Sweet Venom (Crazy in Love #1)

by Kirsty-Anne Still

  “She’s right … Michael loves a good piece of ass like most of them, but Eden is off limits now. Langdon made sure of that. If I go, I’ll be askin’ for ass to be served to me.” I shake the glasses a little, seeing her slowly start to cave. “You get to take pride in the outcome.”

  She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth. “Fine,” she says, finally taking the glasses. “Why two glasses?”

  “Because you want to drink with him,” Eden says, giving the instruction clear. “The one in your left hand is drugged … avoid it.”

  “Knowing Michael, he won’t believe you, so offer him the right one and when he refuses you drink it,” I tell her, showing her what she’s dealing with here. “He’ll believe you more if you flirt a little.”

  “Okay,” she says, the word coming out in a strong exhale. “But you better have my back.”

  “Of course,” I say, vowing to her.

  She leaves, weaving the crowds, making her way to her first real kill. She stops, standing just on the outskirts of the men, all of them looking at her. Michael’s face doesn’t change until Ashley tilts her head and suddenly he’s won over. His face shows the usual emotions and Ashley drinks from the correct glass before he even takes the one meant for him.

  He skids over, letting her seat with him. He puts his hand around her, speaks something and makes the whole group roar with laughter. Jealousy rouses in me as I watch her fawn over him, leaning in to clink her glass against his. It’s watching that one monumental moment that I realize we’ve achieved our goal. She kisses his cheek, grinning wildly as she turns away and walks off.

  When she’s halfway between us and the table, Michael starts to behave oddly. His hand comes up to his chest, loosening his skinny tie and he starts to pace, a hand to his chest like he’s struggling to breathe. Within the time Ashley greets us, he’s on the floor, and people are crowding them.

  “That worked better than I could’ve hoped for,” Eden says, her tone even and emotionless. “You’re a natural even when you know what you’re about to do again,” Eden tells Ashley as she stops in front of us, chuckling.

  “He deserves everythin’ he’s getting,” Ashley tells us, and I see something switch off in her eyes. “Apparently, I’d be perfect in a gangbang … with or without my consent.”

  I can only imagine how that comment roused a lot of demons for Ashley.

  “Anyway,” she starts. “What was in it?” she asks, coming to stand beside me.

  “This,” Eden says, leaning around me so she can toss the pot to her.

  Horror smothers her face as she realizes what she’s holding.

  “It’s the first time mixin’ it into champagne,” I reveal, looking over the crowd. “Seems it doesn’t lessen the effects. Hopefully, that’ll teach Langdon a bit of a lesson.”

  “And get you killed,” Ashley announces with a severe tone.

  “Don’t worry about that, Princess,” I say, pushing away from the table to stand before them. “I fancy pancakes,” I state, looking between them. “Who fancies breakfast at …” I stop, looking at my watch. “At ten at night?”

  “How can you eat?” Ashley gasps.

  “Ashley,” Eden starts, stepping next to me. “You’ll learn soon that masterin’ the kill builds an appetite. Especially when those you kill deserve it.”

  “Let it all go, Princess,” I say to Ashley, trying to get her to lighten up. “We wanted to get the ball rollin’. We just needed the first victim.”

  “And we found him,” Eden says, linking onto the side she stands. “Thanks to you.”

  The moment Ashley follows suit I know only hell awaits us.

  This could’ve all been so easy.

  Lawson could’ve been the one that stopped the eternal emptiness in me. He’d have been the one to ultimately save me from myself.

  Then Eden turned up.

  She was the one I never saw coming, but I thought she added a bit of a thrill to the situation.

  Of course, my jealousy got the better of me, and I allowed that to torture the forming bonds Lawson and I had. That said, I never thought I would have to fight for my place here, but I was willing to stand my ground. Regardless of the remarkable love they once shared, I now threaten the fragile ties they have to getting that back.

  I can only hope that Eden’s cowardly nature makes another appearance. She can assume her place by his side is finite, irreplaceable, but I’m about to make her see that she should never have come back. She needs to realize that a man can love more than one woman and when he falls out of love with her, he’s never going to go back.

