Page 16 of Making Choices

Knowing that he’ll end our call for me, I pull the covers tighter and give into the lure of sleep. Hopefully having Slash read me to sleep will be enough to ward off the nightmares since I won’t have Zeke’s arms to keep me safe from them tonight.

I’m not sure if I hear him correctly when he speaks again, but I know that I fall asleep with a smile on my face imagining that he said, “Love you too, my beautiful duchess.”

3

SLASH

I slide a hand under my pillow as my bedroom door is closed with a bang and booted feet approach my bed. Without lifting my eyelids, I extend my arm, flick my wrist as my thumb hits the button on the side of my penknife, and point the open blade in the direction of the idiot about to wake me up.

“Don’t even think about it,” I mumble. “My back is fucked from spendin’ the night in a hospital chair and I ain’t leavin’ this bed until I’ve had at least five hours kip.”

“Sleep is for pussies,” Venom offers in a drawl. “I’m goin’ on forty hours and ya don’t hear me complainin’.”

“Fuckin’ yay for you, arsehole.”

When he doesn’t say anything else, I swipe at the space in front of my extended arm to make sure he isn’t trying to ambush me, then push my blade back under my pillow as I settle in for a few more hours sleep. Despite my tiredness, I listen for the click of the latch to herald his departure.

It doesn’t come.

“Take a hint and fuck off, Venom.”

He chuckles. “Can’t.”

“Is the compound on fire?” I ask with a yawn.

“Nah.”

My voice is muffled by my pillow as I enquire, “Are the Bishops’ shootin’ up the street?”

“Nope.”

“Have the cops arrived to take another look-see around our yard.”

“No, siree, they have not.”

“Then take your ‘can’t’ and shove it where the sun don’t shine. I’m not gettin’ up unless one of those three things are goin’ down.”

“What if I need you to help me ambush Lily?”

The groan that rumbles in the back of my throat is filled with frustration and surrender.

“The fuck you done now?”

“Nothin’… yet.”

After rolling onto my back with a groan and kicking off the covers, I jam my forearm over my eyes to ward off the ache caused by the bright light overhead. “This is low, even for you.”

“Desperate times; desperate measures and all that.” Venom makes a face at me when I struggle into a seated position and glare at him. “Spoke to Hunter like you wanted me to and we’ve come up with a plan. Need Cherub’s cooperation to pull it off, and since she’s liable to claw my fuckin’ face off if I try to trick her into playin’ along, I figure I needa corner her in the workshop and work my magic on her. Since Brutus has fucked with her head, made her think I lie to her for fun, I need you to help me keep a wide berth between us and everyone else in case she goes nuclear.”

I sigh, then open my mouth to tell him that she seemed to have mellowed toward him when I spoke to her last night, only to press my lips together at the last second. Cherub might’ve been waiting up for her man, but he doesn’t need to know that right now. After five years of him bullshitting her about everything under the sun while Cherub did her best to pretend she’s okay with Venom treating her like a two-year-old, it’ll do them good to hash out their problems.

“What’s the plan?” I ask as I swipe yesterday’s jeans from the floor and shove my legs into them.

“Hunter thinks me and Lily need to fake a breakup.”

“Why the fuck would he think that?” My fingers curl into fists as I battle the urge to pummel him for even thinking of dumping Cherub—whether it’s fake or not. I shake out my hands, then gather my hair at the crown of my head and fix it in place with a hair tie. “You better not be draggin’ my little brother into this bullshit with Brutus.”

“He dragged himself into this when he pulled a gun on an MP. I’m simply tryna keep him safe while using his brains to our advantage.”

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