Page 19 of Beautiful Defiance

Yeah, mine to harass and wear down until she worships me like the other girls do.

All thoughts of breaking her of her defiance leave my brain the moment Leigh rests against the wall. She closes her eyes, and her chest rises and falls in this slow ebb and flow of breaths. Is she getting worse instead of better?

“Leigh, can I put my hand on your forehead?”

She nods.

I check her for a fever. She’s warm from her shower but not feverish.

“I’m going to pick you up and put you in bed.”

I slide my arm under her knees and pick her up. Inside the bedroom, I set her on the bed.

“I’ll be right back. You need to take another dose of medicine.”

I hurry to the kitchen and grab her bottle of meds and a glass of water. I return to the bedroom, shake out the pills, and hand them and the glass to her. She takes the antibiotics, follows it with a chug of water, and sets the glass on the nightstand.

“You’ve done so much. How will I ever repay you?”

She licks her lips. I stare at her mouth. Her eyes widen.

“Anything but a kiss. You’re underserving of my first kiss, Seven.”

A kiss isn’t what I’m after. The damn cut on her bottom lip pisses me off to no end. I hate the jerk who dared hurt her. I’m also pissed she won’t give me his name.

“You should get some rest. If you need me for anything, anything at all, wake me, you hear?”

“Thanks, Seven.”

“Goodnight, Leigh.”

“Night.”

I get off the bed and walk out of the bedroom with my hands jammed in my pockets, her words looping through my head. You’re underserving of my first kiss.

I’m underserving? Her first kiss? What she says brands my flesh. It hurts and leaves a lasting mark. I flop onto the couch and stare at the ceiling.

I don’t need a kiss from Beautiful Defiance to consider us good and even for me saving her life. Or for her to give me the jerk’s name who hurt her. Some way, somehow, I’ll find the guy who ruined the perfection of her face.

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