Page 108 of Making Choices

Even so, standing here, in the dark night, with a wet Cherub pressing her body to mine to get past me, I’d still go back in time and high-five my nineteen-year-old self extra hard for his foresight.

“Stop right where you are,” Nadia yells as we reach the group.

“I’m wet and I need a shower before we can head to the club,” my duchess tells her.

“Isaiah.” The crazy woman beckons our prospect over to her. “I want photos, lots of photos.”

“Just go with it,” Cherub whispers. “Once she gets an idea in her head, there’s no point arguing.”

It quickly becomes clear what Nadia’s game is when she arranges me and Cherub into a series of poses that turn progressively suggestive. The crowd of old ladies love it. They shout out ideas and rate our “photogenicness” out of ten. When she orders me to throw my duchess over my shoulder and palm her arse, I bow out.

“We’re wet and cold... find someone else to annoy.”

“All right,” Nadia concedes. Shoving Cherub in the direction of my back door and sending the other old ladies inside to help her change, she flings an arm around Isaiah’s waist and leans on him. “I want that one and that one.” Nadia narrows her eyes as she swipes at his phone screen, then grins in the wicked way we all recognise. “Oh, and definitely those three. They’re perfect for what I have planned.”

Isaiah is quick to do as he’s told. “Sent.”

“I love you.” Nadia kisses his cheek. Flicking her fingers at the pair of us, she adds. “Now shoo. I’ve got an inferno to light, and these photos are the perfect way to ignite it.” Together, Isaiah and I watch her wonder off with her phone clutched in her hand as she mutters, “One marshmallow corpse fire comin’ up.”

“Nads is up to somethin’,” I tell my prospect. He tilts his phone screen toward me and my stomach drops. “Has she been doin’ that all night?”

“Yep.” With his thumb, he helpfully scrolls through Nadia’s Instagram profile. “Crazy bitch has even tagged him in ’em.”

Photo after photo of Cherub appears. Each one is sexier than the next. As we reach the top a series of new images appear. I’m in these, holding Cherub like she’s already made her choice to be mine, staring down at her with hungry eyes that publicises my feelings better than words ever could.

As I contemplate telling Nadia to delete them, another photo pops up.

“Shit,” I murmur, mainly to myself.

Captured while we’re unawares, this picture is enough to sign my death warrant if Venom is so inclined. We’re in the pool, absolutely drenched, yet finding the humour in it. I’m looking down, taking my fill of Cherub’s breasts, seconds from licking my lips it seems. My ravenous expression is bad enough, but it’s the way my duchess hangs off me that will send Venom into a homicidal rage should he ever lay eyes on this photograph.

With one arm around my neck and her palm splayed against my heart, the beautiful blonde is laughing while she peers at me with nothing but love in her eyes. The edges of her torn top float around her, and her skirt is pushed up over her hips, offering a peek of the black silk that covers her backside. The paleness of her exposed skin is bright in the dark night, easily seen through the water. Cherub’s legs are around my waist, connecting us at the most elemental level. Her posture is relaxed despite our intimate position, and she’s apparently unconcerned that I’m blatantly checking her out.

Cub joins us. He takes Isaiah’s phone from him and peruses the app. Once he’s up to speed on what we’re looking at, he says, “You needa tell her to delete that one.” With his index finger, he gestures to the same picture that caught my attention. “The rest of them’ll piss him off, but that one will start a war.”

“I know.” Part of me wants to argue the point. I have nothing to hide. After all, Venom left her without a word of warning or an explanation. He even broke my nose and busted my eye on his way out of our lives. We owe him nothing. Still, a photo on Instagram isn’t how I want him to learn the truth about my feelings. “Think she’ll listen?”

The three of us glance over at Nadia. She’s the only woman still outside. Her expression is filled with glee and her fingers move fast as she enacts her crazy plan to taunt the monster in Venom. Isaiah makes a strangled sound, his innate empathy getting the better of him. He shakes his head before he heads back inside. I look at Cub and find the same worry I’m feeling reflected in his gaze.

“Sorry.” He backs away with his hands held high. “You’re on your own with this.”

“Pussy.”

“Nope,” he scoffs, then gestures at his temple. “Smart.”

Left alone with Nadia, I decide to lead with grovelling. Sitting on the sun-bed next to hers, I clear my throat. She side eyes me. The plea I was attempting to formulate turns to ash in my throat when Nadia hits me with both barrels.

“Anna has no idea you’re in love with her,” Nadia tells me without preamble. “And I don’t think she’d accept it, even if she knew. Her heart is Venom’s. Probs always will be... ’cause that motherfucker claimed it when she was a baby, and he’s made it clear that he never plans on giving it back to her.”

“I’m aware of that.”

Tossing her phone on my lap, then leaning back in the lounger, Nadia folds her arms behind her head and stares up at the night sky. “I know what it feels like to be second best, and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. Definitely wouldn’t wish it on a man like you.”

Her frank assessment gives me a lump in my throat. “I don’t know what to say to that.”

“There’s nothin’ to say, Slash. What you’ve gotta do is choose... can you live with the fact that she’ll always love him just a touch more than she loves you because he had her first? Will you make peace with the knowledge that her heart is big enough to hold the two of you in it so you can finally stake your claim on her too? Most importantly, what are you gonna do when he realises that he’s pissed away the best thing he ever had, and eventually wants her back?”

“I’mma fight for her.”

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