Page 11 of Rawest Venom

“Well, I mean, Cal has his meeting with Alpha. And Hostile was running that shift…” She takes a long sip from her soda straw, her almost black eyes staring down at the floor. When she peeks up, she studies my expression. “Between you and me? Cal’s worried about a mole. He’s setting up Hostile to see if he’s into something he shouldn’t be. Don’t you say a word!” Hostile, the second Von Dovish hacker.

“Who would I tell? Orphan with no friends, remember? Zero loser over here!”

Her thick lips curl into a snarky smile. “It’s why I like you.”

When I finish a few dishes, I collapse on her futon,watching the screens in front of her casually. “But now I don’t have a date. I thought Will could be the one.”

A snort ricochets off the cinderblock walls of the cavernous apartment. “You’re ridiculous, Jane. Stop it.”

I chuckle in reply. “But, seriously. I’ve always wanted to get married before thirty. I never had a family of my own and I want one. Someone to spend holidays with or even someone to just be in a picture with me. I’m so bad at this whole dating thing, really. And you set Will and me up. What are you going to do about my dating life now? It’s in your hands, Echoes! I trusted you!” Playing with the ends of my auburn locks, a braid forms between my fingers.

“I know plenty of guys who would want a hot redhead in their beds. But you need someonenicebecause you’re too pure. I don’t want one of those sickos taking advantage of you.” Echoes spins in her chair and eyes my body up and down. “Are you a virgin?”

Blushing fiercely, I say, “Um…that’s none of your business.”

“That’s a yes!” She bites her bottom lip. “Okay. I’ll send you Rainier’s number.Nota computer geek. One of the farmers. More your style, I think. He’s shy, but he’s cute! And you guys could have ginger babies!”

“Thanks, Echoes.” We both hear the chime of the door through her monitor. A customer. Trying to control my smile of satisfaction for a job well done, I get up to greet them.

“Jane? You said you don’t have any friends, but you do.” Tilting my head at her, I open my mouth to ask, but she interrupts me. “Me!”

“And what a great one to have.”

The rest of the day, my thoughts are consumed with my tissue box. Maybe I turned it. Did I turn it? It’s been days without any movement. I must have scooted it without realizing. Perhaps an inadvertent brush with my arms when I flipped on the lamp. That must have been it. In any case, I placed it back in its rightful place, square with the edges of the nightstand.

And it mocks me with its stillness every evening.

Four

CALUM

The things that my father was right about have kept me alive. Everyone is out to get me, that’s for certain. If I see them coming, I can maintain some safety.

Before I ever step inside the casino, my phone alerts me to the location of every snarling boxer Ace surrounds himself with. The playboy is occupied, cocooned in his upstairs apartment, too early in the day for him to be vertical. And that’s the perfect time for a strike, when the wolf is alone and not in his pack den.

No one pays attention to the guy in the hoodie because my pockets don’t contain things they think are dangerous. Easily skirting past security to the back bank of elevators, I type in the code for the penthouse Ace uses instead of his big, empty mansion. Marble floors, mirrors, and a glass chandelier swing with the breeze when the doors close… Even the gold metal is white.

But the thing about white is, it shows dirtso easily.

A lazy ding announcing my arrival sings out into an open-air space with two-story windows. If everything was cushioned faux art deco downstairs, the feel is plastic modern here. It’s ten long strides to the open staircase and five to the edge of his king-size platform bed. Three blondes play with him as well as each other.

Ace’s hips slap into one girl doggystyle while she straddles a second woman lying on her back underneath the two. He leans over and tenderly runs one finger down the cheek of the woman on the bed before saying, “I love you more when I’m inside of her, baby.” His lips join the bottom woman’s in a hard suction contest, their bodies squishing the top woman’s plump breasts between the two of them. Meanwhile, the third woman lies on the mattress on her side, stroking Ace’s neck with her long fingernails and staring at him with a look of reverence.

Vanessa, that’s what her name is. The woman stops sucking face with Ace long enough to ask, “You-you do?”

After a few more pumps into the girl on top, he answers her. “Yeah, baby. Lets me know how much you care about me by sharing my cock with your sisters.”

Ah, yes. The Gentry triplets. I had forgotten they were his regular Tuesday evening show. Should I take a seat? Enjoy the view?

“Kiss your sister for me, baby. Show me how much you want her.” Vanessa turns her head and obeys, the two sisters on the bed stroking each other’s faces and, as if seeing if the other were okay with an incest kiss, hesitate for a moment before latching mouths and swirlingtongues. Ace groans dramatically, then pulls out of the top gal, Veronica, and slides into Vanessa’s pussy on the bottom. Veronica twists her body and occupies Ace’s vacant lips with her own while he fucks her sister.

“I would say I hate to interrupt, but I really don’t.” Like a bubble rising to the surface that cannot be contained in a deep ocean filled with sharks, a laugh erupts from my belly. Shrieks and peals of terror ring through the loft so soundly, the vibrations of the glass wall showcasing the downstairs area tickle my ears. Each well-bosomed woman finds her way underneath the Egyptian cotton white sheets, snagging a piece to try to cover everything my dick has already noticed. Ace reaches for his gun on the nightstand, but stops before he aims, lowering the weapon to the mattress.

“Cal…” His voice comes out in a panting growl. “What in the fuck are you doing here?”

It's a rare event to see his bleach blond coiffure out of sorts, but it’s in disarray. His tattooed hand quickly shoves the strands back into place and wipes sweat from his forehead at the same time he narrows his blue eyes at me. Pretty. That’s what he’s always been, despite trying to cover it up with ink everywhere. Even in the morning after fucking three women, clammy, probably drugged out and on no sleep. The man is pretty.

“Just came by for a chat. You busy?”

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