Sweet Venom: A Why Choose Romance

‘Seriously, you’re just going to let her leave like that? You gave up too easy. You shouldn’t have let her go. You should have gone after her.’ Tatum clenches his jaw in irritation as he paces the room.

Out of the three of us, I suppose right now I look like the best option to chase after our girl. However, I know she’s just as pissed at me as she is with them. I’m all too familiar with the horrors that can happen when people are pushed to their limits. Am I every bit as mad as Tate? Hell, yes. I want her to sort through this mess and cool off in her room. I fucking hate that she chose to walk out that door and away from me.

‘I won’t push her,’ I say matter-of-factly.

Now is not the time to let my emotions rule over my better sense. If Vivian’s heart belongs to me, to us, then she will come back. My anxiety over the matter somewhat ebbs, knowing she will be with her grandmother. Vivian still has unfinished business to attend to, which is why Indie is in town. I’m fairly certain I know what she came to discuss, but what I don’t understand is why she has waited until now to present the information to Vivian. Whatever the case might be, it needs to get settled, and right now I have my own issues to address.

‘Besides, chasing after her would be futile when we don’t have our house in order. How about you tell me from the beginning how you thought you would get away with stealing my money and fucking my girl?’

Tatum stops pacing to share a knowing look with Sayward, and the anger I’m usually able to keep at bay starts to crest. Coming after me and stealing my money is one thing, but hurting Vivian is another.

‘Answer me!’ I say harshly as I stand up, unable to sit any longer. My change in temper startles Sayward, and Sebastian’s eyes meet mine from across the room. He knows I’m pissed. He rocks back on his heels before grabbing some glasses in the kitchen.

‘She wasn’t part of the plan—at least not in that way,’ Sayward says in a voice so small I’m not sure I heard it at all.

‘What was that?’ I ask, making no attempt to hide my ire.

Tatum jumps over the couch and into my space. ‘Leave her out of this!’

‘And how exactly am I supposed to do that when she was a willing participant? Oh, and let’s not forget, she’s fucking family. You shouldn’t have brought her to my doorstep if you didn’t want me in her life,’ I spit as I step into him.

He pushes me and says, ‘You need to back the fuck up.’

I’m just about to start swinging once more when she shoots off the couch. ‘Stop, just stop. Did we plan on using Vivian? Yes, but only to get to you. Tatum never planned on falling for her, but he did. He loves her, and when he loves, he loves with his whole heart. It’s why we didn’t make our last hit the night of the anniversary party.’

‘Ha, I knew it. I knew the two of you had something planned that night. It’s why you suddenly showed up together. After all these months of being careful, on that night, it no longer mattered if we saw the two of you together,’ Sebastian says as if that revelation validates some part of his research. His choice in showing face that night after going MIA now makes sense. The time he spent away was used to stalk Sayward and Tatum.

‘Until it did,’ Tate adds, his eyes briefly meeting mine before looking back to Sebastian.

The night of the party was when we shared Vivian for the first time. I know he told Vivian I was a bad man, and I now know that’s because he held me responsible for his parents’ accident. However, the night of the party, something changed for him, and I believe it’s because he saw my love for her.

‘The money was never for Tate anyway. It was for me,’ Sayward adds.

Her admission has three sets of curious eyes pinned on her, and Tate says, ‘Say, don’t. You don’t owe them anything.’

She holds up her hand to silence his objections before saying, ‘I have a lot of medical debt. While I was in the system, the state took care of it, or rather, they took care of it when I had guardians that would actually take me to appointments. Most of the time, my issues went unaddressed because it was too much of a burden on families to take me.’ She pauses and stands to head toward the kitchen. ‘Can you pour me one of those?’

Sebastian pours her two fingers of whiskey before grabbing an ice ball from the freezer and passing her a glass. Tate stands at her side, a pillar of strength for a girl who had no one else.

After taking a sip, she continues, ‘Unlike everyone else, I walked away seemingly unscathed, aside from the nightmares I relive in my sleep from watching my parents die right before my eyes.’ She pauses once more and pulls in a stuttered breath before taking another long sip from her drink.

Tate rests his hand on her shoulder, drawing my eyes to him, and I ask, ‘Is that accident what caused all your scars?’ I didn’t miss the tiny lacerations all over his chest when we shared Vivian back at the pool house.

