Page 46 of Toxic Vengeance

He lifted a shoulder. “It’s the truth. I prefer quiet alone time to social gatherings and events.”

“You come across as the opposite.”

“I have to, for my job. It’s a learned skill. My dad’s a huge socializer, always has been, because of his business. He dragged me to all kinds of functions growing up, trying to force me out of my shell, and then made me take drama in high school. Guess it worked to some extent.”

“Huh. Interesting. I think I used to be more outgoing than I am now. It was trained out of me. They wanted us to be solo operators, never forming any kind of bonds and whatever.”

“They wanted you all to stay isolated.”

“Made us easier to control,” she said with a surprising lack of bitterness.

He decided to change the subject. “Okay, your turn. Tell me one thing I don’t know about you.”

She thought about it a moment. “I used to love to garden. When I was a kid my grandma taught me all about gardening in her yard. We had flowers and a vegetable patch. I’ve always wanted to take it up again, but I’m never in one place long enough to bother.”

It was such an interesting and unexpected layer to her. “You left me a flower that day.”

“Mmhmm.”

Since she didn’t offer anything more, he shifted gears, though he was more curious now than ever. If she loved flowers so much, then it must have had some kind of meaning. Or maybe he was overthinking it. “What kind of garden do you want?”

“A poison garden,” she said without pause.

The answer and the smile on her face made him do a double take. “What?”

“A garden full of poisonous plants.”

“Why?”

“Because toxins are my specialty, and some of the most toxic plants remind me of my grandma’s garden. Foxgloves, nightshade, oleander… I’ve learned about so many others since then. I think it would be cool to have a garden that everyone sees as beautiful, without realizing everything in it’s deadly.”

“Wait. I just remembered something. The night we stayed up watching that nature documentary together while eating dessert. You went off on tangents telling me all about the different venomous creatures. You knew way too much about the venom of puffer fish and the blue-ringed octopus. I thought you were just a giant nerd, but there was more to it, wasn’t there?”

“Yes.” She smiled a little. “I’m what you’d call a font of knowledge about all things toxic to the human body. What different substances will do, the symptoms they can elicit. What concentration and dosage to give, and various ways to administer them in order to get the effect I want.”

Zack stared at her for a moment, then chuckled. She’d given him a major clue about what she was, and he’d been clueless. “You are something else.”

Eden grinned at him, seeming pleased by the compliment, and he saw a flash of the woman she’d been with him before. “Cool idea with the garden, no?”

“Yeah, as long as it wouldn’t kill anyone by touching something they shouldn’t.”

“Touching? Nah, nothing that severe. Maybe hives and a rash, or some vomiting.”

“You sound way too excited about that,” he said in amusement.

A shrill whistle sounded behind them just as Eden pulled her phone from her pocket. Zack looked over his shoulder to see Ty waving them back.

“It’s Amber,” she said. “There’s a meeting at the house in ten minutes, because Trinity’s gotta go somewhere.”

Zack turned around to face the house and gave her a playful nudge with his elbow. “Race you.”

Eden grinned. “No.”

He arched an eyebrow. “You afraid of losing?”

“To you? Nope.” She took off.

Zack tried to go after her, but his foot slipped. He stumbled, his heel coming out of his shoe.

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