Page 108 of Lovely Venom

Connor’s comfortable apartment is not a terrible place to stay hidden for a couple of weeks, but what do I do after this whole business with Noel and Valdrin gets resolved?

I fear Connor will kill them. That will put a bounty on my head from their soldiers for the rest of my life.

I have to go with the flow. But I can’t stop thinking about Ruby and how upset she sounded on the phone this morning.

No matter what, I have to talk Connor into letting me go back to my apartment to see her.

“You sure you feel up to going out?” he asks, sliding into a pair of ass-hugging jeans and a button-down light blue shirt that has my tongue hanging out.

“I am. The nap helped.” I take a deep breath and smile when there’s not a hint of a wheeze.

“Then let’s do this.” Connor steers me to the living room and grabs a set of keys from a bowl near his front door.

At his pickup truck, Connor flips on mirrored shades and recommends a diner where he and Rhys meet. I’m famished and plan to eat an embarrassingly big breakfast.

Connor drives a luxury Ram double-cab pickup guarded by three men the size of linebackers in finely cut suits. The truck is completely inappropriate for Manhattan, but it’s the last type of ride law enforcement would think belongs to a mob boss.

He opens the truck’s door for me and lifts me onto the running boards.

“This thing is massive,” I say when he gets into a driver’s seat that looks like a cybergaming chair.

“Do you mean my cock?” he says, grinning and swiping the dashboard screens to start the engine with a purr.

“That, too. Trust me, you didn’t need this tank to deflect small-dick energy.”

Connor barks a laugh, “You’re a riot, Riatt.”

At least he’s calling me a riot for humor and not destruction.

I murmur, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

WE EAT BREAKFAST ANDmake small talk in between bites. I get the pancakes, and Connor gets a Denver omelet the size of Colorado. I order tea instead of coffee, needing hot water to soothe my throat.

It makes me think of Valdrin, but I push him out of my head. More self-preservation.

When we’re ready to leave, Connor throws me a curveball and brushes off going to my apartment.

I put down my mug of tea with a heavy hand. “Now you listen to me, Quinlan.”

“Yes, Riatt?” He grins. “Which I like almost as much as Venom. I’m listening.”

“I don’t know what kind of chains your charming brothers have wrapped around their meek wives, but—” I stop when he starts laughing. “What?”

“I’m debating if I should tell you to call Ava and Lennox meek to their faces on Sunday.” He shakes his head. “Nah, don’t. I like you and want to keep you alive. But as you were saying.”

He has a point that I shouldn’t make assumptions about his brothers’ wives, even if the way of the mafia points in a completely different direction.

“I like you, too,all right?”

“Wow.” He frowns. “How many muscles in your throat did you pull saying that?”

That gets me to laugh. “Ihaveto check on Ruby,” I choke out, my head a whirling tornado of emotions for not jumping out of bed this morning when I heard her shaky voice.

Connor frowns. “Is that a cat or a fish?”

I tilt my head. “She’s my friend. She needs me.” God, I don’t know if Valdrin would hurt her if he thinks she knows too much.

Not the way he looked at her.