Page 19 of Making Choices

After mentally shaking myself free of the ridiculous query that will never be tested, I drawl, “Wake me up again after an all-nighter and you’ll have your answer.”

Venom shakes his head as he laughs, then punches me in the bicep with his free hand. “Fine then. No more early wake up calls.”

“I’m glad we understand each other.”

The only response I receive is a snort before he pulls open the door to the workshop and enters it, coffee cup first. As soon as I hear them talking, I slump back in the seat with my arms folded behind my head and my back leaning against the steel walls of the workshop.

My eyelids droop until they shut completely. Light sleep takes me, and that’s how I remain through the shouting and the pleading. I drift in and out of slumber until someone pinches my nose and I’m forced back to full consciousness in a rush.

“What the fuck?”

“Wyatt needs Venom,” my little brother informs me. He extracts a wet wipe from the travel pack he keeps in the inside pocket of his cut and cleans the hand that touched my nose with it. “Says it’s about Brutus. Figured it was important enough to interrupt their discussion.”

I gesture to the door. “I’d advise knockin’… you know what they’re like.”

“Sure.” We lapse into silence and stare at each other for an awkward few seconds. Hunter screws up his face and breaks the tension. “Just say it, Slash.”

“I don’t want you involved in this shit.”

He gives me a look that makes me feel about two inches tall. “This is my club, too, so I’m already involved.”

“I get that.”

“Do you really?” Hunter quirks his eyebrows. A face that’s so similar to the one that greets me in the mirror it steals my breath away glares back at me. “Because from where I’m standin’ it looks like you’re trying to tell me that I’m not good enough to be part of the solution to this problem.”

“You’re the smartest person I know.” I rub my palms over my face as I try to find the right words to say. “You know how numbers and patterns are my thing and Eidetic memories and human behavioural systems are yours?”

“Yes.”

“Sometimes being really good at somethin’ means we’re below average in another area.” I blow out a breath when he nods at my statement. “What I’m tryna say when I tell you that I don’t want you involved is that I don’t want to see you get hurt because your talents leave you unprepared for an attack in an area where you don’t excel.”

“Like readin’ someone’s true intentions?”

The hurt in my brother’s eyes makes my stomach churn, even so, I answer him honestly, “Exactly like that. I know you’ve worked hard to learn the basics… but you still can’t tell if someone is bein’ real with you or not, unless it’s part of a wider analysis. That’s not an issue in the Shamrocks since we all know where you need help so we interact with you in a way you can read on a one-to-one level… that could change, though.”

“You’re sayin’ Brutus might use it against me?”

“Yeah, kiddo.” Wrapping an arm around his shoulders, I pull him into me and rub my knuckles on the top of his head. He struggles, grumbling in my hold, but I don’t let up until he’s laughing. When I finally let him go, Hunter is breathless and his face is flushed. “I love you, little bro, and I’d kill anyone who used your differences against you. What worries me is the harm it’d do to you. He might ruin all your progress.”

“I’ll be fine.” He drops my gaze as he mumbles, “Not like it’d be the first time... I’ve had years of it.”

“Fuck, Hunt. I’m sorry.”

“You’re old as hell,” he quips with a shy smile that puts paid to his attempted joke. “It’s not like you could’ve helped me at school.”

“Coulda banged the little shits’ heads together after school.”

“It’s cool. You had your own stuff goin’ on back then.”

At his mention of my dead son and his bitch of a mother, I stiffen and take a step away from him. With a scratch of my chin, I motion toward the door of the workshop with my head. “There hasn’t been any yellin’ for a while so they’re probably fucking.”

My mouth runs dry at the idea of Venom with Cherub, but I shake it off and make a mental note to get laid as soon as lockdown is over. Thoughts I’ve ignored for five or so years keep popping into my head with disturbing frequency lately.

Getting my end wet should fix it.

Hopefully.

“I’d still advise enterin’ with your eyes shut if you don’t want your pure soul sullied.”

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