Page 113 of Lovely Venom

“Ruby, I’m so sorry, but I think the men who hurt you work for him. There’s some kind of gang war going on with them and Connor’sfamily.” I use those terms so she can understand.

“What side of that war are you on?” she asks me, sharp and intense. “Connor is crazy about you. It’s obvious. But if he’s involved with a gang?”

I was always on the side of the law. Even when I bent the rules to take what I wanted. Something inside me aches to be part of Connor’s world now.

I’m still reconciling that Levin Berisha was not my father, but the man who gave me life existssomewhereinthat brotherhood. That’s if he’s even alive. But what those men did to Ruby has nothing to do with me. As time marches on, it’s leading me further and further away from my bloodline.

And right to Connor.

I take Ruby’s soft, tiny hand. “I’m on your side.”

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Raina

With Ruby in my bed, I don’t want to disturb her by rummaging through my drawers and closets to pack up. I take the clothes she washed for me out of the laundry basket in the living room and shove them into a beat-up carry-on bag I keep in the hall closet.

That leaves me without a nice outfit to wear for Connor’s mother on Sunday.

Ugh.

Ready to leave, I come to a halt seeing Connor stand in front of my mother’s wall of smut. I clear my throat, and he spins toward me with an open book in his hand.

“This dedication says it’s for women who want to get fucked by a psychopath.”

I smile, feeling a lightness in my chest for the first time in hours. “If that’s what it says.”

He stalks toward me. “Doyouwant to be fucked by a psychopath?”

“I thought I was.” I smooth his chest and loosen the book from his grasp. “These authors know their stuff.”

Connor starts going through the others. “This one has four pages of trigger warnings. What the hell is CNC?”

I take that book from him, too. “Consensual Non-Consensual. Role-playing.”

He breezes through a few others, reading the backs of them. “She’s got four boyfriends in this one.” He looks adorably scandalized.

“Love is love, and they have a happy ending.”

“I’ll DNC you all you want. But I draw the line on adding a second dick to this relationship unless it’s a plastic one.”

I chuckle into my hand. “CNC. And I’m barely holding on to the idea of one boyfriend.”

“That better fucking be me.” He looks ready to devour me.

“It is. And you proved the universal truth in all these books.” I skim my fingers over the spines. “That love is possible.”

Connor reads from another book’s description. “Are you sure these are about love? This one says he keeps her tied to his bed.”

I laugh again. “Some are just smut. But love comes around, and the characters have to fight for it.”

“The way I fought for you?”

“The way we have to fight for each other.” I slip under his jaw and let him hug me.

Connor scans the collection with a different appreciation. “Are these coming with you?”

“Coming with me, where?” I ignore the pun.