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I stared at him for a few quiet seconds and the reality of our…association was glaring. “We…we’re not good for each other, Talon,” I said quietly.

He gave me a tight nod. “You’re probably right,” he agreed. “But it doesn’t matter. You can motherfuck me all you want, but I’m never letting you go, Kenzlee.”

Chapter 15

The need to fight or flight.

Kenzlee~

The only reason Talon had let me out of that Janitor closet was because a teacher had started banging on the door. Apparently, someone had seen Alex getting kidnapped and Talon dragging me into the closet, and after the video this morning, the anonymous student had feared for my wellbeing.

And now I was heading towards gym with Lars and Hunter in attendance and I was just not up to dealing with those two. Once I found Alexandria being held captive by them at their lunch table, she was a furious mess, ranting about how they kidnapped her.

Hunter and Lars just laughed at her.

I was going to have to apologize to her all through sixth period, even though I had already apologized profusely for involving her in Talon’s drama. She had eventually calmed down and was mad at the Mob brothers more than she was at Talon. She argued that all they had to do was ask her to go with them. Lars hadn’t needed to throw her over his shoulder and cause a scene.

She was now a social media video clip, and she was not happy about it.

After I spilled my guts last night, Alex was very understanding and told me she didn’t blame me for keeping it from her. She imagined any experience involving Talon Draven would be a little overwhelming. She also gave me her blessing, and I had to laugh at that; her blessing implied a choice.

If she only knew.

I walked out of the gymnasium locker area and headed towards gym class. However, I hadn’t made it ten steps before the Finley brothers were both flanking my sides.

Great.

Just friggin’ great.

“What are you doing to our boy, girl,” Hunter whistled. “You got that dude losing his mind.”

I kept walking towards where the girls were gathered, trying my best to ignore the two buffoons walking beside me. I had nothing against these two personally, but knowing they backed Talon unconditionally made me wary of them.

Ignoring Hunter’s comment about Talon, I said, “If you guys ever manhandle my cousin again, I will extract a revenge, so brutal, the whole lot of us will end up on Investigation Discovery.”

This time, Lars was the one who let out a low whistle. “A little bloodthirsty there, are we?”

I stopped walking and turned to face Lars. “Alexandria has nothing to do with whatever is going on between me and Talon,” I told him.

Playful Lars was gone. He stepped to me and his voice was low and dark as he said, “That’s where you’re wrong, Kenzlee. If she has anything to do with you, then she’s involved inallof this.”

“You guys can’t do this,” I hissed.

“Wrong again, babe,” Hunter said from behind me, and his voice was just as serious as Lars’. I whipped around to look at him. “No one’s going to come to your rescue, Kenzlee.”

I stepped back so I could look at both of them. “I’m not scared of you guys,” I bluffed.

It only took me a second to realize why they were Talon’s best friends. They all three had the same violent undercurrent. I felt it strongly around Talon, but these two exuded that same vibe. However, something told me Hunter was the more brutal than his brother. Lars struck me as having a long fuse, where Hunter struck me as having a very short one. And Talon? Talon didn’t have one, at all.

“I’m not going to let you guys terrorize Alexandria,” I bit out, upset that they had upset her.

Lars laughed. “Calm your tits, Kenz,” he chuckled, the seriousness and anger instantly gone. “We didn’t terrorize your cousin. She sat with us at lunch.”

“For Christ’s sake, we evenboughther lunch,” Hunter added. “I’d hardly call that terrorizing the females of Lakeside.”

I shook my head. I was at a complete loss here. The earlier scene with Talon, the kidnapping…all of it was making me someone I wasn’t. I didn’t engage in public spectacles. I didn’t slap people. I didn’t get violent. I didn’t let guys I hardly knew screw me in public up against trees.

Jesus.