  I was to be stronger than I have been. Regardless of the comments exchanged between the pair or the way I catch him looking at her. It didn’t matter.

  My resolve did, however, break last night. The way he went from calm to feral for her sake made the jealousy real again. It boiled in me, boring down into my soul, tarnishing me more than anything else in my life.

  I thought I had finally found a good guy – regardless of his bad behaviors. Lawson was the one that made me feel anything distinctively worthwhile. He killed Bryce before he could kill me in more ways than physically.

  I haven’t felt dread like that until today, foreshadowing that my time here is on a time limit.

  Sitting in the kitchen, I can feel Frazer pacing back and forth on the balcony behind me, waiting for Lawson to call. He’s been gone an hour, and Eden still hasn’t gotten up. I’ve been listening to his muffled voice become irater as the seconds tick by.

  “Lawson needs me,” Frazer says, seconds after coming in and grabbing his jacket from the back of the stool. “Somethin’ to do with Langdon.” He pats his pockets while looking around the room, but I point behind him to where the car keys sit on the wall assuming that’s what he’s lost. “Thanks,” he says, grabbing the ones for the Audi. “He wants you and Eden to stay here until we’re back. Apparently, Langdon isn’t as forgiving as he says he is.”

  “Why?” I ask, perking up. “What’s happening?”

  “He got his face marked up by a lesser man,” Frazer grouses, rolling his eyes. “He said he forgave Lawson for last night, but he hasn’t.” Taking his cell, he hits the side button, allowing the light to flare across the screen. “Leo wants to do damage control.”

  “Okay, well go,” I tell him, ushering him to go. “We’re fine here. When she gets up finally, we’ll have breakfast.”

  “If you do leave, just text me,” Frazer proposes, giving me a fixed look. “I know how she feels about being cooped up, and I don’t imagine you to be any different.”

  “We won’t stray far,” I assure him, grinning. “Go before you tick them off more.”

  “Going!” he exclaims and rushes from his spot toward the elevator.

  Listening, I hear the elevator doors open and then shut, and I reach for Lawson’s masquerade mask. My fingers run the course of the ribbon, and I find myself becoming more defiantly needy to be here. I couldn’t imagine not working by his side now. For so long I was kept in the shadows of every man’s darkness, but Lawson made me an equal – albeit unwillingly – and he made sure I wasn’t hidden from the horrors life has.

  Like the men before, Lawson was corrupt, but unlike them, he wore his conscience on his sleeve. He had no hidden agenda, and he had no qualms with making sure I knew who was important and who wasn’t worth the breaths.

  And now he had burdened the two women who dare feel a thing for him with the ultimate choice. I still didn’t have any idea what Eden was capable of apart from using a sharp tongue and being a methodical psychopath. They all hinted on tales of her abilities, but from where I stood it was all flowers and empty threats.

  I could prove I was more about wearing the blood on my hands and show I didn’t care how many I choked the life from, but I was never giving the opportunity to shine.

  I’m the one outshone.

  And that just won’t do anymore.

  Lawson said he wanted a fight until the death and her
e I am loaded with cyanide pills that look an awful lot like Eden’s pain meds. I pull them from my lap, having kept them concealed from Frazer’s watchful gaze.

  Anyone would be crazy to swap them, but I don’t want to lose my chance at salvation.

  I reach forward, pulling her bag across the counter top. I watched her last night down a pill followed by another and then argue with Lawson about her addiction to them. She claimed she didn’t have one, but it was clear she was dependent on them now.

  Putting the pot of cyanide pills down, I pull the orange one out of Eden’s bag, read the label and then test for how many pills are in there. It’s as I spin the pot around I notice the date listed on this is from almost five months ago. I smirk, looking over my shoulder, as the realization dawns that either is hiding a deadly addiction.

  I never had the inkling to change the pills over until I opened the pot in the car and Eden mentioned how they didn’t make pills look different anymore. She giggled when she said she was glad the pots were a different color, or she’d get them mixed up.

