A Shot of Pretty Poison (Pretty Poison Trilogy #3)

by Kelsey Clayton

“I’ll be fine,” I tell her. Her eyes roll. “Please. I’m a woman. We basically changed the definition of the word fine. No one is ever fine when they say that.”

“Ten minutes?” he asks, and I nod. “See, that’s where we differ. You only need ten minutes with me, but I needed the rest of my life with you.”

“I believe you, but I also know that you used to hate when people made decisions on your behalf. But that’s what you did that night. You made a choice for me, one I never wanted. And it sucked because I didn’t just lose the girl I was in love with. I lost my best fucking friend.”

“There’s a part of me that still loves you,” I say honestly. “There’s always going to be a part of me that still loves you. But right now, there’s a part of me that wants to hate you, and I’m not sure which is stronger.” She sniffles, wiping away her tears and nodding. “I get that. I do.” I get up from the table and put my fist on it. “Just do me a favor?” “Anything,” she replies, and I know she means that. “Don’t go anywhere until I figure it out.”

“I believe in love,” I say simply. “I just don’t believe in it with anyone but her.”

For as long as I have known Owen, I don’t think there’s ever been a time when I was jealous of him until now. “Unclench your jaw,” Mali murmurs from beside me. “Your jealousy is showing.” Forcing my eyes away from Laiken, I look down at Mal. “You know, before she came back, you were a lot less mean.”

“You were jealous.” He scoffs. “I was not.” “You were. You really, really were.” I put my phone back in my pocket and shoot him another smug grin. “You were all he can’t touch you like I can. Hate to break it to you, babe, but you were green from head to toe. It was like fucking the Incredible Hulk.” A growl rumbles in the back of his throat before he gives in. “Fine. I’m jealous,” he confesses. “I’m jealous of all the fucking people who got to see you every goddamn minute that I didn’t. And to see you texting someone else, even if it wasn’t your boyfriend, sucks because I still don’t even have your phone number anymore.”

I light up at the sound of the door unlocking, but then it opens, and an exhausted Hayes stands on the other side of it. Why hello, handsome man.

“I don’t hate you, baby,” I whisper. “I just hate that I wasn’t enough.”

“I don’t want to lose you,” she nearly whispers. It chips another piece right off my heart, but it’s fine. I’m used to it. I shrug dejectedly. “I didn’t want to lose you either.”

“If you two are over, I’ll be entirely convinced that love isn’t real.” “It is though,” I tell her. “I feel it every time I look at him. Or think about him. Or talk about him. OR think about something that has to do with him.”

He lets out a breathy laugh as he picks it up and looks at it, then slips it into his own back pocket. “You can’t just keep my ID,” I tell him. He shrugs. “Sure I can. It’s a false document. That’s not your last name.” With a wink, he leaves me speechless as he walks away. My fucking fake has Blanchard on it.

“H, you can’t punch someone just because they tried to get with me.” “The fuck I can’t,” he growls. Without taking his eyes off me, he corners me between the shelf and the wall as he turns the lock on the door. “I will always protect what’s mine.”

“I would’ve much rather dealt with the fear of losing him again than the emptiness of not having him at all.”

If I have gray hairs, it’s because I married half of this generation’s Thelma and Louise.

“Please, God,” I beg as the tears start to fall. “Please don’t take her from me. Give her back. I just want her back.”

This sweet talking, swoony motherfucker. How the hell am I supposed to grow old with him, when he’s constantly making my heart feel like it’s going to burst with how much I love him?

“No,” I breathe. “Y-you’re…” “I’m what?” Monty smirks. “Dead? Not quite.”

WHAT THE FUCK?!?!

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty.” His head whips around like he’s looking for the rest of us, but Mali focuses him back on her. “Don’t worry. Hayes saved your princess ass.”

I kiss her forehead before saying the words that aren’t nearly enough, but they’re the only thing that comes close. “I more than love you.”

“Woman, I miss you when you walk away for five minutes. Don’t act like this is news to you.”

I will spend the rest of my life being incomprehensibly in love with her. And if there’s a life after this one, I’ll go to the ends of the earth to find her again, because her soul and mine are two halves of a whole. There’s no me without her.