Page 29 of Beautiful Defiance

“So we’re back to that, huh?”

“Enemies, remember?”

“Then you should know I won’t admit a damn thing to you, Seven Shanahan.” God, he is so infuriating.

“Leigh, you care for another reason. You’ll hang around for the year and then go to DU like the rest of us. You’ll be seeing us on campus.”

“I’d rather gouge my eyes out with a plastic spoon than be on the same campus as Henry.”

We’re nearing math class. Before we get to the door, Seven steers me into an empty hallway and crowds me against the lockers with his arms alongside my head.

“You help me get my grades up, and I’ll kick any guy’s ass who dares hurt you.”

“I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it for me. I don’t want to be the girl known for giving the win to Delridge because I kept the king of the game from playing.”

I shove my palms into his chest to get him to move out of my personal space. He doesn’t budge. It’s like the wind pushing a brick building. Immovable. Impossible.

“And this ass-kicking I’m willing to do for you?”

“I don’t negotiate with bullies and guys who have zero respect for a girl’s right to sass and defy.”

“Why resort to that? Why can’t you just be?”

“Follow the crowd?”

“No, Leigh. Accept things as they are.”

“Would you give up control and power over the game and the girls?”

“It’s not in me to follow. I like being at the top of my game.”

“Then don’t expect me to change, either, Seven.”

I don’t have to push him away. He steps aside and lets me go. I rush to class, his intense stare boring into my back. I hold my head high, unwilling to show weakness.

I can never forget who sits at the top of the food chain and that the hunter and the prey aren’t meant to cohabit as friends. They will always be foes. That’s how the laws of nature work. Survival of the strongest while the weak get stomped on, then eaten alive.

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