Page 191 of A Love Like Venom
“We are. We are as serious as it gets, Jessica. I’m going to marry her one day. My life is with her. It always has been. Always will be. This baby if it really is mine will not change that. Nothing will tear us apart. Do you understand? Not even you, Jessica Finley, will come between us.” There is a finality in my tone as I stare down at her harshly. She withers under my glare and I feel no shame.
She needs to see how serious I am. She needs to understand in that crazy brain of hers that we will never be together.
My phone vibrates against the table and her eyes immediately go to the brightly lit screen. Before she has the chance to see anything I glance down at my phone to see if it’s from Slater.
Except the message isn’t from Slater.
It’s from Alice.
The bed is too lonely without you.
A smile instantly spreads across my face. One that only she can get out of me. Where it reaches my eyes and touches my soul.
Quickly I text her back.
I’ll be home to you soon. I love you.
Her reply is immediate.
Love you more.
“That’s her isn’t it?” I place my phone on this inside of my cut and meet her eyes. Green eyes that are filled with hurt and anger. Jealously written all over her face. She shakes her head and huffs frustratedly. “When you told me you had a girlfriend I laughed. You, the man who told every woman he slept with that it was one night only.”
“Something that you clearly didn’t listen to,” I mutter.
“But then I did some digging. You had a girlfriend. You were serious with her. I think she was the only girl you were serious with. So naturally I thought you must have gotten back together with her.” I can hear the anger rising with every word that she says. Her eyes throwing daggers at me. I know exactly who she is referring to. Women are more skilled than the FBI when it comes to finding shit. And a woman who is obsessed? Ten times more effective.
If she thought I got back together with Caitlin then she probably tried to contact her.
Red flag number two waves frantically in my head.
My tongue begins to feel heavy in my throat as the blood in my veins turns to ice.
“Caitlin is her name. It hurt seeing those photos with her, Snake. That should have been me. I knew from the moment I saw you that you were the one for me. You just couldn’t see it yet.” She’s crazier than I fucking thought. Leaning closer towards me she reaches out to clasp my hand but I snatch it away. “You were always meant to be with me. Then you gave it to me that night we slept together. Finally after all those years I waited for you. And I think I have waited long enough, Snake.”
The churning in my stomach has me going nauseous. My heart pounds so fast and heavy to where I can hear it in my ears. My muscles lock with fear.My voice doesn’t even sound like my own when I ask her, “What did you do?”
“I messaged her on Instagram. I had to know, Snake. I had to know if she took you away from me again. She was the only girl you were ever serious about. When you told me you had a girlfriend I knew it had to be her.”
Inside of my cut I can feel something vibrating. My sudden fury has me ignoring it. That ice that was filling my veins has melted and turned to fire.
“What. Did. You. Do.” My voice is menacing, lethal.
Men have shrunk away from that tone of voice with fear but not her. No, she stares back at me triumphantly. A maniac smile on her face with sinister eyes. “I did what was necessary.”
And now I’m losing my patience entirely. The darker part of me is beginning to take over. All I’m seeing is red. And I want to take her throat and throttle it. Make her fucking talk and tell me what the fuck she has done.
My phone goes off once again and I take it out and answer it. “What?” I bark into the phone.
“We have company incoming,” Slater informs me, a hard edge to his voice.
My eyes cut to hers and she wears a knowing grin.
She really did it.
Jessica Finley fucking set us up.
And that’s my fault for taking the risk to come here in the first place. I’m not going to have Slater’s life be in jeopardy because of my mistake.
