Page 86 of The Venom We Bleed

"I didn't fuck her," I repeat my words from earlier as if they will lessen the power of the next ones, "but I did ... go down on her."

Lex barrels forward and I don't try to stop him as he grabs ahold of my shirt and slams me back into the wall of lockers. With dark eyes locked not on mine, but on my lips instead, he heaves great breaths as he lowers himself. When you're faced with monsters of all kinds in your childhood, you learn when it's best to remain still and when you should run. Right now, I know better than to move a single inch. I'd let my body atrophy and turn to stone right here before I'd break the spell that has fallen over my friend.

"You ... put your mouth on her?" he asks.

"Yes."

His eyes widen slightly, nostrils flaring as he pulls in more oxygen, as if he can smell the taste of her even after hours have passed. "You wouldn't let me take her home last night." A statement, not a question.

I answer it as if it were one anyway. "You couldn't handle it." If Juliet Donovan disappears now, no matter that ninety-nine percent of the town wants her dead and gone, people will ask questions. As far as I've heard, her father's old partner is still trying to get her to stay with him. If anything, Morpheus Calloway will look for her ifsomeonedecides to lock her up and keep her captive in their basement.

Not that Lex has a basement, but he does have a very nice—hidden—house that has a fuck ton of cameras, a closet full of bondage because he doesn’t like the hookers touching him when he fucks them, and a shit load of mental obsessive issues.

Lex’s upper lip curls back and he continues to stare at my mouth as if he's debating whether he wants to rip my face off orkiss me. I close my eyes. There's no attraction between us, but when it comes to Juliet, Lex isn’t always sane. I doubt he's ever been. If it brings him closer to the object of his affection, I have no doubt that he'd do any number of things.

"I brushed my teeth this morning," I warn him. "You won't get anything of her from me."

The curse that erupts from him is knowing but no less disappointed. He releases me with a sharp shove against the lockers and my eyes open to find him stalking away from me and reaching for the football jersey on the floor. He pulls it on over his head.

"She's not yours," he grits out.

I hate to say it—I really fucking do—but someone needs to remind him of the other truth he refuses to admit. "She's not yours either."

Silence. Stone. Cold. Fucking. Silence.

"I can help you." Damn me, but I'm going to. Lex is my brother, not by blood but by circumstance and she's the only thing he's ever truly wanted.

Gun metal gray eyes swing my way. He doesn’t say anything but waits for me to continue. “You’re not the only one that wants her anymore.” Neither am I. All three of us want her.

I don’t know why it has to be her for him, or me, or Gio. She doesn’t share our pasts. She doesn’t know us. We hardly know her. Perhaps, it’s part of human nature to desire that which will hurt us. She’s venom in our veins and an addiction none of us can let go of.

"There's nothing that will change my mind," Lex says. His eyes lift to mine again. "I want her enough to do whatever it takes."

I nod. I’d known as much. Juliet Donovan might not be her father, but she's just as dangerous.

"Are you going to get in my way?" Lex asks. "Or are you going to join me?”

“So, you’re saying yes?”

"I’m saying this is what I’ve wanted from the beginning so, yes, Nolan.Whatever. It. Takes." He repeats the words with a note of finality.

“Okay, then.” I guess I have my answer. I’ve seen the way Gio looks at her. I know he won’t be hard to convince, but now we need to discuss our other important matter.

“Have you heard from her father lately?”

Lex grunts as he turns back to his locker and shucks his jeans. I take a seat on the bench. “Allen Donovan has been in touch,” he answers. “I don’t have anything for him yet, but I know his lawyer has been emailing Juliet regularly to get her to visit him in prison. The longer he goes without hearing from her, though, the more desperate he seems.”

“He has a lot to lose,” I say.

“He’s already lost everything,” Lex replies. He grabs his football pants and pulls them on one leg at a time. “I don’t have any evidence that will help him yet.”

“Let me know when you do,” I say. “The whole town is following the story and his trial is coming up in a matter of weeks.” Eight to be exact. Two months and then Allen Donovan’s face will be splashed across the media all over again—and no doubt Juliet’s will be too.

“What about that other matter?” I ask, hedging at the events from last night as I cast a look over to the door. It’s not locked, but everyone else is at practice right now. No one else should be here. As it stands, I won’t be going and Coach will only have Lex to beat on for being late.

“It’s done,” Lex says, tying the front of his pants and reaching for his cleats. “No one will tie Otis to Juliet.”

"Did you find anything on him that might explain the attack?"

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