Page 201 of Making Choices

Hair mussed.

Makeup smeared.

Wedding dress crushed.

I relish her ruin.

At least, we match now.

Digging into my pocket, I hold out the bracelet to her. She accepts it tentatively, her eyes widening as she takes in the pendants that adorn the diamond encrusted chain. Her thumb runs over the alien head before she repeats the movement with the scalpel. When she turns her tear-filled gaze on me, my pulse starts to race even faster.

“What is this?”

I can taste her on my tongue.

Hear her moans in my head.

Feel her heat around my dick.

Yet, as I give her the answer she’s requested, I’ve never felt more distant from her. “It’s your somethin’ old, somethin’ new, somethin’ borrowed, somethin’ blue. Came directly from Venom—a partin’ shot that he knew I’d understand.”

“Something borrowed?”

“Yeah,” I drawl with obvious sarcasm as my duchess misses my point completely. “I expect the scalpel’ll be returned to its rightful owner soon enough.” Pressing my palm to the middle of my chest, I elaborate. “You’ll drive it straight through my heart before you skip off into the sunset with Venom.”

“Carter!” Cherub yells after me as I walk away from her for the second time this week. “I said I’m not making a choice between you, and I meant it. You’re not being fair.”

“Neither are you,” I retort as I pause to drag the bureau away from the door. When she rushes over to me, I seize hold of her throat. For the first time, my duchess stiffens as I collar her rather than melting into it. I chuckle, a dark sound that makes her cheeks redden. “Different but equal is bullshit, and you know it. He’s ditched you again, but I’m here. That makes me the better man by default. It’d do you good to wrap your head around that fact before he completely fuckin’ destroys you, and any chance we have at a future.”

Although I know I’m being unrealistic, I mean every word.

And, when Lilianna Mayberry meets me at the end of the aisle twenty minutes later, I can tell that she knows it too. There isn’t an ounce of affection in her gaze when I lift her veil. The darkness in her expression turns into thunder clouds when I force an inappropriate kiss on her after vows of eternal love are exchanged for the second time. Likewise, the absence of joy in our demeanour is clear as we walk out of the church, having completed the first step in our journey toward becoming husband and wife in the eyes of the Trinity. But it’s the lack of remorse in her expression when Gabriel steals her from my side to take her to see Venom that truly drives home the truth in my statement. Wearing the dress that she married me in, Cherub leaves in the blacked-out SUV without sparing a backward glance my way.

It’s an omen for the future.

A scalpel straight to the heart.

Punishment for coveting my wife.

40

LILY

“Oh, my God.” I trip forward as soon as the door is pulled shut behind me. Wrapping my arms around Zeke’s neck, I hug him tight as I can. He slides his palm up my back to cup my nape and bands his other arm around my lower back to hold me to him. Face in the crook of his neck, I murmur, “I’ve missed you so much.”

For a long moment, it feels like everything is normal.

I’m not mad at him for blocking my visits.

He’s not incarcerated for a crime I committed.

I’m not married to his best friend.

He isn’t planning on pleading guilty.

I’m not sore all over from being with Slash.

As soon as reality intrudes, I stiffen. Zeke feels the change in me and he pulls away. Once there’s space between us, his gaze roams my face. Whatever he sees makes him press his lips together in a tight line. His reaction improves slightly when he spots the bracelet I’m wearing, but it quickly disintegrates the longer he inspects my dress. From the strapless neckline, down the jewelled corset that’s built in to the bodice, to the flouncy princess skirt. The dress is a froufrou monstrosity, fit for a queen, rather than a reluctant bride who’s seconds away from collapse.

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