  Popping the lid to her Vicodin, I tip the small pot and allow the pills to drop out, bouncing against the hard granite worktop. When the last one falls, I collect them all in a small circle and count how many is left.

  “So, that’s how we’re playin’ it, is it?” Eden asks from the doorway. “You’re goin’ to poison me the easiest way you can think of?” she questions, leaning against the opposite side of the breakfast bar. “Using my own pills.”

  “Why not?” I ask, shrugging at her. “I mean … you said so yourself last night that they look alike.” I gaze up at her, feeling the side of my lips twitching. “You’d never even know.”

  She narrows her gaze, not saying a word. She just reaches across, taking one and pops it in her mouth.

  “How do you know that’s not cyanide?” I ask, resting back in my seat to cross my arms over my chest. “How do you know I haven’t already swapped them?”

  “I’m a darin’ bitch,” she states, going to the fridge. “I like to try my luck,” she finalizes, bringing out a carton of orange juice. “So … you finally found the easiest way to kill me.”

  “And the cleverest,” I gripe, watching her pull a glass from one of the cabinets. Even with what I just did, she pulls a second. “You wouldn’t have known the difference … you said so last night.”

  She pours the drink, not even one iota of worry crosses her face that I’m sitting here willing to play with her life. Casually, she pours the second one and sets the carton down on the carton. Grabbing the glasses, she crosses the room and comes back to me. She places hers down, leaning over to slam mine down in front of me.

  “You should’ve learned by now that Lawson won’t actually be happy with either of us dying,” she admits, issuing me with a severe death glare. “You go … he resents me. I go … he resents you.”

  That admission is like a bucket of icy cold water dousing my every immoral intention. I should’ve guessed it from the moment he declared it, but I was so enthralled in the thrill of it all. I got lost in the fact he believed in me.

  “He has been given two women who love him and two women who are willin’ to fight for him,” she continues, dragging me from my thoughts. “Two women he knows he could learn to love.”

  “He already loves you,” I say, unwilling to take the glass of juice even though I know she’s not done anything with it. “That’s the difference here … you don’t have to play dirty as I do.”

  “Don’t I?” she asks, a partial gasp of disbelief exhaling from her. “Dawlin’, you won over a broken man … the man I broke. That’s a permanent bone of contention.” She leans down, resting against the counter top. “I will forever be the reminder of what I did. I could love every inch of him, vow never to leave his side and never leave … but somewhere, nestled in the back of his mind is the fact that I ran away. I planted a seed of doubt I’ll never get rid of.”

  I know she’s right. I’ve heard the stories enough.

  “Now you, however, are shiny and new and so completely different to me,” she says, almost educating me. “You’re the fresh start he wished for while he pined for me.”

  “Killing you doesn’t seem like such a burden,” I admit, hardening my look. I can feel the thrill of the kill starting to buzz, building butterflies in my stomach. “If you were gone seems like I was granting him a free ticket.”

  “And that’s where you’re wrong!” she declares. “Now, while I might be a bone of contention … I’m also the woman that knows every dark recess of that beautiful man. I know him better than the devil will ever know himself. That’s somethin’ you’ll never know because he’s closed himself off from ever lettin’ you know that.”

  “Because of you,” I announce, tasting the bitterness in the back of my throat.

  “Yeah, because of me,” she agrees, looking unshaken by the fact. “So, who does he pick?” she questions, standing up to place her hands out. “The girl who knows nothin’ or the girl who will always know everythin’?”

  Picking up her drink, she curls it into her chest and looks at me.

  “I think I could win this,” she tells me and points to the tablets. “Keep those … I have a dealer down on Bourbon Street. I won’t miss them.” She drains her glass, setting it down. “As for Lawson … we’ll see who grows closer while he works to bring The Firm down.”

  I can’t withhold it anymore.

