Page 189 of Darling Venom
I shook my head, part of me wanting to back out the door, but I stayed for Kellan. “If you’re seeking financial incentive, I already told the acquisitions editor the proceeds will be donated.”
“Donated?” he parroted.
I waited for him to kick up a fuss. To threaten to take me to court, where we’d have to battle over the book rights. But this conversation didn’t seem headed that way.
If he’d plagiarized The Imperfections, as Tate suggested, he wouldn’t want to draw attention to himself like that.
Well, assuming he’d plagiarized.
I believed Tate because I knew he wouldn’t lie to me about this. But it was unbelievable in the same way tragedies were. They took time to sink in.
“You really think you can sell it to her? Kellan’s finite. A debut with no backlist and no future manuscripts to build on.”
I couldn’t hide my flinch. He was so callous when he spoke of his son, it was hard to believe he ever loved him.
I edged closer, sniffing for alcohol. He had to be drunk. His eyes shined like the top of a glazed donut.
“I won’t stop until the book is sold,” I vowed.
He stayed silent for a moment. I waited, holding in a breath.
One second stretched into ten.
Then twenty.
I exhaled at the same time he spoke again.
“No.”
“No?”
“You need a Q-Tip? I steal ’em from Tate’s room all the time.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re free, I’m broke, and the ungrateful shit won’t spare me a damn dollar.” He tsked. “You’d think with the way I birthed the fucker, he’d be more grateful.”
“Pretty sure babies come out of vaginas, but you can ask Tate. I’m not the obstetrician.”
He waved his hand. “Same shit.”
I folded my arms across my chest.
“And I meant, why won’t you help edit Kellan’s book?” I raised a single brow. “But we both know that’s what I meant.”
He rolled his eyes, slurring out, “Because there’s nothing in it for me.” His brows waggled. He scraped his eyes down my frame suggestively, and this had to be a record for the lowest rock bottom. Mariana Trench-low. “Unless you wanna sweeten the pot.”
I didn’t believe him.
I didn’t believe he could be this selfish (or disgusting).
No way.
There had to be something else holding him back.
I pulled a page of Darling Venom out of my bag, then smoothed it over. My heart kicked up a gear, like it always did whenever I saw the words. I’d prepared the passage in case the negotiations reached DEFCON 1.
Terry stared at it like it was a contagious disease he didn’t want to catch.
