Sweet Venom: Chapter 20

‘Are we going to talk about what happened at the party, or are you planning on staring at the ceiling all night?’

I turn my head from where I lay on the couch to find Sayward standing in the kitchenette of the shithole apartment we are renting. We drove home in silence, but that’s not anything new. Say has always been an introvert, and because she gives me so few words, I always listen, no matter if I’m in the mood or not, like right now when my mind is anywhere but here.

‘What do you want to talk about?’

‘Are you serious, Tate? Clearly, the job has changed.’

I move to sit up and give her my full attention before asking, ‘Why would you say that?’

‘Tate, I saw you.’

‘What do you mean, you saw me? Of course, you saw me. We went to the damn party together.’

She sets her water bottle down before leaning onto the counter and pinning me with an angry glare. ‘I saw you with Vivian and Ellis.’

I hold her eyes briefly before dropping my head and running my hands through my hair, surprised by her confession and somewhat embarrassed, given the scope of why we’re here to begin with.

Tonight, Vi shocked the hell out of me. I was already hooked, but once she confessed she’d missed me for the two days we’d been apart after I divulged my ugly secrets, I was a goner. Then add in the moments that followed, with her on her knees and that pretty mouth wrapped around my cock. Heaven. I shouldn’t have been so careless. I should have considered that Say would look for me when she couldn’t find me.

When long moments pass without me saying anything, she says, ‘I’m done, Tate. I won’t continue watching you whore yourself out to protect me or my honor. I’m not a little kid anymore. I can take care of myself. We’ve been through enough, and I don’t deserve your sacrifice.’

‘Is that what you think happened behind closed doors at the Sweets’?’

We’ve never talked about our time there. What would be the point? It wouldn’t change anything. What’s done is done, and I had no plans of piling onto her trauma. I don’t resent her for my sacrifice. It was my choice to make.

‘I’m not stupid, Tate. I heard the moans and the screams.’

I can’t help but tense up with anger when I hear her words. I keep my voice neutral when I say, ‘It’s not what you think, Say. Just leave it alone.’

I’m not mad at her, but whatever she made up in her head is better than what was really going on. I think I’d rather her believe me to be a man whore than hear the true horrors of what I endured behind those doors.

‘No, Tate. We’ve left things alone long enough, and I’m tired of being the reason for everyone else’s loss. I’m the reason mom and dad are dead, and I’m not going to sit back and continue to watch you fight battles in an attempt to defend my honor when I don’t deserve it.”

I shoot up off the couch. I wasn’t mad before, but I am now. How could she think any of this was her fault? ‘What the hell are you talking about, Say? You didn’t kill mom and dad. That’s why we are here, going after Lykos.’

‘Maybe not, but I did set things in motion. I think it’s time we talk.’