“A father will say anything to protect his child,” Danny cut in wisely. “I’ve known Jack for years. If he thought you were in danger and there was no way else to get you out, he would have pushed you toward a Grab. Nothing from back home can touch you here.”
Dizzy watched Menace licking a bit of frosting from Naya’s fingertip. The passionate love those two shared radiated across the room. Had Naya escaped to the Valiant believing nothing from her past, from Connor’s Run or The City, could ever touch her again? How wrong she had been!
“I’m not so sure about that, Danny.”
He followed her gaze and made a humph sound before smashing his cake with his fork. “That situation was different. Naya never would have ended up back on Calyx if that one-eyed bastard hadn’t dredged up ancient history.” Danny glared at Terror who sat with Vicious and Hallie at a nearby table. “You stay far away from that guy. Understand? He’s a shit magnet if I’ve ever seen one.”
Dizzy doubted she had ever heard such colorful descriptions. Considering the Shadow Force men she had encountered so far—Terror, Pierce and Torment—she was incredibly thankful Venom wasn’t in that line of work. His spot on the SRU team was dangerous enough but the men who carried out covert operations put their lives on the line in ways even more dangerous than Venom. At least he always had his team to back him up and support him. Just by looking at Terror’s scarred face, Dizzy could tell these Shadow Force men were on their own out there.
“When I get back to The City I’ll sniff around and see if I can’t find your dad. There’s a story here. Who knows? It might be something important enough to get him a ticket off Calyx and out to the colonies.”
Dizzy perked up. “Do you think the Harcos would make him a deal?”
“They’ve been doing it for years.” Danny swigged down the last of his champagne. “They started cultivating their ‘assets’ in the colonies and on Calyx more than twenty years ago. Even before their civil war kicked off, there were rumblings. Good intelligence means having boots on the ground.”
“I don’t know that I would want my dad to be an asset.”
Danny shrugged. “He might not have a choice. If Fat Pete or the Splinters were trying to pressure Jack to do something for them and he said no?” He shook his head and sighed. “Jack will want to get the hell off Calyx as quickly as possible. Spending a weekend with some sky warrior interrogators and spilling his guts for a ticket and a new identity in the colonies? That’s a mighty fine trade.”
Dizzy conceded that the fixer had a point. Thinking of how stressed and weary her father must have been to betray her, she started to feel so incredibly sad. Their relationship had been rocky since her mother’s death. They had both said and done things that left her feeling a bit of shame. She remembered the way she had screamed at him, telling him she hated him, that evening he had confessed to losing her to the loan shark and selling her lottery number. What if Danny was right? What if he had been trying to protect her?
“Sugar, are you all right?” Venom had sneaked up on them without her even realizing it. He must have seen the sadness on her face because he caressed her jaw.
She started to lie and say she was perfectly fine. Venom had asked her to always be honest with him so she didn’t. “I’m not feeling so well. Can we go home?”
“Of course.”
She gathered up her purse and gave Danny’s hand a squeeze. “Thanks for the cake. If you see my dad…” Her voice drifted off as the painful clump in her throat made her eyes water.
“I know what you want to say,” Danny said gently. “You can count on me.”
“Thank you.”
Venom placed his hand against the small of her back and walked her out of the reception. There were four soldiers waiting for an elevator and they all ended up in the same car. Venom silently communicated his concern for her by rubbing the spot between her shoulder blades. He didn’t say anything until they were safely locked inside their quarters.
Pinning her between the door and his hard body, Venom placed both of his hands against the wall and lowered his face until their breaths mingled. “What has you so upset?”
“I’m just thinking about my dad. I’m worried that he’s in real trouble. Between what Ella said and what Danny told me tonight, I can’t stop thinking that he’s caught up in something really big.” Her stomach roiled and she swallowed hard. “Then I start thinking about that stupid blood test. Somewhere out there my biological father is lurking. Is he a good guy? Is he a jerk? Did my mother love him? Did he hurt her? Did he abandon her? Why didn’t he stick around? Why didn’t he want us?”
