Page 13 of Seizing Control: Part One

VENOM

Eleven years later

“Hooks. Hooks in… Good.” The beast of a man pacing around the outside of the octagon shouts his instructions. “Now, little girl... set ‘em deep. Rotate your hips. Submit him.”

Trapped on my back with Gabbi’s thighs wrapped around my neck, I tap out a second after she fully extends my arm and starts to choke me with her strong legs. Her huff of annoyance at my easy surrender makes me smile, but my lips quickly return to their usual down-turned position as reality smacks me upside the head.

I’m in Sydney.

Three thousand kilometres from my metukà shelì.

After eighty-nine days without seeing my sweet thing, I should be used to the loneliness.

I’m not.

Every inhale hurts.

Each exhale burns.

My entire body aches.

I miss Lily with every atom of my being.

Even though our separation is my doing...

“That was bullshit, Venom.” Gabbi smacks my shoulder before she rolls back to her feet. I’m not quite as graceful as I push upright, but once I’m standing, the short, tattooed brunette starts bouncing on her toes and feinting from side to side. “Come on. Why don’t you actually try this time?”

“Nah, I’m good.” I run my knuckles over the top of her head, then dodge her vicious right jab. Clambering out of the gate, I pull it shut behind me and peer at her through the black diamond mesh. “You needa work on your speed. An old man shouldn’t be able to outrun you.”

My comment is more for the black-haired devil standing to the right of me than a true admonishment. On cue, Gabbi’s coach bares his teeth at me as I jump off the platform to the mats below. The grin I offer him before I head for the locker room is filled with a little glee and a lot of spite.

Micah Kennedy, better known as Diablo for his satanic level of success in the octagon, is head over heels for Gabriella Mitchell. Of course, in typical pig-headed male fashion, he’s doing everything he can to pretend he feels nothing for the seventeen-year-old fighter he’s reluctantly training. They continue to butt heads. Diablo is giving her the full-force of his typical “my way or the highway” attitude while Gabbi is perpetually flip-flopping between anger and hurt because she doesn’t understand why he’s treating her like shit.

He’s a thirty-three-year-old widower, so I can see things from his point-of-view.

I was the recipient of Lily’s first kiss when she was fifteen.

I know how it feels to deny yourself the woman you want so she can grow up first.

I’m also aware that refusing to face the truth opens the door for disaster.

At the time, I thought pushing Lily away was the right thing to do.

Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I’d claim her the moment she admitted that she was in love with me. My cowardice back then cost us everything. We crashed and burned before we even started because of my foolish decision to back away. I didn’t want to face the truth of our feelings for each other. It was easier for me to keep her at arm’s length while I pretended that I hadn’t done exactly what my president accused me of when she was twelve.

I was in love with the sweet girl I’d promised to protect from men like me.

It was a harsh truth that took me too long to come to terms with.

My refusal to stand up to the people who said our connection was wrong allowed Alex to sneak into her life. It gave Brutus the opening he needed to put his plans into place. The schemes I’d suspected as a prosect, then overlooked once I’d patched in and fell for the myth of his omnipotence were deployed with expert precision. One by one, the Shamrocks fell under his spell until it spilled over onto the one person everyone considered exempt from the brutality of club life.

Our little Cherub.

It kills me to live with the knowledge that I had one job, and I botched it.

My failure to be a better man was the catalyst for my sweet thing’s destruction.

“You ready for the ride tomorrow?” Jep “Hurricane” Haynes asks me as I plonk down on the wooden bench that separates the rows of lockers. “Three thousand ‘kays in three days ain’t gonna be fun.”

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