Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 106292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
“Then come in here and chill with me,” he says, stepping over the threshold of his apartment and holding the door open for me. “I’ve just gotta sort out Venom and then we’ll be heading back to the DeVil Hotel anyway. You don’t need to go back in there if you’re not feeling it.”
Without another thought, I follow Easton into his apartment, glancing over my shoulder and watching Zade as I go. He narrows his hard stare on me, but soon enough, Easton’s door closes, blocking him out.
Easton’s apartment is completely void of all the normal comforts you would expect in a home. There are no photos or decorations, no dishes left on the counters, and in place of a TV on the living room wall, there’s an enormous snake enclosure. I can’t say I’m surprised, though.
He heads straight to Venom’s tank, and I follow behind him, intrigued by his love for his snake. I spy Venom in the corner of the enclosure, all curled up and looking pretty chill for a snake. “Shit,” he says with a heavy sigh. “I thought she would have shed by now.”
Worry dances through my stomach, and I watch the snake a little closer. Clearly my assumption was wrong. “Is she okay?” I question, not knowing a damn thing about snakes. But I know I don’t like Easton’s tone.
“She’ll be fine,” he says, opening the enclosure and reaching for the snake. “She’s always struggled with shedding. The whole process makes her uneasy.”
“Oh, really?” I ask, leaning in a little closer and gazing at her face to see her top layer starting to lift around her mouth. “Can you just . . . pull it off?”
Easton shakes his head before making his way into the kitchen and grabbing a clear plastic tub from below the sink. He puts it up on the counter before quickly filling it with an inch of warm water. “She just needs to soak in a warm bath for a minute and that should help. If it won’t come off naturally, then I’ll intervene, but it’s better if she can do it herself.”
I watch with wide eyes as he lowers Venom into the water and she just sits there so casually, chilling in the bath as though she’s had a big day and needs a few minutes to unwind with a glass of red wine and a good book.
Easton leaves her for a minute and moves about his kitchen, pulling out a frozen baby mouse from the freezer and placing it down in an old take-out container, making my skin crawl. “Are you . . .” I start, needing to swallow back a gag. “Are you defrosting a dead mouse on the kitchen counter?”
Easton glances at me as if only now just realizing how socially unacceptable that is before shrugging his shoulders and deciding he doesn’t give a shit. “The snake’s gotta eat,” he says. “Besides, it’s not like anyone actually eats off this counter.”
I suppose he has a fair point. But for future reference, if I happen to wander down to Easton’s real apartment in the DeVil Hotel, I’ll be sure not to eat off the counter.
Venom chills in her makeshift bath for twenty minutes, and as we wait, I hurry to the bathroom, trying to mop up the mess of cum leaking out of me. It’s no use, though. These panties were destroyed long before Easton even finished unlocking the main entrance to the apartment complex.
Returning to the kitchen, I hover by Venom’s dead mouse as nerves pulse through my veins. “I feel like I don’t really know anything about you,” I tell him, watching as he gazes over his snake.
He lifts his intense stare to meet mine. “I could say the same for you.”
I scoff, sure that he’s fucking with me. “That’s bullshit, and you know it,” I tell him. “I’d bet everything I have that you and the boys have files upon files overflowing with information on me. The second Empire gave Zade my name, you would have done your homework. I bet you even know my first boyfriend’s name.”
His lips kick up at the corners. “You mean Adrian? Lasted six months, and as far as I could tell, you broke up with him because you walked in on him jerking off over his stepmom.”
My jaw drops. “Holy shit,” I breathe, gaping at him. “That’s fucked up. You know that, right?”
Easton just smirks and lets the conversation fall away, but I’m still no closer to knowing a damn thing about him—apart from the killer computer-hacking skills he must have.
After getting Venom settled back in her enclosure, I watch with fascination as Easton feeds her and makes sure she has everything she needs before closing the lid. He presses his lips into a hard line as I meet his stare. “What’s wrong?”