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Chapter 12
Ariel lurked in the shadows, barely holding in a cackle as she shot Joanna a nasty look.
“Joanna, you’re done for,” she hissed under her breath. “Gavin’s crazy about that car. He’s gonna think you keyed it or something! Dude doesn’t care if you’re a guy or a girl–he’ll wreck you. Bet he’s coming at you with that wrench, aiming for your skull!”
Joanna, totally oblivious, was just fed up with the stuffy Newburn house.
She’d slipped out for some air, secretly hoping to stir up enough drama to get herself booted for good.
Then she saw him–a shirtless teen, stomping her way with a wrench in hand, looking like he was ready to start a bar fight.
The second their eyes met, he hollered, “You wanna get smoked?!”
Joanna squinted, giving him a quick scan. “Pass,” she said, calm as a summer breeze.
Gavin was all fired up, itching for a brawl, but her chill attitude threw him for a loop.
He paused, twirling the wrench. “So, what? You trashed my ride on purpose?!”
Joanna blinked, totally thrown by the question. But honestly? She was used to the Newburn family’s brand of crazy.
Everyone in that house was a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
She shrugged and started to walk away.
No way was Gavin letting her just saunter off.
To him, her silence was as good as a signed confession. Guilty as charged.
Didn’t matter who she was–man, woman, whatever. He was pissed.
Charging after her, he raised his hand, ready to throw down. “You think you can just bounce, huh?!”
He lunged, reaching for her hair to drag her to the ground.
Bam!
In one smooth move, Joanna spun and slammed Gavin–six–foot–two, shredded with an eight–pack–flat onto the pavement.
Gavin’s eyes bugged out. “What the hell?!”
Ariel, still lurking, nearly blew her cover with a gasp.
“No freaking way!” she whispered, then bit her tongue so hard her eyes teared up.
Joanna, looking like a stiff breeze could knock her over, pinned Gavin’s beefy arm with one hand and pressed her tiny foot against his tense back.
“Why you swinging at me?” she asked, her soft voice completely at odds with the fact that she’d just tossed him like a cheap
lawn chair.
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Chapter 12
She might’ve looked delicate, but Joanna had been training in kickboxing for over a decade.
Gavin couldn’t see her face, but he could feel the ice–cold, don’t–mess–with–me vibe radiating from her.
He was stunned. Him–Gavin, the guy who’d owned every fight in the city, the dude who’d snagged first in the kickboxing regionals–dropped by some girl? No shot.
Joanna didn’t care what was rattling around in his head. She leaned in, like she was grilling a suspect in a cop show. “Talk. Why’d you come at me?”
Gavin snapped out of it and started squirming. “You serious?! You smashed my car and you’re asking me?!”
Joanna almost clapped back. ‘Why would I waste my time messing with his car?‘
But then she remembered Ariel, creeping around like a shady little rat.
She crouched down, eyeing Gavin. “What’s your name, big guy?”
“Name’s Gavin, damn it!” he replied.
Joanna’s lips twitched. Gavin. The Newburn family’s fifth heir.
Word was he was the product of a one–night fling between Howell and some model. She handed Gavin off to Howell and jetted off to marry someone else.
Rumor had it Howell barely gave the kid a second glance, and Gavin wasn’t even on the family tree. All he was good for was throwing hands.
Joanna studied him for a beat, then muttered, “What a waste.”
A waste because he didn’t have enough pull in the Newburn family to get her kicked out.
Starting a fight with him was pointless.
With that, she eased her foot and stepped back. “Alright, show me your car. Let’s check it out.”
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