  “You know he’ll always choose you,” I brandish the fact without shame. Regardless of the gauntlet of emotions storming inside, I keep myself stony faced and resilient to the fact that I know she’s right. “Last night showed that.” While I know my voice carries conviction, I also know I can’t withhold from the hurt I feel watching him. “Langdon did one bad move, and I was forgotten.”

  “He only did that because I told him what Langdon did,” she tells me, her voice almost sympathetic. She moves toward the doorway. “That’s all.”

  “That seed of doubt you planted doesn’t exist when you’re in trouble,” I admonish, not taking a blind bit of notice of her as I stand to come and face her a little more.

  “Well,” she chirps, bouncing a little on her feet. “Guess you’ll have to work a little harder.”

  My anger beseeches all other emotions of mine, and I reach for the closest thing to me.

  The vase. The crystal vase with peonies in it. The heavy vase.

  “Hey Eden,” I call out to her.

  Like any unwitting victim, she caves, turning to look at me and I take my actions very seriously as I bring the vase down. The glass shatters the instant it collides with the side of her face, and her body flies on impact. Flowers and water smother the kitchen, but I don’t care. Empowerment is a dangerous emotion; I know that but now I feel it, I also know it’s an addictive one.

  My hands start to shake, and I gradually look down, facing the single consequence of my action – Eden.

  She struggles with consciousness, groaning as her hand comes to the gash brutalizing her temple.

  I laugh as she finally finds me standing over her. I feel like something has been unleashed in me. A freeing of all the angst that built the moment she gave me that first orchid.

  I crouch down in front of her, watching fear violate her usually strong being. I reach down, picking up a shard of the glass, taking my time to internalize what I’ve done. When I finally take a good look at her, I watch her breathing falter, the girl that seemed so meek and mild finally found a place she feels formidable in.

  I lift the piece of glass up, seeing her blood scored upon it and I allow my eyes to lose focus on her while I toy with the tiny bit of vase.

  “A-Ashley,” she stutters, struggling with the impending consciousness she’s trying hard to fight.

  My eyes drag away from the shard and onto her, blood running down the contour of her cheek, her eyes glassy and unable to focus on me properly.

  But I focus on her. I take in the sight of her weak and trapped. I take notic
e of everything that she’s become because I believe I’ve finally gotten Eden to reveal her true self – the girl that was left after her attack. This is the girl that will never bear real strength because she let her feelings get in the way of what she wanted in life.

  “Hate to say it,” I start, tossing the glass down onto the wooden flooring. I make sure she’s looking at me the best she can before I continue. “…but you fucked up every plan of mine the day you gave me that fucking orchid.”

  My fucking head.

  “No,” I hear Ashley say and laugh. Her voice is making my head thump harder. “Eden said she had so much fun shopping she wanted a do-over.”

  I groan, rolling over, finally taking in what’s happening. I start to notice where I am too. Gulping back against the lump forming in my throat. I look at my hands, finding a cuff around my right wrist. Pulling on the chain, I realize it’s nailed into the ground, forcing me to stay where I am.

  “No,” I mutter, my voice dry and inaudible. “Oh God, no,” I say, pushing myself up onto all fours.

  I notice something to the right of my hand, and I look, seeing dried blood on the concrete. I gasp and push myself away from it. I feel nausea roll over me and I close my eyes. The tears still fall, unable to be stopped.

  “Surprise!” Ashley yells, indicating she’s off the phone. “Bet you didn’t think you’d be back here quite so soon, huh?”

  “You’re insane,” I say, opening my eyes and looking up at her, finding my disdain for her growing tenfold. “What the fuck did you do?”

  “You pissed me off,” she says back so innocently. “That’s all,” she deadpans, shrugging at me. “So, I took the vase from the side and shut you up for a while.”

  “This isn’t shuttin’ someone up!” I roar, uncaring of the pounding in my head. “This is fuckin’ kidnap!”

  “Simple domino effect,” she says, plainly, showing not a stitch of emotion. “See … I always had this grand plan in mind to win Lawson once I had him. I never expected you to just appear during Mardi Gras, but you did … and I rolled with the punches extremely well.”