Page 93 of Making Choices

“Nope. This is me not givin’ a fuck. Venom’s on his own from now on. I’m lookin’ out for my interests.”

Dad shakes his head. “Seems like your interests converge… just like they have since you were eight.”

“Seems like you’re continuin’ with the riddles,” I snark back at him. My nose is killing me. The rip in my eyebrow continues to drip blood down my face. “And I don’t have the time or the patience for ’em, so let me repeat myself just this once… either lay it out straight or leave me to work out my shit on my own.”

“There’s none so blind as a man who refuses to see,” he replies sedately.

“Fuckin’ hell, you’re seriously quotin’ proverbs now.” Wheeling on my dad, I step up into his space, getting up in his face in a way I’ve never dared before. “‘There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know.’”

Acutely aware that I look vaguely ridiculous going head-to-head with my father while my nose is swollen and my left eye resembles a mashed tomato, I can’t bring myself to back down. This has been a long time coming, and it feels right to pursue my own agenda for once.

I’ve spent eleven years swallowing my needs to support the club.

Wasted five years ignoring my heart to protect Venom’s.

No more.

As my dad scans my face with placid perusal, I continue. “I am not deluded and I’m not ignorin’ the obstacles… I love her. Have for a long fuckin’ time. Cherub loves me too—she’s proven that over and over.” Pausing to catch my breath, I try to formulate the right words to make my dad understand where I’m coming from. “He chose to walk away. He has to live with that, and we have to help Cherub live without him, because we all know that she’ll wait for him forever if he asks. That’s not fair on her, and it’s not fair on me.”

“You’re certain that Venom no longer loves her? That her love for you will one day eclipse her love for him?”

I rear back like my father has hit me. “I never said that.”

“But you just said—”

“I know what I said.”

“Do you?” My dad touches his fingertips to the middle of my chest. “I know you once believed in soul mates and love at first sight… before Jenna broke your belief in fate. So, tell me, son, are you little Cherub’s soul mate? Have you loved her as fiercely as Venom has since the moment you laid eyes on her?”

“Yes.” My response is automatic and filled with defiance. The answer comes from the depths of my soul, as indisputable as the colour of my eyes and my uncanny ability to find the best ways to make people bleed without killing them. “I love her just as much as he does—the only difference is that my love comes without strings. Venom wants to fix her. To change her. I just want to cherish her.”

“Good.” Approval in his eyes, he inclines his head like he’s a God about to bestow a blessing upon me. “Duke, Hades, and I have decided to send Venom to the Blackards. We feel it’s for the best… at least until we can enact a plan to drive Brutus from the club and take out the growin’ threat from the Maddison Clan. If his behaviour today is any indication, the distance will help Venom get his head straight. It’ll also allow Cherub time to heal before she’s forced to choose between you.”

Although my pride rankles at the idea of Cherub seeing Venom as a viable option after all the shit he’s pulled, I still temper my tone to say, “Thank you.”

Dad waves away my gratitude. “Alls we’re doing is stavin’ off the inevitable showdown. Venom will come back for her… and the pair of you will need to accept her decision with dignity when she makes it.”

“With dignity?”

My father curls his lips into a wry smile. “Now do you understand why I asked you to fight fair?”

Nodding twice, I tell him, “’Cause he’s not gonna.”

“Exactly.”

24

LILY

“Looks like Slash is still at the compound,” Nadia says as she pulls into his driveway. “Do you want me to wait with you?”

The open garage proves that she is right. Slash isn’t here, but my two youngest brothers are. Nate’s brand-new truck is parked on the verge. Wyatt’s ancient Subaru has been reversed into the spot where Slash’s bike usually lives. The rear door is open, and a couple of boxes sit next to it.

“He’s not wasting any time,” I mutter to myself.

“What?”

“Look.” I reach over and squeeze Nadia’s hand. Filling her in on the rest of the details about my run-in with Zeke at the compound after my dad decided to make his dramatic reappearance while we were burying our dead isn’t going to be easy. She’s liable to hunt him down and bury a stiletto heel in his eye. “I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me lately. You’ve been the best friend a girl could ask for…”

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