Page 77 of Venomous as a Snake

Three days pass in silence, and it’s eerie.

We know Clay is coming back. We just don’t know exactly when.

Our best guess is any day now.

Drew wants to take the fight to him, but I disagree. After the showdown in my living room, the honey badger has been on his bullshit. He’s almost intolerable… Almost. But his anger made for an exhausting night. I figure, as long as I can keep him busy, he won’t skip off on his own.

He had an errand to run today, so Ali went with him.

Forrest and Collin are at the club, doing whatever it is they do with shipments and inventory.

Which leaves Walker with me for the evening.

We’re curled on the couch, watching the opening credits of some action movie he picked out… And snacks are a must-have.

“Do you have popcorn?”

He glances around us, then raises a brow. “No.”

“Not even in your pocket?”

With a grin, he rolls his amber eyes. “Don’t have pockets.”

“What about in your kitchen?”

“Probably. Why?”

I shrug. “Why else would I ask? I want popcorn, and I don’t have any.”

“All the random shit you’ve got in your kitchen, and you don’t have popcorn?” he inquires.

“It’s not random shit,” I defend. “It’s carefully curated ingredients for baking. And no. I don’t have popcorn.”

He sighs, climbing to his feet and dragging me with him. “Come on then. Let’s go raid Collin’s stash of junk food.”

I snatch up our phones in case the guys call, then follow him out the front door. Walker grabs my hand, pulling me behind him as we trek between our fence and the neighbors.

“Do you think they’ve noticed?” I ask him, pointing at an open window.

“I think we should just install a gate in the fence or take the center part out,” he tells me.

“Then you’d have to deal with Hooker all the time.”

“Hooker is fine. Pimp, though? He’s still sketchy.”

I hum in agreement. “He’s Satan’s watch-cat, scouting out the faithful souls around us for the dark lord himself.”

Walker snorts as he unlocks his front door with the keypad. The code is my birthday, but the numbers are backward.

“Aww. That’s so sweet,” I sing.

“I changed it this morning.”

“Even sweeter when you lie about it,” I murmur.

He flips the light switch inside the door, illuminating the entryway. I wander behind him into the kitchen. He grabs a bag of popcorn and turns to leave.

“What are you doing?”