Page 37 of Beautiful Defiance

“That was my next question.” He lets go of my hand and gets on his side. I do too. We stare at one another. “You don’t need to tell if you don’t want to. It wasn’t a part of my ask, so no biggie.”

The thing is, I do. This part of my life I can’t tell Sorrow. She has enough troubles on her shoulders.

“Petty theft. Breaking and entering. Grand theft auto. All misdemeanors.”

His eyes widen. “No wonder you were able to get in and out of my room without me knowing. You’re an expert.”

Not the expert my dad was until he got caught stealing an EpiPen from the pharmacy. It’s the reason he went to prison for two years. Breaking and entering and robbing a business is a felony.

“I also assaulted someone with a bat, Seven. It’s the reason I spent time in juvie.”

He tucks pieces of my hair behind my ear. “You must’ve had a good reason.”

“I did.” I’m ready to get this off my chest. “One of my foster brothers tried raping this girl he lured into an alley. I found an aluminum bat in the dumpster and broke his arm with it, then went for his legs. He swore never to hurt someone again and promised he wouldn’t tell a soul.”

“You are one hell of a badass, Leigh Kim. But how’d you get nailed with an assault charge if he didn’t snitch?”

“The girl did.”

“Fuck. Again, I’m sorry.”

“I’d do it again.”

“I’m sure you would. That’s who you are.”

“Can you see why I can’t just be? My dad had charisma and charm. My energy is different. I want to do. To challenge. Otherwise, I get antsy.”

“There are other ways to expend that kind of wired energy.”

“Like what?”

His gaze drops to my mouth. “Foreplay.”

I swat his shoulder, the heat between my legs growing unbearable. Goodness, the intense way he’s looking at my lips and licking his, like he wants a mouthful of me . . . “And the prey comes out to play. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. I’m not going there with you.” I move onto my back and sling my arm over my eyes. “I’ll come up with my own methods.”

“Like learning to drive? Grand theft auto. Fuck’s sake, Leigh, how old were you?”

“Legal. Sixteen.” I remove my arm from my eyes and stare at the ceiling. “But I never had formal driver’s ed. My foster parents weren’t willing to let me learn. It was their way of keeping me out of trouble.”

“Yet, you stole a car and took it for a joyride.”

“On a dare. If I did so, my foster brother would leave me alone and not come into my room at night.”

“You mean he came after you first?” He throws off the covers and sits up. “Do you have a last known address for this fucker? I’d like to fuck him up.”

“Language, Seven.” I reach out and pat his shoulder. He does something utterly swoon-worthy. He takes my hand and drops a kiss on my palm.

“The address, Leigh.”

“I don’t have it. He grew out of the foster system.”

“How many homes?”

“Seven over five years. Only one family was decent to me, but they decided not to foster anymore when their daughter became pregnant with twins.”

“Shit.”

“Seven.”

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