Page 27 of Venomous as a Snake

“If there was a car accident while they overdos—”

“Oh, no.” His laughter is genuine. “They died in the back of Ali’s truck.”

“What the fuck?” I whisper.

He hums, though I can’t tell if he’s agreeing with me or not. “Like I was saying, she doesn’t give a fuck about Clay. He’s pushed her too far.”

“She knows about me getting shot?” I inquire, wondering if that’s why she snapped.

“You told her?” he asks, suddenly serious.

“No,” I reply. “That was a question. Did you tell her?”

“Nope.”

I scrub my free hand over my face. “Then why did she—”

“Because she’s sick of being backed into a corner,” Drew snaps at me. “She’s tired of running from him, Walker. Don’t you see that? He likes to take her happiness away, and she’s finding it again. So, she’s decided it’s time to move against him.”

“We could have made that plan without her being so close,” I argue. “If he comes after me—”

My brother scoffs. “He won’t. Not after the message she left him yesterday. He’ll focus on her.”

“None of this is okay…” I trail off, not knowing how to articulate what I want to say.

“Really?” he asks me sarcastically. “Which part?”

I sigh, my anger deflating all too soon. “The part where you did exactly what I asked you not to do.”

“How about the part where I let her forget about you?” he retorts, his words a high-speed bullet train wrecking into my heart. “Let the bond fade into nothing until you two weren’t mates anymore? Would that have been okay?”

“Don’t be a dick.”

“I’m not,” he tells me, and I can imagine him shrugging as he does. “That’s where this was going, though. When I saw it, I stepped in to stop it. Answer this for me… What was the first thing she said to you?”

“You fucking threw me,” I repeat, grimacing at myself.

He sucks in a sharp breath. “You threw her?”

“I threw a white cobra over the fence into my neighbor’s pool,” I admit.

“And you told me not to be a dick.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I want you to apologize to our mate, but I doubt you’ll do that now,” he quips. “You’ll make it worse before you fix what you fucked up.”

I toss my free hand in the air, though I know he can’t see my reaction. “How will I make it worse, Drew?”

“I don’t know,” he says softly, slowly. “I just hope you fix it before she realizes that her memories of you were sweeter than this version of you. Because if you break her heart, Ali and I will have to mend it. If you don’t love her anymore, then tell her now.”

“What?” I nearly shout. “I do love her. That’s why—”

“Maybe…” he interrupts.

“Not maybe,” I correct. “I do.”

Drew hums before he speaks. “She’s always been strong on her own, Walker. But we’ve always made her happy. What happens when she can make herself happy without you? Do you think she’ll just keep you around for sex and oil changes? I don’t.”