Page 165 of Tempting Fate

“I think he’d already left me before Dad threatened to send me to jail for killing Alex… and I think that’s why you two fought at the cemetery.”

“Like I said…” Slash uses his grip on my neck to tug me closer. My hands land on his thighs, on either side of his obvious erection, and my nose touches his. I suck my bottom lip between my teeth to stop myself from gasping when his dick twitches against my left hand. “He’s a fuckin idiot.”

I try to move away.

Slash holds me in place.

“He’s your best friend.”

“I don’t know how true that is anymore.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m startin’ to think Bebe is right… how can Venom be my best friend when I’ve fallen for his woman?”

The knot in my stomach becomes too big to ignore. I shake my head, blinking away the burn behind my eyes, then I dig my nails into Slash’s wrist until he lets me go. On my hands and knees, I scramble for the end of the bed. My brain is screaming at me, berating me for being so stupid.

I should’ve seen this coming.

Nadia always warns me that men and women can’t be friends.

Turns out she was right.

Before I can reach the end of the bed, Slash grabs my ankle and pulls. He flips me onto my back and straddles my hips. It’s a replica of what he did back in my room, only this time, he’s naked and aroused. I stare at the ceiling, averting my gaze from him when he pins me in place with one arm on either side of my ears and lowers his head until his mouth is a mere millimetre from mine.

“It gets worse,” he repeats my earlier declaration back to me. I screw my eyes shut to block out the raw honesty in his gaze. “I think she’s fallen for me too.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

My hands have a mind of their own when they reach up to cup either side of his jaw. “No.”

“You were with him on the balcony. I can smell him on you,” Slash whispers. “He touched you, then he left you again. He took your love, and it still wasn’t enough for him to stay. He left you there, flushed from comin’ hard as fuck, knowin’ that I’d come find you. That I’d look after you tonight.”

“He—he…” I can’t find the words to defend Zeke because there are none. All I have to shield myself from the man above me is the truth. “I love him.”

“So do I. Doesn’t mean I can’t see that Venom is selfish. Prideful. He is incapable of humblin’ himself for you. For anyone. I’d walk through fire for you, and you know that. You love me for it.”

“I love him more.”

Slash pulls my fingers from his face, one by one, then he pushes my arms above my head. When he pins me with one hand, his grip on my wrists is loose enough for me to escape, yet I don’t try. I stay beneath him, allow him to flay me alive with his final confession. “I know that. Doesn’t mean it’ll always be that way. The universe has a way of rightin’ things if we give it time.”

“You can’t say things like that to me.”

“I’m gonna keep sayin’ ’em until you see sense.”

“Love doesn’t make sense,” I protest.

“It does when you’re with the right person.”

He scans my face with his icy-blue eyes, then nods, almost as if he’s agreeing with himself. In slow motion, he brings my arms around his neck and inverts our positions, so he is on his back and I’m sitting astride him.

My hands land on his wide chest.

I pull back as if touching him burnt me.

“Go on,” he challenges me in a voice that holds the tiniest hint of anger as he yanks my palms back to his heart. “Tell me this doesn’t feel right to you.”

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