“Dizzy,” Venom whispered, the sound pained. “Honey, you’re going to make yourself sick thinking about all this. Whatever happened back then—it’s in the past. I know it’s hard to let it go but you can’t dwell on the what-ifs. You may never track down your biological father. Even if you get Jack—your dad—to talk to you about your mother, he may not even know the details. There’s a possibility—however slim—that he doesn’t even know you’re not his biological child.” Venom touched their foreheads together. “You’ve got a letter in your purse from your father. Start there.”
The envelope shoved into her purse suddenly felt so heavy. What if the letter held truths she didn’t want to face? “I can’t. Not tonight.”
“That’s fine. There’s no rush.” Venom tugged her purse from her grasp and placed it on the entryway table. Interlacing their fingers, he led her into the living area. He left her standing next to the couch while he flicked through the buttons of his uniform jacket and peeled out of it. Crouching down, he unzipped and toed off his boots.
Dizzy followed his lead and kicked off her heels. Standing barefoot, she asked, “Now what?”
“Now,” he said with a little smile, “you’re going to teach me how to dance.”
“What?” A nervous laugh escaped her at the idea of being held in his arms and swaying with him in their living room. “You don’t know how to dance?”
“I do not.”
“But—you know how to do everything.”
Venom chuckled. “You know how to stroke my ego.”
“I’m not stroking your ego.” Dizzy took his huge paw and placed it on her hip. “You have to be the most capable and skilled man I’ve ever met.”
He studied her for a long minute. “You’re serious.”
“Yes. Now—this would be easier with music but just match my steps.” She clasped his other hand and took one step back but Venom didn’t budge. Gazing up into his curious face, she realized that he had no idea how incredibly special he was. “You don’t even know, do you?”
“Know what, sugar?”
“How damn amazing you are,” she said with a touch of awe in her voice. “Venom, you’re an elite soldier who serves with a highly skilled unit—yet you’re the kindest, sweetest, gentlest mate.” An erotic heat quivered between her thighs as she added, “You’re a wonderful and patient lover.”
“To be fair, you don’t have much to compare me to.”
Dizzy frowned at him and playfully kicked his shin. “Don’t discount me just because you’re my first and only. I may not have other lovers to compare you to but I know that you make me feel so good. You leave me breathless and trembling and feeling like I’ve touched heaven.”
Venom’s breaths grew heavy. His hard cock jutted against her upper belly as she tried to get him to sway with her. “I’ve changed my mind about this dancing thing.”
She licked her lips as a wicked frisson of anticipation raced through her core. “Oh?”
“Strip for me.”
With a saucy grin, she flicked her fingers against his chest. “You first.”
His deep, gruff laugh made her thighs clench. After jerking on the buttons of his dress shirt, he shrugged out of the garment and tossed it aside. His undershirt quickly followed. She let her needy gaze rake his ridiculously sexy chest. Her fingers burned to touch all that hard, hot flesh.
Givi
ng in to the urge, she attacked him with her hands and mouth. She followed the ridges of his abdomen while kissing and licking his chest. When she flicked her tongue against the dark disk of his nipple, Venom gasped. She scratched at his belly and suckled him, drawing a long, needful groan from him.
“Out of that dress,” he growled. “Now.”
She spun around and presented her back so Venom could unzip her. While she shimmied out of the dress, he tore off his pants. By the time she was free of the garment, he was stark naked and reaching for her.
Venom fell back on the couch and dragged her down with him. She straddled his hips and sighed with pleasure as he caressed her skin. The rope harness he had fashioned for her had been like an unending embrace during the wedding ceremony and reception. Even when he was away from her it felt as if he were right there, holding and protecting her.
“You’re so beautiful, Dizzy.” He spoke with such awe as he gazed upon her corseted body. “So beautiful.” He kissed her breasts and ran his fingers over the ropes decorating her body. “I can’t believe you’re mine.”
