Page 47 of Sweet Venom

"It's not my story to tell."

Movement in my peripheral catches my eye, and I see Vivian stand up from the stairs adjacent to the kitchen before storming straight out the front door. Fuck. She heard everything.

Ellis instinctively moves to follow her, but I say, "No, I got it."

He shakes his head and clenches his jaw. He doesn't trust me with her, and I've given him no reason to. Fuck, I don't trust myself. As I make my way toward the front, he calls out, "I swear, if you hurt her, Sebastian, brother or not, I won't think twice about returning the favor."

I don't say anything as I walk out the door. I refuse to make promises I can't keep.

This is not at all how I saw this night playing out. Traipsing through the front yard in search of a woman I love to hate. Did my brother's confessions about sharing her change anything? Maybe for the briefest of seconds, as I allowed myself to feel everything I had shoved down deep since I found her in his bed. However, that liking was short-lived when I recalled her bitterness and revulsion to the male species, but more than that, she's not the staying type. She said so herself multiple times, and her track record as of late only proves its accuracy. My memories of her hate only reignite my fire.

Vivian might have played the part of the victim at the Serra Estate, but she wanted every second of what I gave her, and I fucking hated it. The first woman who sees the true sick, depraved fucker that I am and loves every second would be a viper dressed in sheep's clothing. After I filled her up with my seed only to watch it leak out of her pretty pussy, the last thing I wanted to do was leave, but that's what has to happen. We can't both stay. I won't lose my brother to her, and that is precisely what will happen if she stays. She will shatter whatever remaining bit of humanity Ellis still has left.

Ellis shut off his emotions years ago, and I never asked why. I was sure there wasn't one specific thing that caused him to turn cold. I could list twenty things off the top of my head right now, but I never understood the timing. Has he always been laser-focused, calculated, and stone-hearted? Yes, but that was for the world. As his brother, I still saw another side. A man who rose from the ashes and made something for himself when the deck was stacked against him in every way. He was only the things this world forced him to be out of necessity, but somewhere along the line, that hard front that he put on for the world became the same one I received.

He says he wants to share, but I don't believe that's all that this is. This feels different, and I'm worried that whatever lurks just beneath the surface has the power to destroy my brother. But I refuse to let that happen, not after all he's sacrificed for me. I will gladly wage this war for him and offer myself as tribute.

Chapter 20

The Shadow

"Are we going to talk about what happened at the party, or are you planning on staring at the ceiling all night?"

I turn my head from where I lay on the couch to find Sayward standing in the kitchenette of the shithole apartment we are renting. We drove home in silence, but that's not anything new. Say has always been an introvert, and because she gives me so few words, I always listen, no matter if I'm in the mood or not, like right now when my mind is anywhere but here.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Are you serious, Tate? Clearly, the job has changed."

I move to sit up and give her my full attention before asking, "Why would you say that?"

"Tate, I saw you."

"What do you mean, you saw me? Of course, you saw me. We went to the damn party together."

She sets her water bottle down before leaning onto the counter and pinning me with an angry glare. "I saw you with Vivian and Ellis."

I hold her eyes briefly before dropping my head and running my hands through my hair, surprised by her confession and somewhat embarrassed, given the scope of why we're here to begin with.

Tonight, Vi shocked the hell out of me. I was already hooked, but once she confessed she’d missed me for the two days we'd been apart after I divulged my ugly secrets, I was a goner. Then add in the moments that followed, with her on her knees and that pretty mouth wrapped around my cock. Heaven. I shouldn't have been so careless. I should have considered that Say would look for me when she couldn't find me.

When long moments pass without me saying anything, she says, "I'm done, Tate. I won't continue watching you whore yourself out to protect me or my honor. I'm not a little kid anymore. I can take care of myself. We've been through enough, and I don't deserve your sacrifice."

"Is that what you think happened behind closed doors at the Sweets'?"

We've never talked about our time there. What would be the point? It wouldn't change anything. What's done is done, and I had no plans of piling onto her trauma. I don't resent her for my sacrifice. It was my choice to make.

"I'm not stupid, Tate. I heard the moans and the screams."

I can't help but tense up with anger when I hear her words. I keep my voice neutral when I say, "It's not what you think, Say. Just leave it alone."

I'm not mad at her, but whatever she made up in her head is better than what was really going on. I think I'd rather her believe me to be a man whore than hear the true horrors of what I endured behind those doors.

"No, Tate. We've left things alone long enough, and I'm tired of being the reason for everyone else's loss. I'm the reason mom and dad are dead, and I'm not going to sit back and continue to watch you fight battles in an attempt to defend my honor when I don't deserve it.”

I shoot up off the couch. I wasn't mad before, but I am now. How could she think any of this was her fault? "What the hell are you talking about, Say? You didn't kill mom and dad. That's why we are here, going after Lykos."

"Maybe not, but I did set things in motion. I think it's time we talk."

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