Page 34 of Sweet Touch of Venom

Now she’s older, and even more beautiful, and ten times more dangerous. I never had any urges for her; she was seven years younger than me, and I respected my morality and her brother to make any attempts.

So now when I see her, the thick and curly hair that falls past her shoulders, that was wrapped around my fingers. The bangs that fall over her forehead, the murder in her eyes when she looks at me, her wit and fiery tongue. I don’t see Carter’slittlesister anymore.

I fire off another round, not caring where I’m shooting in the range, but soaking in the feeling of the gun rocking in my hand. I can’t help the shame that engulfs me from the words she said.

And now you’re going to die.

Why does she want to kill me? Does she think I had something to do with the kidnapping? These questions spun in my mind all night.

Vicious heat crawls up my arms to my neck, and my nostrils flare. I reload, shoot, and repeat the process, over and over until my hand cramps, and the muscles in my forearms burn with exhilaration.

“Something on your mind, Headman,” Mal’s voice comes in. The door closes, and I look over my shoulder, reloading the gun once more.

“The usual,” I say with a clipped voice. I load a round in the chamber and pull the trigger, blowing a hole in the target.

She sighs as her boots descend closer. She takes her steps slowly with each thud.

“Does that person happen to be the little Cinderella with the name Venom?”

“It’s Anita,” I snap. “Her name is Anita.” I continue blowing rounds into the silhouette of a person on the paper target.

She raises her hands in a teasing defense. “Boss, I think that’s done.” Now beside me and my vision clearer, she’s pointing at the target practice in front of me. A gaping hole the size of a head is in the middle. Hitting the bullseye.

I lift a brow, placing the gun down. I’m satisfied for now.

I shift to Mal, who stands next to me, her expression analytical. She crosses her arms, and an eyebrow perks. She’s almost like a little sister I never had. Ready to point out all the wrong shit I’m doing. It’s something I didn’t experience due to my brother always being so tight up my father’s ass. He wanted to be exactly like our father. Whereas me, I wanted nothing more than to be the opposite. My mother is the only one that understood that.

“What?” I walk off to take off my gloves and earmuffs, actively avoiding her annoying glare. She follows me, of course.

She still doesn’t speak, but I can tell she has a shitload to say; she’s been with me long enough to know when she’s pressed on something.

“FalarMal, or forever hold your peace,” I drool out, disassembling my gun to clean it.

“Oh nothing. Just the fact that you invited some lunatic to the school, and did I not mention she wants to kill you, Ro?” she huffs out, and I look over to see her nails making crescent moons in her skin.

There is a lingering itch on my heart from Mal referring to Anita as a lunatic. I shouldn’t give a damn what name she’s called, and yet I do. “You have nothing to worry about. We have the same end goal—which is to see them dead. It makes sense. Trust me.” Our situation at Henley’s only proves why we should work together.

“I do trust you. It’s her who I don’t trust. She’s an assassin, for fuck’s sake. They don’t care about anything but themselves.” A pitch-black inferno blazes in her eyes. The bias against assassins is stupid at best, but I don’t disregard her concern. If the shoe was on the other foot, I would be apprehensive, too.

“I understand.” I turn to her, stopping what I’m doing and giving her my full attention.

She shifts on her feet, her eyes darting down then back up. “You do.”

“Of course.” I cross my arms across my chest. “If anything goes array, you have my permission to kill her.” It’s a giant stretch, but it’s the least I can do to get her the hell off my back and give her a sense of control.

There will be no killing. I can’t allow that, and I can’t let Carter down. Not anymore.

A huge, wicked grin sprouts on her face. “It’ll be my pleasure.”

I give her a dry look before going back to what I was doing. “It’s not like she’ll agree to work with us, anyway.” As soon as my hand hovers over the slide of the gun, a knock transcends on the metal door. I let out an exasperated sigh.

“What!” I bark. Does someone else have demands I need to hear about?

The metal door swings open, and one of my men slides through the door with a stern look.

He lifts his hands in a ‘G’ symbol in front of his chest, lowering his head slightly, before standing up straight. I nod my head, giving him approval to continue.

“You’re going to want to see this, sir.”

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