Dizzy ran her greedy hands over his sculpted body. “I can’t believe you’re mine.”
“But I am.” Always looking out for her comfort, Venom unlatched the collar and tossed it aside. He brushed his lips across her scars. “Are you sore?”
“No. The lining helped.”
“I’m glad.” Cupping her bottom, Venom lined up their bodies and thrust up into her. She moaned as he sucked her nipple between his lips and laved it with his soft tongue. “Let’s dance my way.”
Chapter Eighteen
Though he was still on leave for his honeymoon, Venom decided to head in to the SRU for the team workout the next morning—but not until he had woken Dizzy with a very pleasurable start to her day.
Leaning against the wall of the elevator, he let his thoughts drift back to her cries of pleasure as he lashed her sweet cunt with his tongue. After their long night of lovemaking—first in the living room and then again in the bedroom—Venom hadn’t expected to wake with such a raging hard-on. Dizzy had become his own personal aphrodisiac. The scent of her hair and the feel of her supple, lithe body curled against his was enough to shift his lust into overdrive.
She had whimpered in her sleep and roused only a very little as he had kissed and nibbled his way down her luscious body. He had even managed to part her thighs with his broad shoulders without fully waking her. It wasn’t until his tongue had fluttered over that enticing pink clit of hers that she had bolted awake.
Gripping his head, she had come long and hard with his mouth on her pussy and then welcomed his pounding cock. His back was still marked by her fingernails. He wore those red scratches like a badge of honor.
He had left her in bed with a satisfied smile on her face and expected she was already fast asleep again. He liked the idea of her living a comfortable, pampered life and hoped she enjoyed the lifestyle he provided her.
But as the elevator shot down to the main housing floor and Venom crossed to a different bank of elevators that would take him to the SRU section of the ship, he couldn’t shake the idea that Dizzy needed more than simply being his kept mate.
There had been no mistaking the utter joy on her face when Naya had proclaimed her wedding saved yesterday evening. He had never doubted Dizzy’s skill as a designer and seamstress but seeing her employ the craft she had practiced for so many years drove home a point he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge.
Dizzy needed to work.
It didn’t jibe with his traditional upbringing or the dominant culture of the Harcos but it couldn’t be ignored. She needed to design and create as much as he needed to fulfill his duty as a land corps soldier. Menace didn’t seem to mind Naya having a career of her own but Menace probably hadn’t spent his entire childhood listening to his mother berate his father for being a poor provider.
The elevator paused seven floors down from the SRU headquarters and Mayhem stepped into the car. “Captain,” Mayhem greeted respectfully.
“Sergeant.” Venom remembered that he hadn’t properly thanked Mayhem for helping Dizzy. “I owe you a debt of honor for coming to my mate’s aid the other day.”
Mayhem waved his hand. “I would have done that for any woman. It was my honor that demanded my action.”
“Even so, if you ever need a favor, come to me.”
Mayhem’s dark brow lifted. “Does that extend to a good word for the upcoming SRU tryouts?”
“You don’t need it. You’re a damn good soldier. You have excellent test scores. You’re very well liked. As long as your trials go well, you should have no problem earning a slot.”
“With the alpha team?” His hopeful tone came through loud and clear.
“Possibly,” Venom answered. “Raze and I are currently considering breaking out some of the more senior members of the established teams to form foundation units for the newer teams we need to create. If that happens, we’ll have open slots on alpha squad.”
“If I earn a position with SRU, I would like to be considered for one of those slots.”
“I’ll throw your name in the hat.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Venom let his gaze drift to Mayhem’s bionic prosthesis. “Is that a prototype?”
“Yes. The engineers and rehab staff on the Mercy designed this one based on the newest research. It’s amazing.” He flexed the limb and Venom was surprised at the way it reacted and moved like a natural leg. “They inserted an implant here.” Mayhem touched a spot on his lower back. “It helps my brain and my leg talk.”
“That’s incredible. Are they going to roll this out to more injured soldiers?”
