Page 47 of The Blood Widow

Beaut’s eyes were watering and her nose wrinkled from the smell. She swung her arms up and down in defeat. “I know. I thought I could help you. But I’ve never used fire like that. The wiggling whore’s vagina of a thing started devouring everything.”

I scrunched up my nose at that. “Let’s stick with farts. That image is too much.”

She snorted. “Yeah, I know.” She scooted over on her knees closer to me. “Are you mad?”

I gave her a tired smile. The coffee didn’t help, and the small dose of adrenaline the fire gave me was fading. “No. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

She about broke my black heart when she hugged my face and kissed my nose. I put my finger on her small back and hugged her. She smelled like fire and sour candy.

She pulled back, coughing into her hand. She was wet, her green hair plastered on her cute little green, pale face, her big eyes blinking at me. It was enough to melt away any negative emotions I did have and replace them with affection. I loved this woman. She was my best friend and seeing her open up to me was scary as much as it was exciting.

“All right,” she brushed off her wet clothes and clapped her hands. “I’ll have this place cleaned up in a jiff. They don’t call me Beaut-y just because of my good looks. I give life beauty too. You watch. Now, go deal with the sour puss out there.” And with that, I was dismissed so she could wreak some more havoc on my apartment.

She was lucky I loved her.

Chapter

Twenty-Three

Iwalked back into the living room to see Cole hanging upside down from a rod on the wall doing curl-ups. I used that for pull-ups, but maybe I should try curl-ups. It looked hard. So hard. He was shirtless and sweaty and every inch of him was solid muscle.

My core tightened in need. Damn. I needed to get laid.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked.

He didn’t stop. He breathed out and curled his upper body towards his legs again. I missed running my nails across his chest. The guy had abs for days and that deep V that led towards his impressive—Whoa, focus Novem, you don’t want to go there again.

Okay, so I definitely wanted to, but I wouldn’t play with his emotions. My kitty cat would have to stay hungry. Maybe I’d go back to one-night stands? Or go to my favorite club. The sex clubs in the outskirts of the Underground were always a good time.

Cole’s gruff voice pulled me out of that thought. “The brownie gets to make herself at home, why not me? Maybe I’ll burn down your kitchen. That’s where afriendwould hang out, right?”

Oooh, salty.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. My head throbbed. Even the smell of his yummy sweat made my migraine worse.

The jealousy darkening his gaze made my stomach turn. Did he think…

“Cole, I really hope you’re not suggesting I’m fucking Beaut.” My voice sounded tired. So much for coffee helping me. I needed more. Walking into the kitchen to make another cup, I forced myself to keep my breathing even. I really didn’t want to fight anymore.

Cole followed.

“What am I to think? You clearly don’t want to be with me, and the whole time we were together, I never saw her once. Now that we’re no longer hooking up, she’s living with you and sleeping in your bed. My cousin has a brownie wife, so don’t give me some little-person shit.”

Nope, I definitely needed something stronger than coffee this morning. I didn’t say anything for a couple of minutes to hold back the anger thrashing around inside of me. I just glared at him. I got that he was hurting, but he had no right berating me like that.

I held my coffee cup up to my chin and imagined it was a wall. This way I wouldn’t do something stupid like attack him. I was feeling stabby and bathing in blood sounded pretty good. The thought of blood had my stomach rumbling. I needed to feed. Maybe that was why I was so testy. Was Cole hungry too?

When Cole’s anger seemed to float out of his shoulders and he sat down, I could think clearly enough to speak.

“Cole, you need to stop the jealousy, or we’ll never be able to go back to being friends. I agree to work with you and the guys, who I might add I never met while we were together either.” My voice was barely higher than a whisper.

He ran his thick fingers through his hair. “You’re not hearing me. I don’t want to just be your friend. Me, Dominic, and Ezra want a chance. Whatever this connection is between us deserves an opportunity to blossom. Not get squashed under your heal like it means nothing.”

I gripped the mug tighter. “Don’t ask me to kill you, Cole. Because if I gave in that’s what I’d be doing. Can we just focus on saving Brian? That’s what matters.”

He rolled his eyes but spoke in a placating tone. “I’m not letting you go, but I will stop pushing for now.”

When I didn’t say anything, he got up. His eyes darkened as he invaded my space, putting his hands on the counter on either side of my hips. Being this close to him had my neurons glitching. I watched his mouth as he spoke.

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