His lips thin, and he closes his eyes.

‘What lacerations? Tate doesn’t have any scars.’ Sayward looks at him and says, ‘What’s he talking about, Tate?’

‘Say, please just leave it alone.’

‘No.’ She slams her glass on the counter. ‘No more. We’re doing this now. No more secrets. I’m tired of the lies; I’m tired of running. I’m tired, Tate, please…’ she trails off.

Sebastian slides a glass across the island to Tatum, but he doesn’t take it; instead, he grabs Sayward by her shoulders and says, ‘Listen to me. I chose my scars, all of them. I chose them. They are mine, and I would choose each and every one all over again.’

Her eyes gloss over with unshed tears as her bottom lip trembles and then she says, ‘The screaming, those were cries?’ Her eyes search his.

He pulls her into his chest and says, ‘Yes, Say. Please, please don’t ask me to say anymore. It’s over. We’re never going back.’

Sebastian’s eyes find mine, and I see his rage. The second he found out Sayward was blood, she became his. I’m certain he’s pissed that Tatum took licks he believes should have been his to bear, and I know he will hunt down whatever family thought to harm his.

‘Finish the story, Sayward. What’s wrong with you?’ Sebastian grinds out.

She runs her fingers under her eyes to wipe away her tears and starts. ‘Weeks after the crash, I started getting headaches, but because we were getting bounced between houses and we had just lost our parents, I was told countless times it was just stress. Over the years, it was more of the same, ‘Oh, it’s PTSD and stress.’ No one ever looked into the possibility that I might have sustained internal trauma from the crash. Which, as it turns out, I did. My spinal cord injury went unchecked for years and turned into spinal stenosis. I started getting tingling sensations here and there before numbness would occur, and on bad days, I have balance issues. On rare occasions, I can’t walk, but with treatment, those days have been few and far between.’

‘Fuck,’ Sebastian chucks his glass into the sink, and it shatters. ‘Why didn’t you just tell me?’

Tate steps in front of Sayward. ‘You need to calm down.’

‘I’m not going to fucking hurt her. I would never lay my hands on a woman in that way.’ I watch his eyes hold Tate’s to ensure he understands his meaning. He’s well aware Tatum has seen the marks he’s left on Vivian, considering he now knows they’ve been fucking.

He tears his eyes away from Tate’s, looks at Sayward, and says, ‘I wouldn’t have made you wear the damn heels. I might be fucked up, but I’m not that kind of monster.’

‘I didn’t know,’ she says timidly before adding, ‘We didn’t know. To us, everything looked different. I saw a brother who knew I existed and never once cared to get to know me or, god forbid, help me when I had no one else.’ I watch as she reaches for Tatum’s hand and gives it a squeeze.

Tatum stood by her side even after discovering he wasn’t her blood. He loved her anyway, the same way I love Sebastian, and that is something I can respect. We’re more alike than we realize. If there was any doubt before, I’m certain now. My love for Vivian he witnessed the night of the anniversary party stilled his hand. It’s why they didn’t make any more hits. He saw my heart and what I would do to ensure someone I loved was happy.

Sebastian looks at me, and I can see he’s upset that I never told him. ‘I never once looked back after I drove home that afternoon. I had no idea that their parents died or that they ended up in the foster system. I can’t change the past. I thought you had a good life, Tate. That’s why I left well enough alone. But you’re here now, and we can choose how we move forward.’

No one says a word. All that has come to light is too raw, too fresh. They’re unwilling to let go of their hate. I can’t blame them; when you carry its weight for so long, hate becomes a part of you. But we’re only hurting ourselves by continuing to feed it. So I make the first move. ‘Sayward you can keep whatever you’ve taken, but more than that, you’ll never have to pay another medical bill—’

Before I can finish, Tate cuts in. ‘We don’t need a handout.’

Sebastian strikes back. ‘Because stealing it is decent.’ He and Tatum glare each other down before Sebastian reaches for his keys on the counter and says, ‘I gotta go.’ When Sebastian’s eyes meet Sayward’s, they soften in apology so fast that I’m unsure if she even catches it.

And just like that, my girl and my brother walk out of my life. Damn it.