Page 27 of Spider

“Don’t get any ideas. I’m not feeling great, and I don’t want to be alone,” I admit.

Spider leans up on his elbow, his smile now gone. “Is that why you stayed on the couch?” he asks.

I nod. “Silly, I know, but I wanted to be in view,” I admit.

He shakes his head. “Not silly, sweetheart. You went through a traumatic thing,” he says before laying back down.

I stare up at the ceiling. “Spider?” I state.

“Yeah?” he answers.

“You’re freaking me out,” I confess.

He chuckles. “Why is that?” he asks.

I sigh. “Because you’re being nice. I thought you hated me.”

He’s silent for a moment. “Never hated you, sweetheart,” he states. “Just...” He pauses. “Just dealing with shit and didn’t know how to deal.”

“And you know how to deal with it now?” I ask.

He exhales. “I’m trying,” he answers.

I want to press further and ask what it is he was dealing with that made him single me out, but I don’t. “Did you really beat that guy to death?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he answers.

“Why?” I ask.

“Why?” he asks, repeating my question back to me. “Because you are my best friend’s sister. He isn’t here, but if he was, he would have done the same,” he states.

“Oh,” I sigh.

CHAPTER TWELVE

SPIDER

Shuttingher out and making her my enemy wasn’t working. If anything, it just riled me up and made me want her more. I thought maybe I should just fuck her—a one-time, scratch that itch type of fuck—but something tells me that once wouldn’t be enough. I wanted her to hate me. I wanted her to punish me for what I had done, for what I had caused. Her life could be so different. Acid’s life could have been different. Seeing her last night, laid out on the floor like that, it made my blood boil into a rage I have never felt before. I could kill that motherfucker all over again.

She makes a little whimper in her sleep. I lean up on my elbow and look over at her. Her face is scrunched up like she’s in pain. “No,” she mumbles as her body starts twitching. “No,” she says again. I lift her slightly so that her head is resting on the crook of my shoulder. She groans and rolls over, pressing her body against mine, draping her arm across my stomach.

“Well, it’s a good job those are big couches,” Queenie mutters as she walks past with bags of shopping.

“Shit,” I sigh.

Nova lifts her head, her eyes barely open. She looks around before she looks back at me. It takes her a moment to realiseshe’s cuddled into me. Her cheeks instantly turn pink when the realisation hits.

“Oh fuck,” she breathes. I can’t help it, I laugh. “It’s not funny. What if someone saw and they thought…? Well, what if they thought?—”

“Thought what, sweetheart? No one will think shit. It will be me getting the shit. You were assaulted last night. Not one person here will think anything happened. They will just think I am taking advantage,” I assure her.

“For fuck’s sake, Spider. The poor girl was attacked last night. You couldn’t give her 24 hours to recover?!” Star snaps as she walks in with Enzo on her hip.

“Point proven.” I smirk. Star sits down on the opposite couch. “How are you doing after last night, darlin’?” I ask, directing my words at Star.

She shrugs. “You know me by now, Spider. No point in dwelling over shit. Just got to move on.”

“It ain’t ever easy killing a man, darlin’. Especially when that killing dredges up shit from the past,” I point out.

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