Page 73 of Venomous as a Snake

“You’re leaving with me.”

I grin. “No, thank you.”

“That wasn’t a question,” he informs me.

“Sounded like one,” Forrest mumbles from my left.

Collin snorts again, then whispers, “I thought so too.”

“Your new boys are cute,” Clay purrs, disgust making him frown. “Playing in the major leagues, are you? She’s a little above your pay grade, isn’t she?”

“There he goes with the questions again,” Collin mutters.

“He’s condescending as fuck,” Forrest points out.

I fight to hide my smile. “Try living with him.”

“Nope,” Collin pops back. “Walker is enough.”

“Oh, your precious Lawless boys are back together.” Clay claps. “How is Walker?”

A chill travels up my spine as venom drips in my mouth.

“He’s fantastic, so kind of you to ask,” I dryly reply, growing sick of his game. “Did you need something? If not, you can show yourself out.”

It occurs to me, at this very moment, that he’s stalling. I think back to all the cars we passed in the neighborhood, but none stick out. My intuition screams at me. It’s time to go or kill him and hope his incoming minions aren’t loyal to him.

“I told you. I came to take you home,” he states.

I laugh. “How much longer until the rest of your guys show up?”

He grins at me.

“Right,” I drawl. “You’re really trying my patience. My temper can only withstand so much, and you won’t like what you find when you finally get to the end. I would warn against lighting the fuse to my anger while I’m in a corner… But we both know you’re too fucking stupid to listen to better judgment.”

“Stupid,” he booms, straightening his posture to make himself look bigger. “You call me stupid like there’s no punishment for that?”

“Is he serious?” Forrest rumbles, his anger palpable.

“Yeah,” Collin growls. “I think he is.”

Clay curls his lip as he barks, “Mind your fucking business. This is between me and my bi—”

Collin is across the room with his fist flying before I can stop him. He punches Clay with one beautiful hit to his jaw, knocking him out cold. The swan’s body stiffens before toppling over, slamming onto the tile floor.

“Son of a monkey’s cunt.” Collin shakes his hand out, then glances at me quickly. “Oh, my god. His mom is the monkey?”

I giggle, though some of it’s just nerves leaving my system. “I don’t know what she is, but we need to go. Now. He was dragging the conversation out for some reason, and I’m assuming it’s because he has guys on their way. They could already be here.”

I open the garage door, grimacing at the broken chips of wood and a few streaks of blood. “Good job, guys. Let’s go.”

In the living room, I take Carol from his enclosure and put him back in his blue travel tote. I grab his wooden hidey-hole too, knowing he’s probably sick of moving around and needs somewhere to escape to.

“Where are we going?” Collin asks, following me out the front door.

I bend to scoop Pimp up. “To your house, as long as no one is hiding out there?”

“The alarms haven’t gone off,” Forrest tells me, checking his phone. “We should be good.”