Page 54 of Darling Venom
“We’re in public right now…”
“Coffee equals friendship. Alcohol equals face-riding,” he deadpanned.
I choked on my disgusting coffee. It splattered all over my lap. Tate stared at me, at ease, like he evoked this reaction in people daily.
“How old are you?”
“Thirty-four.”
“Not that old.”
“No. And still…”
He stood, shouldering his perfect frame into his black coat. I jumped to my feet, a rush of panic coursing through my veins.
I finally got it.
Tate’s presence gave me comfort.
It made me feel like I was with Kellan.
Phew. That’s natural, right?
It wasn’t like I liked him or anything.
I didn’t.
Tate collected his phone and wallet robotically. “Thank you, Charlotte Richards. Goodbye.”
He was walking away.
I couldn’t let him walk away.
Not after everything he’d told me.
Not after learning he’d given up so much for Kellan.
I scrambled, sorting through my brain to try to find something to make him stay. Something that would ease the pain he was in.
Because I felt it, too.
Every day, I woke up knowing I’d failed Kellan by being late that day. That I’d ruined my sister’s life by making a colossal mistake. I couldn’t even imagine what Tate felt when he opened his eyes each morning.
“I wrote a letter to Principal Brooks, you know. About Kellan,” I called out after him, knowing what I’d just risked.
That if he thought hard enough, he would realize what that meant, and my lie—that Kellan had never told me his plans—would dissolve like dust.
Tate stopped in the middle of the buzzing coffee shop.
The backdrop of a lit-up Manhattan glowed through the windows, illuminating his lean frame. All in all, he looked like a fallen angel, which was completely insane, because he was this hotshot doctor and I was a mere agent assistant. He could find so many other willing women to save him.
He still had his back to me when he spoke. “What’s your drink of choice, Charlie?”
“Charlie?” My heart hitchhiked its way up my throat, just about ready to land on the floor with a thud, grow little legs, and run toward him.
“Charlotte is too formal for you.” His back was still to me.