Mayhem nodded. “There are three dozen of us using them right now. The initial reports are excellent. I think the war council understands how important it is to retain their best soldiers. We aren’t useless just because we’re injured.”
Venom heard Mayhem’s bitterness. “The old ideas are changing. Better medical technology is making things possible today that never would have happened when our fathers were active.”
Mayhem shifted his gym bag. “I realize I pissed off a lot of people with my lawsuit but the old ways were changing too slowly. I didn’t have any say in having my damn leg blown off—but I sure as hell have the right to make choices about my future. The Splinters took my leg but they aren’t taking my career.”
The elevator slowed to a stop and the doors parted. Mayhem nodded in his direction before stepping out and heading down the long hallway to the SRU private gym. A bit dazed by the man’s strident defense of his lawsuit, Venom exited the elevator. Instead of following Mayhem to the gym, he hesitated in the hallway.
Mayhem’s words ricocheted in his brain. Was that how Dizzy felt? Her career and her life as a single, independent woman had been snatched from her. She had seemed so excited by the prospect of selling her designs in Naya’s shop—and he had stomped on it, crushing her excitement with his own insecurities.
Thinking of the way she had called him an amazing man last night made his heart ache so painfully. She had accepted him for the man he was—scars, emotional baggage and all. She had allowed him to exert dominance over her. She had trusted him with his ropes and restraints. She had supported and reached out to him when he had taken Ben’s life to end the hostage situation.
And what had he done? He had crushed her dreams of continuing her work here on the Valiant. Didn’t she have the right to make choices for her future?
For our future.
Venom took a hard right and strode down the hallway to the SRU offices. He waved at Raze as he passed their shared space but kept right on walking until he reached Cipher’s spot. The door was wide open as usual and the engineer was on his back under a bomb-sniffing unit, tinkering with its internal parts.
“Hey, Ven,” Cipher greeted, his voice muffled by the metal box sitting over him. “What do you need, man?”
He leaned against the doorframe. “What do you know about sew
ing machines?”
The wheels on the creeper squealed as Cipher slid out from underneath the bomb-sniffing device. He sat up and set aside his screwdriver. “You’ll have to repeat that. Did you ask me about a sewing machine?”
“Who needs a sewing machine?” Raze elbowed Venom aside so he could get in on the conversation.
“I do. It needs to be a good one, Cipher. One that can make really pretty things.”
Raze snorted. “Ven, I realize I opened the floor at last month’s meeting to a discussion of new uniforms for the SRU—but let’s try to keep the ruffles and lace at a minimum, okay?”
Venom knocked into Raze’s shoulder. “Shut up. It’s for Dizzy. I’ve decided she can continue designing and selling her clothes up here.”
Raze offered an approving, if sad, smile. “That’s a smart move.” Clearing his throat, he pushed off the doorframe. “You two hurry this discussion up, okay? We’re in the gym in ten.”
“Sure thing, boss.” Venom watched his best friend disappear down the hallway. He sensed Raze was still unsettled from the dark turn the hostage call had taken. It was something they needed to talk about but first he wanted to get things squared away with Cipher. “Well?”
“If you want her to be able to produce commercially—say five or ten copies of each design—you’ll want to go with one of those fabric printers.” Cipher shuffled around the tools and empty drink bottles on his desk to find a tablet. He tapped away at the screen and finally spun it around. “Something like this, you know?”
“It looks like the printers we use to make repair parts for weapons,” he said, studying the specs. “Where can I get one of these?” He considered how pricey they were. “What’s the hit to my account going to be like?”
“Give me a couple of hours,” Cipher replied. “I know a guy down in the recycling department. He lets me source parts from all the broken-down shit that gets routed his way. The uniform shop just upgraded to new clothing printer models. A hundred credits says I can find one free and clear down in the bin.”
Venom considered Cipher’s outstretched hand. “Okay. I’ll take that action.”
Saved by Venom: 3 (Grabbed) Page 24