I’ve never been one for games and it seems right now I’ve been played. Now I’m finding out I’ve had this prize for the longest time without realizing it.
Damn.
I lift my gaze from the little boy to Amaya, taking in her jet-black hair she’s wearing pulled into a braid hanging over one of her shoulders. The golden caramel color of her skin beckons to be touched. Upon further inspection of her face, I notice the dark circles under her eyes like she’s not been sleeping. This makes me want to ask her why.
There’s always been this thing about Amaya that drew my attention to her, but I never understood why. I barely remember her speaking to me. Shit, the first time I’d seen her had been the night I met Emilia. She’d been standing at a table by herself. I’d intended to approach her but never got the chance to. I’d gone to get a beer from the bar with the intention of heading to her table to talk to her. But then Emilia came up to me soon after I sat on a stool and started charming me with her radiant smile. Of course, I’d been a fool in allowing her to become my snake charmer.
Shit.
If I hadn’t been blinded by Emilia, I might have had a shot with Amaya, unfortunately, that never happened, and it never will.
“You want to tell me what you’re doing here? And how the hell you found me?” I demand, crossing my arms over my chest.
“I want to tell you everything I can, but can I first introduce you to your son. Isaac . . .”
“Venom,” I snap. Hearing my name on her lips does something to me, and I don’t like the way it feels. It’s as if my heart is trying to crack through the cement wall that’s around it.
“Pardon?” she asks in question. Her eyebrows are drawn together in confusion.
“You don’t call me Isaac, my name’s Venom.” There’s no way in hell I can handle this woman speaking my name when I never, not once, heard her say it but a handful of times when Emilia had been around.
Nodding, Amaya licks her lips and why the fuck my eyes zero in on those kissable lips I don’t know. “Venom, this is Lincoln Isaac Dawson. He’s the son I wrote to you about after you deployed, and he needs you to be his dad.”
Well, shit.
Chapter Eight
Amaya
If looks could kill, I would be dead on the floor right now. I don’t know what I expected but I never thought Venom would be hostile toward me.
This isn’t the same man I knew four years ago. No, this man is full-blown mean.
“What did you just say?” Venom sneers, his lip curling at the side. God, I hate the thought of not calling him Isaac, but I have no right to.
“I . . . um . . . Lincoln is your son,” I mutter.
“The part after that about you writing,” he demands.
“I wrote you letters every week. I didn’t know if . . . Emilia let you know about him. I didn’t think it fair of her when she told me she had no intention of calling you. I figured when you never responded to the letters you didn’t want anything to do with him. After you didn’t respond to the last letter I sent you with his picture, I stopped. Gave up on the idea you would want to know your son. I’m sorry I’m here now. But I’m his guardian and I felt it only right that you were given the chance to see him. He needs you more than he needs me,” I ramble, the last sentence near kills me to say as I fight back the tears. I refuse to cry in front of this man.
“You wrote those letters? Why not email me? Or I don’t know, call my commanding officer?’’ he growls. I mean he literally growls out the words like they were rumbling right from his chest.
Venom’s voice seems to have this power to make my body react. My stomach feels as if it has butterflies fluttering within it ready to bust through the skin. That or I need to throw up. My nerves are a wreck right now.
“Why don’t we move this to the living room? Have y’all eaten yet?” Whip asks kindly. I knew I couldn’t eat even if I wanted to. But Lincoln still needed dinner.
“Lincoln hasn’t had dinner yet. If you have lunch meat, he’ll enjoy