Page 63 of Toxic Kiss

Cyrus squeezes my hand tighter.

“Mom, if you say one more bad thing about Haven, then you won’t be welcome here. Haven is staying.”

She looks at our hands again.

Anita opens her mouth. Cy lifts a finger.

“I mean it. One more word.”

“Fine then, as you wish. But, if you’re not using then what happened,” Anita asks, crossing her arms.

“That’s between my doctor and me. And no, he’s not going to tell you,” Cy says, shocking me.

Anita has always had full control over him. I used to make fun of how he danced when she pulled his strings. In hindsight, that may not have helped our…friendship or whatever we were.

“This is unacceptable,” she hisses, before she whips around in the same dramatic fashion as she came in, and stomps out. The door slams behind her.

“She’s always such a joy.” My voice is both sunny and condescending.

Cy snorts.

“Thanks for the backup, but I’m used to your mother and how to handle her,” I say, rolling my shoulders as if I’ve just finished round one in a boxing ring.

“I know you can. But you never should’ve had to defend yourself, at least when it came to anything with me. She always blamed you for everything. And I let her blame you, hell I encouraged it. I’m sorry.”

I smile at him.

“You were worse,” I tease.

His smile falls. Eyes serious. We stare at one another, the silence heavy. I gently tug my hand away just as the door opens and the guys flood inside.

“Who the fuck let the Ice Queen into the building,” Ash asks.

“Only Satan knows,” Ledger drawls, and they all laugh.

“What the hell is she even doing here? She doesn’t have any legal authority over us anymore, and we all know she isn’t here because you collapsed,” Vex says.

This is all news to me. I’ve never heard a peep of dissent against Anita. When I left, she was their manager. Well…Cy’s manager. Anita has always seen everyone else as expendable. I’m still surprised that she hasn’t pushed harder for a solo career. Though that probably has more to do with Cy. He has never seen himself as the star, at least not the solo star. The band is a unit.

“You know what she’s like. She’ll perform for the cameras downstairs with tears in her eyes and go on and on about her son and how worried she is,” Cy mutters and pushes himself up higher in the bed.

“Well, if you want us to throw her out, we will,” Eren offers.

“No, it’s fine.” Cy waves off the idea. “She will just make a bigger scene if you do that.”

It’s all I can do to keep my jaw from hitting the floor. I’m starting to wonder if hell froze over, and I haven’t gotten the memo. It almost gives me hope that people—Cyrus Vale in particular—can change or at least grow up.

“You have to see this.” Ash pulls out his phone, and I give the guys room to surround the bed.

Space. I need to put space between Cy and me for a little while. I’m slipping into old habits that don’t want to die. A flicker of guilt tickles the back of my mind. If Charles ever acted like this with one of his female friends, I wouldn’t be happy.

With a sigh, I quietly slip out and close the door as a realization settles in my chest. The most dangerous monsters aren’t the ones we fear…they’re the ones we can’t stop loving. Cy is my monster, and I’m terrified that I’m not strong enough to defeat the effect he has on me and keep him safe.

chapter

nineteen

“You want to silence me? Try shouting over the storm you created.” - Haven