Page 66 of Darling Venom
ld me would have ravished Charlotte Richards and demanded seconds.
Great timing to let your mind wander there, asshole.
“You miss him,” I said.
That dull ache in my heart intensified.
“Yeah.” She rolled her eyes, but only to suppress another wave of tears. Her nose pinked. “You’re such a dick. No wonder you’re an expert at knocking people up.” She shook her head.
She was weird in ways I wasn’t yet sure were adorable or annoying.
I didn’t offer an apology. “Yeah.”
“But you can’t be like that with me,” she warned. “I won’t have it.”
“Okay.”
It was an easy promise to make. It wasn’t like I was about to date her ass.
An idea popped into my head.
A terrible idea.
A great idea.
A brave idea.
An idea that might get me one step closer to getting rid of the damn house I’d hated since the day I bought it. And by default—help me get rid of Terry’s presence on my couch.
“Have you ever been to his room?” I asked.
She shook her head. “We weren’t that close.”
This was the first time I believed her when she said they hadn’t fucked. If they weren’t even at each other’s houses, bumping uglies would be difficult. For some reason, that made me relieved. Thinking Kellan must’ve been heartbroken over some chick was too much to handle.
“You think you’re up to seeing it now?”
“You mean, now-now?”
“Soon-now. I need to clean it up. It hasn’t been touched in four years, and I think maybe it’s time. But I need help.”
“To clean?”
“To set foot in it.”
She lapsed into contemplative silence.
“So? What do you say?” I watched her, waiting for a reaction. Some sign she’d budge.
Her taxi arrived. The headlights blinked, blinding us. We squinted at each other. Charlie sure was taking her goddamn time making a decision.
“I’ll pay you,” I snapped.
“I’ll do it for free,” she said flatly, then frowned. “Actually, I’ll do it for a signed paperback of The Imperfections.”
“Terry’s a dick. You said so yourself.”
Really laying it on thick in the charm department, Tate.
