Page 99 of Lovely Venom
I can’t deny the way he feels inside me is as intoxicating as how much he wants to protect me. Like he’s built for it.
“Your brothers...” I choke out.
One dark bushy eyebrow raises into his smooth forehead. “Aye? What about them?”
“They’ll want you to hurt me.”
Connor thinks about how to answer. “No. You’re mine. No one will ever hurt you. I can assure you that. I’m a vicious killer, and they won’t challenge me.”
And I’m about to fall asleep next to him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Connor
Rhys’s voice in the pre-dawn call that next early morning plays over in my head.
“Need you at the docks. Found one of ours. What’s left of him.”
I grip the steering wheel tighter as I speed down the empty streets of Manhattan, my mood turning blacker by the second.
I had to leave Raina in my bed. There was no way around it. I’ll have to consider the best way to protect her on a daily basis. One that doesn’t drive her batshit crazy. I left Blade and Jett inside the apartment, Nero guarding the tunnel, and the rest of the team in my courtyard.
They call me unhinged for a reason.
I push all that aside when the smell of the city’s rotten and forgotten pilings near the bridge hits me. The stench of sweat, piss, and damp pavement greets me when I kick open my Ram’s door.
Rhys is waiting near a silver BMW parked in an empty lot with so many potholes and so much cracked asphalt that I might have broken an axle.
“Where’s Hendrix?” I ask about the high-ranking dead capo.
Rhys points to the body slumped against the steering wheel.
With a handkerchief, I open the car door, and the smell of blood hits me like a punch to the face.
“Throat cut and facial fuckery?” I ask, but I recognize the ink etched into his knuckles.
“A couple of fingers are missing.” Rhys lifts Kip’s arm.
“A few teeth, too.” I crouch, shaking my head at the dark stains running down his blue dressshirt. “Whoever the fuck did this made a mess. How long has he been here?”
“His second hadn’t heard from him in a few hours.” Rhys lifts Kip’s mangled hand to show the tag behind his watch. “Someone took his phone. It’s crushed to pieces on the Metro North train tracks in the Bronx.”
I glance further down and notice that Kip’s pants are open. “He had company.”
Rhys strides around to the passenger side, looking for clues of where his date went. “No blood on the passenger seat.”
“A decoy? A hooker who set him up?” I ask. “Check his wallet.”
Rolling his eyes, Rhys reaches over to fish it out of Kip’s back pocket. “No wallet.”
“A hooker and a thief.” I nod.
“Something tells me it’s more than that,” Rhys says, taking out a cigarette.
“Got another one of those?” I ask, tapping my mouth.
“Griffin thinks you quit,” he says, handing me one anyway.
