Page 23 of The Viper

“No one could ever love a man like Adrian.” She looks over my shoulder and sighs. “No one could love men like any of them.”

“This entire wedding happened in a heartbeat, Eliza.” I try to wring my hands around hers, and find the coolness of her skin unsettling. Something is clearly going on here. “You and I were happy in our apartment. Just you and me in our shitty one bedroom, where it was you and me against the world.”

“It’s different now,” she whispers.

“I know, but why?” I look around, hoping none of the men are anywhere near us. But, judging by Adrian’s reaction, I don’t think he’s going to stay away long enough for her to tell me what’s actually happening. “I wish Mom and Dad were here,” I say. “They’d be able to help you.”

Eliza lifts her chin to look at me. Hardness passes over her normally sweet face. She shakes her head and scoffs. “Help me?” she scoffs with a hint of contempt. “Sure.” Eliza squares her shoulders and stands abruptly. “I should find my husband, I’m sure he’s worried about me.” She moves past me and heads back in to where we left the three men.

What the actual fuck just happened? I stay seated while I look around, searching for answers in the air. Am I in an alternate universe? My sister is no longer my sister. Who is she? What’s happened to make her so dissociated from me and reality?

I wrap my arms around my body as the cool of the sea chills me to my very core. Great, and we’re going to be sitting outside while having dinner. How am I supposed to concentrate on anything knowing my sister is miserable, and hiding something?

A jacket being draped over my shoulders startles me. I don’t have to look at who’s with me. His scent of cigarettes mixed with the ocean breeze tells me whose jacket this is. “You’re cold,” his deep raspy voice cools me more than the weather does.

“I had no idea we’d be on a yacht, or I would’ve worn jeans and a sweater.”

He leans up against the railing of the yacht and crosses his arms in front of his chest. “I’m partial to seeing you with my jacket.”

Slanting my head to the side, I lift my chin to look at him. “What’s going on with Eliza?” Dominic takes a breath and looks out to the still water. His silence screams in my face. “Do you know anything about…” I flail my arms around the yacht. “Anything?”

Dominic pushes off the railing and extends his hand to me. “I think dinner will be served soon after we leave port. We’d best make our way upstairs.”

“You know something. What do you know?”

He lifts his chin and looks around at the sound of the engines kicking on. “Dinner will be served soon.”

I stand without his help and look him in the eyes. “What do you know, Dominic?”

He grabs me around the upper arm and drags me into him. “You’d best remember your manners, Rosa.”

I hate how my body reacts to him. My skin prickles with desire and my mouth pools with desperate want as the ache between my thighs craves his touch. I purse my lips together as I drag my gaze down to his mouth. Dominic pulls me closer, his breath hot on my sensitive skin. “What are you doing?” I whisper as I find myself caught in his hypnotic yet dangerous eyes. “Please, what do you know about Eliza?” I hate having to beg for scraps of information.

“Dominic, Rose,” Ruben calls from behind us. “Would you both join me on the upper deck?”

Dominic’s grip on my arms tighten, he’s not releasing me. Nor are his flaming eyes. They stay stuck on me, unforgiving, and calculating. Dominic releases my right arm and slowly moves my hair to the side, exposing my neck. He leans forward and skims his nose across the column of my throat. His skin barely touching mine. A small whimper of desperation drags from deep inside me.

“Rose!” Eliza’s shrill voice startles me.

Dominic releases me from his possessive grip, and I lean my forehead on his for a mere second. While our eyes are locked, I step back and lick my lips before smiling and turning to find my sister. “I’ve missed you,” I say as I head toward her.

“Don’t do it,” she whispers as we wrap our arms around each other and head toward the upper deck, where Ruben is already waiting for us. “This family is cancer, and I won’t lose you to them.”

“What is happening?” I ask again.

“Ladies, why don’t you both sit here?” Ruben steps to the side of the long table and pulls out the first chair. “Rose.” I sit and watch as he moves to the seat next to me. “Eliza,” his voice slightly changes when he says my sister’s name.

“Eliza can sit beside me,” Adrian says flatly.

“I do believe the girls have a lot to catch up on,” Ruben interjects. We all turn to Adrian and wait for his response. Eliza’s breath hitches and I notice her body faintly trembles.

Adrian takes a drag of his cigarette while he stares at me. “I wouldn’t want to come between the sisters,” he says and winks. I know exactly what he means by those disgusting words, because I’m sure he’d be happy to get between us, under us, and over us. He’s a fucking pig.

Eliza sits and Ruben pushes her chair in. He skims his hand across her shoulder before he moves to the head of the table and sits. Eliza slowly tears her eyes away from Ruben, and when she looks to me she gives me the smallest hint of happiness which is torn away when she catches Adrian’s scowl. Her shoulders turtle in and Eliza drops her chin.

“How do you like working in that little coffee shop?” Adrian asks as he looks over to me. He’s sitting opposite me, Dominic is opposite Eliza and Ruben is at the head of the table.

“I enjoy it,” I say flatly as I refuse to even look at him.

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