Page 70 of Sinful Sacrifice

He’s never mentioned it once.

No heads-up that we have a reptile roommate.

“Ace!” Amara shouts, squirming in excitement. “I’ve missed you!”

Damien walks over to her and carefully hands her the snake. She cradles it in her arms as if she were holding a baby. Neither Clara nor Damien shows an ounce of anxiety at this child holding this scary-as-hell snake. Damien does stand at her side, watching them.

Ace isn’t a huge snake, but his size doesn’t lessen his creepiness. His brown-and-gray scales are almost in a zigzag design, and his body is nothing but muscle.

“Ace is a saw-scaled viper,” Amara explains, petting his head. “Do you want to hold him?”

“I’m okay,” I reply. “You and Ace can spend some quality time together.”

Ace’s head turns toward me, and I swear, his dark black pupils stare straight into mine. He’s probably plotting to bite me in my sleep since I declined to hold him.

Damien backs away from her as I lean in toward him.

“You should’ve given me a heads-up that we have a snake as a roomie,” I comment.

He slips his hands into his pockets. “Ace isn’t dangerous.”

“He’s a snake. Snakes can tighten their bodies around yours and strangle you—aka dangerous.”

“Ace isn’t dangerous! He’s sweet,” Amara squeals before giving him a kiss on the head next.

“He doesn’t have venom,” Damien explains. “It was removed.”

I blink up at him. “You can do that?”

I figured they do it at zoos, sure, but for a civilian to do it?

He nods.

“Is that considered cruel?”

“It was better than the situation Ace was in before.”

“And by situation, you mean?”

“Antonio bought him from some POS who’d purchased him overseas because he was poisonous. The asshole didn’t take care of him. One day, we went to his house to collect a loan. Antonio saw how Ace was treated—in a small tank with hardly any room and looked nearly on the brink of starvation—and made him sell it to him. When we called the local animal rescue, they wouldn’t take him. Antonio had his venom removed and took him home.” He jerks his head toward Amara. “That’s where he stayed until this one here tried to sneak him out of his tank and into her bedroom to snuggle with him at night. He asked me to take Ace. So, he either stays here or if I’m crashing at Antonio’s for a long period, I take him with me.”

Damien allows Amara to hold Ace for another twenty minutes, and she whines when he takes her from him.

Amara rattles on about how much she loves and misses Ace and follows Damien upstairs to return the snake to his bedroom … cage … wherever he lives. I should’ve done a better tour of the brownstone instead of riding Damien’s cock earlier.

“He likes you,” Clara comments when they’re out of earshot. “Damien never watches Amara here, but he didn’t want to leave you alone. Surprisingly, Antonio agreed to it.”

“Does he …” I run my hands up my arms while peeking over at the staircase. “Has he brought other women around Amara before?”

“Never,” she says with absolute certainty. “Only you, Pippa.”

During the car ride to Antonio’s, Amara rambles about wanting to take dance classes, how much she wishes Ace would move back in with her, and how she wants earrings that match mine.

When we arrive, I wait in the car while Damien walks Amara and Clara inside. They invited me inside, but that was a big fat immediate no. The less untrusting stare downs from Antonio Lombardi, the better.

While I sit in the car, my mind wanders to how attentive Damien is with Amara. I’ve seen fathers act less interested in their own children—aka mine.

Damien told me Amara was his goddaughter, and he’s definitely living up to the godfather role.

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