Page 65 of Tempting Fate

Forever stoic, Slash stays silent for a few minutes, simply rocking me back and forth while I work through the tsunami of thoughts flooding my head. Finally, I don’t know how many minutes later, he shifts slightly so he can hook a finger under my chin to make me meet his eyes. His icy-blue gaze is filled with sympathy and understanding.

“He’d kill me for sayin’ this, but you needa cut Venom the most slack out of us all. I can see the bruises on your legs, your arms, and your face and I can only imagine what the rest of your body looks like.”

Slash shakes his head as regret drowns me.

I chose this outfit to prove a point. Of course, it’d backfire, and just prove how weak I am instead.

That’s just my luck in a nutshell.

“My brother loves you—worships the ground you walk on... there’s no way he’d let you out of his bed if he could get away with it. Doesn’t matter what happens, that’ll never change. You two are forever, and anyone with eyes can see you are fuckin’ dynamite together.” I bury my head back into his chest to hide from the guilt that surges within me at his reminder of how I lashed out at Zeke. I can’t believe I threatened to sleep with other men. As a hush dawns in the bar and I hear someone’s footsteps drawing closer, Slash continues. “You’ve gotta understand that he feels guilty that you got hurt again on his watch… that he holds himself abso-fucking-lutely responsible for everythin’ that’s happened to you. Now and five years ago.”

Although I grumble in disagreement, he doesn’t heed my dispute. “I’m tellin’ you that he does, Cherub… so you’ll understand where the fuck he’s comin’ from. He doesn’t have it in him to add to your pain, no matter how much he might’ve wanted you at the time.”

“It’s not his fault,” I declare. “It’s mine.”

Slash doesn’t respond verbally. Instead, he scoops me from his lap and passes me to someone standing behind me. My feet don’t even graze the ground as he easily lifts me. I immediately recognise Zeke’s strong arms when they close around me, cradle me softly, and I lay my head on his shoulder.

“I’ll be with Toker,” Slash tells us. A weird mix of sorrow and anger invades his expression as he looks between me and my fiancé. “Needa shoot somethin’ up.”

Zeke offers him a chin lift. “I’ll text you when Cub has an update.”

When my first and only love carries me through the bar, I press a kiss to the underside of his lightly bearded jaw, then whisper, “I’m so sorry I was a bitch to you.”

“Apology accepted,” he replies. “But don’t threaten me with shit like that again… I won’t just take it next time.”

“Never,” I vow. “There’s never going to be anyone but you.”

Once we’re back in our room, Zeke places me on the bed before locking our door. After stripping off his clothes and dropping them to the floor, he climbs onto the mattress and leans over me. The alcohol in the drinks that I downed at the bar has mixed with the pain relief I took, and my body is relaxed for the first time since yesterday afternoon, so I don’t offer any objection when Zeke undresses me in turn. Once I’m naked, he lays with his upper back and head propped against the headboard and pulls my body over his.

With my head on his shoulder and my legs intertwined with Zeke’s, I allow my heavy eyelids to flutter shut as he arranges the covers over our nakedness.

“We needa sort out our shit.” As he speaks, I nod against his chest. “If we don’t pull together, what happened yesterday is gonna fuck us up, and I don’t want that… do you want that fucker to win after everythin’ we’ve already been through?”

“No, of course not,” I mumble.

“Then you needa let me in... you can’t keep runnin’ off to everyone else instead of talkin’ to me, even though we both know I let you down by lettin’ him get his filthy hands on you again.” He pauses as if he isn’t sure he wants to continue. “Slash’s right, ya know? I do blame myself for what you’ve been through, and I’ll never forgive myself for it… and the worst part is that I can’t even promise you that it won’t fuckin’ happen again.”

“That’s not on you, though—” My protest is cut off when he places a finger on my lips and pulls me tighter to him.

“Until he’s dead, it’s on me. It’s always been on me… back when you first started seein’ him and again when I didn’t tell you that he was bein’ released early. Sweet thing, I’m responsible for it all—and it kills me that I can’t tell you that he’ll never hurt you like that again… because I refuse to lie to you over it.”

Every atom in my body is shouting at me to tell him he’s wrong, but I don’t. Instead, I acquiesce. Only for now. Only because I can sense that he needs to get this off his chest.

There’s been more than a few moments throughout the years where Zeke’s hinted that he feels he’s to blame, and I’ve never let him say his piece.

I shut him down—tell him he’s wrong.

Because he is.

But maybe he needs to have his say in order to move past his own feelings?

“I need you to take your anger out on me, metukà shelì. The rage and the pain that eats at you is chewin’ on me too… so hit me with it. I can handle it.” Zeke drops a quick kiss on the top of my head. “Give me your hurt and your anger, Lily, then give me your fear, too. Don’t hide it from me. Let me do my job as your friend. Let me do my job as your old man… let me get you through this.”

My body jerks at the vehemence in his voice, and he quickly soothes me with gentle touches.

Seeing the torment that is etched in his features, I understand that he’s right.

Alex’s poison is eating us both alive.

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