and slipped here and there.

No one else walked on the bigger stretch of the path, but as we came closer to where the frat houses stood with the woods as a backdrop, we slowed our pace.

“I didn’t realize how big these houses are,” I commented, looking up at the mansion lit up and aglow with festivities. Christmas lights were still blazing, despite the holidays already over with weeks ago. Music hummed and thumped, the vibrations reverberating from the ground and up through our legs. Almost the size of the mansion I’d formerly called home, this frat house was a monstrosity of debauchery and partying.

“Me neither.” Kelly looped her arm with mine, clutching me closer to her side. “So let’s really plan to stick together. I don’t want to lose you.”

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