Page 265 of Tempting Venom
“Yes.”
“Get it!” I cough and wheeze, and Dad helps me drink from a glass of water as he pats my shoulder.
Someone call the imposter police, because he’s never been this…well, affectionate. But maybe, like, call it after a while.
“You need to take it easy, Preston. You’ve been out for two weeks, and your body needs more time to recover.”
“Wait, hold up.Twoweeks?”
“Two and a half if we count the days you’ve been awake but not fully conscious.”
“Oh.” I stare over Dad’s shoulder. “Where are Jude and Kane? Shouldn’t they be at my bedside? Violet, too. Even Dorita had better be here. Pretty sure I saved her ass, too, and she should be grateful for life.”
“No one but me is here.”
“Is there a game today?”
“No. Everyone just thinks you died.”
“What?”
Dad goes on a monologue about how he told the surgeon who took me into the operating room to announce that I’d died. Only Julian, Dad, and possibly Uncle Atlas know the truth.
The reason was that my life was truly in danger, and I had to be put under using Julian’s experimental coma-inducing drug. It worked, and I’m back to the world of the living.
But at what cost?
“You could’ve at least told Jude, Kane, and Miley.”And Marcus.
Fuck. Marcus thinks I died?
Dad said there was a funeral.I had a fucking funeral.
“No, it was too risky when I still hadn’t figured out who was behind the attack. I also needed Dad to excommunicate Mom, and he probably wouldn’t have done that if he’d known you were alive. The whole theatrical show needed to happen. Besides…” He trails off, and I catch my breath.
“Besides…?”
“I believe it’s a good idea for you to disappear.” His usually dead eyes soften a bit. “Leave the Armstrong name that suffocated you all these years.”
“You’re…kicking me out?”
“No, I’m giving you a way out of this life.” He frowns. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“I don’t want to live my life alone without my friends or family, Dad! I don’t…wantthat.”
“Then what do you want? Tell me, and I’ll make it happen. Whatever it is. No conditions, no buts. Just talk to me, Preston.Tell me what it is you need so I don’t have to see footage of you baring your chest in front of a bullet or throwing yourself down the stairs or against walls or punching and bruising yourself. Tell me what I need to do so you don’t go to empty houses and talk to an empty chair for hours.” He almost chokes on his own words, then clears his throat. “I failed you before, but I don’t want to fail you again. I don’t want to watch you inviting death upon yourself any chance you get.”
I press my shaking lips together. “Just…don’t kick me out.”
“I won’t.”
“Don’t lock me up either.”
“I didn’t intend to do that.”
“But the visit to Dr. Fenwick…”
“Was just that—a visit.”
