Loving the Wild Card (Kingdom Book 5) by Theresa L. Henry
Prologue
“Stop the car!”
The driver paid no attention to the demand of the young man whose command was loud enough to sting his ears. He was employed to drive them to and from school, not to take orders from them. In his opinion most rich kids thought, they ruled the world. However, from his experience these two weren’t so bad.
“My brother said stop the damn car!”
This was a good gig and he couldn’t ignore the authoritative demand of the older boy.
Looking in his rear view mirror, the driver met the cold green-black eyes of, Jacob Kingdom.
Before the car came to a complete halt, the younger boy’s hand was on the door handle, ready to jump out.
“She thinks she can take him!” The boy threw over his shoulder; his gaze fixed on the crowd gathered on the sidewalk.
****
“Leave him alone!”
“Shut up you freak. You don’t get to tell us what to do!” Ordered the ringleader of the group of bullies surrounding the kid the girl was defending.
While he insulted her, he didn’t spare the girl a glance. She had a big mouth, and he wasn’t about to lose credibility by giving her his attention.
The boy at the center of their taunts was a pitiful sight. His tears ran down his face with increasing speed and merged with the snot hanging from his nose. The kid was huge, at nearly six feet. Why he didn’t defend himself against the bullies, Lux had no idea. Never one to tolerate an injustice, she stepped in again.
“I said, leave him alone!”
The bully continued to ignore her as he slapped the crying kid across the face.
“Look at you; you should be ashamed, crying like a baby. What do you weigh, three hundred pounds? What do you think guys, should we see if he’s got any money? Then we should roll his fat ass down the hill? The bully mocked, his insults becoming crueler with every taunt. Spurred on by his entourage, he slapped the hapless kid around the face again.
Lux pulled back and threw a punch that landed square in the middle of the bully’s face. Enough blood erupted from his nose that she nearly passed out at the sight of it.
A terrible hush fell over the bystanders and Lux knew she was in trouble. The kid she was defending seized his opportunity, and was running down the hill as though the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels. She was on her own. Her grandmother had always said no good deed goes unpunished, and she was sure this was one of those times.
She could handle herself though, or so she liked to think, her brother had taught her how to throw more than a punch.
The taunts of the other kids about whether he was going to let a girl kick his ass, was all it took for Raymond Harris to swipe a sleeve under his nose. Then he was moving towards her with deadly intent.
When he threw his first punch, Lux was ready and side stepped it. Raymond was furious. If the situation wasn’t so precarious, she would have taken the opportunity to look for allies amongst the boys and girls that surrounded them.
Bracing herself, Lux watched as Raymond Harris sniffed and moved towards her. Out of nowhere, a tall black haired caucasian youth had one hand on the waist of Raymond’s pants and another on his collar. The way he tossed Raymond aside was incredible. Then he was standing in front of her as though daring one of Raymond’s sycophants to step in, none did. Probably because there was an equally tall and larger blond haired youth standing with his legs braced apart, and hand fisted at his side. And he looked as though he were ready to take them all on.
His attention diverted, a boy moved as though to get a jump on the blond.
“Think carefully before you take another step. It’s been a while since I’ve had to kick someone’s ass, and I’ve missed it.” The baring of the blond’s teeth unnerved Lux, and it seemed to do the same to the kid who thought to jump him.
Lux could tell they weren’t much older than her, but their height belied their age. They were huge!
Slowly the crowd dispersed. But not before Raymond and his cronies all pointed a finger at her defenders, then pounded their chests in warning that they’d meet again. The young men who’d come to her rescue remained expressionless at the gestures. They also remained a protective barrier before her until the crowd dispersed.
When the dark haired youth finally turned to her, Lux immediately noticed the color of his eyes. They were a dark green that bore into her, pinning her with their intensity.
“I can’t make up my mind whether you’re really brave or incredibly dumb. Either way, I think a thank you is in order.” Were the first words he spoke to her.
The blond, obviously his brother, didn’t even glance in her direction as he shook his head and walked back to the expensive looking car.