Page 63 of Sweet Touch of Venom
My mouth parts, then closes. Everything trapping itself inside. “I don’t know.”
His jaws move. “I think you do know.”
“I don’t.”
“We all say things for a reason. Whether you want to admit it or not. So, say it.”
I swallow, heat overtaking. “I’d rather not.”
“Say it,” he demands faintly, hardening his gaze, almost like he’s ready to choke it out of me.
I shake my head, persistent as fuck. I flare my nostrils, plucking at the hem of my shorts.
I swallow once more. “Then GenCre would never be here. They wouldn’t have someone like you making a difference. Changing the entire system. What you’re doing now means something. Carter would be proud.”I mean it.With every crevice in my body.
Tonight is different. I can go back to disliking him tomorrow.
A small glint runs over his sunken eyes, steady on mine. He curls his mouth to the side, showing only a small bit of his dimple. “I think you’re starting to like me.”
I grab the tea and bring it to my lips. “I disagree. I very much despise you.”
He reaches for his mug, his eyebrow rising and sips at the same time as me, our eyes never leaving each other. “Hate is the new like.”
Like? “Not in my world.” My lip twitches.
That’s pushing it a little too far. I could never actuallylikeRonan again,right?
I swallow, looking outside. Right…
Chapter 25
Venom
Location:
Ronan’s place
Operation: Torture Fred to death. Literally.
“You know you’re my favorite sister in the world, right?”
I dull my eyes at Carter as I ball up another paper with my failed attempt at drawing a rose. Why is it so hard to draw?
“I’m your only sister, idiot.” The crumpled paper lands in his trash can. Slam dunk, yes!
“Oh yes, that’s right. Sucks being stuck with you forever,” he teases, throwing his pencil at me.
I flip open a fresh sheet. “Sorry to be such a nuisance.” I chuckle, sketching the middle bud of the flower. “Mom needs you here to fix her security camera. She says the one you and Ronan gave her was, in her words, ‘a junkyard invention.’” I shake my head, envisioning how the petal should go.
Carter scoffs, flinging another item at me. “No, she did not, liar.”
I laugh some more as I spin around in his gray swivel chair facing him. Although he’s barely here, he always makes sure to come by for dinner on Fridays. I pretend I hate his company, but I always experience instant relief, like a breath of fresh air, when he walks through the door.
“Hey, ask her yourself.”
His lips purse in disbelief. Of course, I’m lying. His new security system he created works wonders, soon to be out in the world, probably being sold all over the world in no time.
I’m awakened from the flashback of Carter and me before he went off that night.
