Page 61 of Beautiful Defiance

“Nice.”

He shakes his head and laughs. “You should know better than to mess with Seven. He can be a mean mother-effer.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

“You sure you won’t change your mind?” He stares at my mouth.

“I’m certain.”

“He’s lucky you have his back, Leigh.”

Before I realize what’s happening and can put a stop to it, Malice clasps my head in his palms, pulls me close, and plants a kiss on the top of my head. I close my eyes, wishing it were Seven instead. The car shakes. There’s pounding on my window. I turn, and the cliché of if looks could kill . . . The expression on Seven’s face would slice and I’d bleed red.

Malice doesn’t give Seven another chance to mess with his sportscar. He cranks the engine and peels out of the parking lot.

“Did I get him in the nuts with the rocks that fell from his truck’s chassis?”

I glance in the side mirror. “He’s upright and not grabbing at his crotch.”

“That fucker. It’ll take a full-body assault to take him down.”

Brutal, but Malice is wrong. It only took the threat of his parents’ marriage failing to wound Seven. His mom leaving his dad cuts deep, and I won’t let him continue to hurt.

I’ll help him even if what goes on in my room doesn’t go past the walls.

Seven says I’m his, but he never said he’s mine.

Big difference.

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