Page 115 of A Love Like Venom

His eyes once a beautiful warm shade of brown turn dangerously cold and dark as they land on Slater.

“Do you want me to kill you, Slater?” He phrases it in a teasing way but the look on his face is anything but. There is no hiding that he would do bodily harm to him if he even dared to touch me.

“No, I much like living,” Slater quips back but Reed isn’t having any of it.

“Then stay away from her and you’ll be just fine,” he growls out.

“Reed,” I say his name gently. His eyes instantly come back to mine but they’re softer with me. Giving him a small smile I bring my hand up and trace his brow bone before framing his face. “He was only teasing,” I say on Slater’s behalf.

“Teasing or not, Alice, you aren’t his.”

“Then does that make me yours?” I ask him softly.

He swallows, eyes searching mine. “That’s not my decision to make.”

And this right here is why I love him. He knows what has happened to me. That everything has been taken from me. He knows that I have never had a choice and he’s giving me one.

He will always give me a choice, even if that choice isn’t him.

My heart swells with so much love for him that I feel like it’s going to explode.

“You already know that I have chosen you,” I remind him of the fact.

He smiles once again.

He smiles once again and it causes the butterflies to swarm chaotically in my stomach. Stealing my breath and making my heart skip a beat.

His smiles are the world’s most precious gifts. And they’re just for me. It makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the whole entire world.

Removing his hands from my face he slides them down to my waist. He then grips my waist and picks me up from the bar stool as if I weigh nothing. Bringing me back down to my feet he takes my hand and interlaces it with his own.

Eyes filled with nothing but affection he tells me low enough so only I can hear, “I want to take you somewhere.”

My eyes go wide with excitement. I’m sure he can hear it in my voice, too. “Where?”

“Trust me.”

I don’t even hesitate as I reply, “Always.”

Pressing a quick kiss to my forehead he then begins to lead me out of the compound. As I look back I wave goodbye to all of them. They wave goodbye back, all with a smile on their face as they watch the both of us.

But it’s Rosa who I see has the biggest smile on her face with her chocolate brown eyes glassy.

And I can tell that this is what she wanted for him all along.

For him to be happy. Truly happy.

It’s all I ever wanted for him, too.

To show him that there is a light in this world that he deserves. That not everything has to be painful. That there is good in this world.

For the longest time he has been that for me.

It’s about time that I become that beacon of light and hope for him.

We come to stand in front of his bike and then suddenly he pulls me in his arms. I go willingly because there is no place I would rather be. In his arms I feel safe. It’s in his arms where my home is.

He rests his chin on top of my head. His arms wrap around me swallowing me whole. My head rests against his chest and I can hear his heart beat. The steady rhythm bringing me comfort.

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