Page 75 of Velvet Cruelty

There’s a heart-breaking tremor in her voice. I can’t fucking stand it. “Your mom might not have understood. She might have really thought you got food poisoning or something.”

January gives me a soft smile. “My stepmom is pretty smart. I don’t think she misses much.”

There isn’t anything I can say to that.

“Thanks for telling us what happened,” Doc says quietly. “How you feeling now?”

“Um, good?”

She’s lying. Her voice is shaking, and her eyes are bright with tears. Again, I look at Doc, ready to chew him out if he mocks her, but his face is tight with worry. I remember him looking that way back when everything first started. Before Alessia, before Orchard, he used to have normal human emotions. But somewhere along the way, the laughing mask became his face.

“Enough.” Eli’s voice is cold. “Outside. We need to talk.”

“Should I come with you?” January mumbles.

“No, bella, you be a good girl and sleep. In an hour I’ll have Gretzky bring up some food.”

She nods, her eyes already closing. The urge to climb into bed beside her returns. I hang back as the others file out of the room. “Are you okay? Do you need anything?”

Her cheeks go pink. “Could you maybe… stay with me for a bit?”

Something in her eyes makes my cock harden. I think of the Orchard still swimming in her blood, my offer to make her come without taking her virginity. “I… what do you—”

Ell whistles. “Bobby. Now.”

I bite back a sigh. “Sorry JJ. Sleep well.”

She lowers her head. “Goodbye, Bobby.”

“Simp,” Doc says, as soon as I’m out the door. I glare at him but what am I supposed to say? That I’m not completely stupid for January Whitehall? That I don’t want to be whatever she needs?

Ell locks the door behind me, giving me a look as he puts the keys in his pocket. “Don’t even think about it.”

I expect him to lead us to the dining room, but he heads for the nearest balcony.

“I want a cigarette,” Eli says. “Do you have your pack, Domenico?”

“Don’t call me that,” Doc mutters but he pulls his battered Marlboro lights from his jeans.

It’s freezing cold outside, rain falling off the roof in a steady stream. Doc hands Eli and Adriano a cigarette then looks at me. “Want one?”

I never smoke unless I’m so wasted, I don’t remember doing it. I shake my head, the icy wind whipping at my face. It must be below freezing but Doc’s barefoot and in a T-shirt. Still, I know better than to suggest he put shoes on. Doc’s the sulking big brother I never asked for.

“What do you think?” Eli asks.

Doc lights his cigarette, a flicker in the dark. “He gave her O.”

“How?”

“Parker must have stolen some.”

Ell exhales a stream of white smoke. “Did he steal it? Or did he replicate it?”

Doc draws hard on his cigarette. “He’d need a sample to replicate it, so either way he must have stolen some. But he gave her some of ours.”

“What makes you think that?” Eli asks.

“Because she threw up a bunch of times.”

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