Page 117 of Corrupted Heart

“It’s fine,” I grumble, looking away.

“Hey, we’re here, right?” she says brightly, trying to cheer me up. “Let’s go dance. I’ll even do another tequila shot with you.”

My lips twist as I half smile at her. “I might hang out here another minute or two.”

She nods and squeezes my arm. “You want company, or brooding solitude?”

“Brooding solitude sounds dandy right now.”

She smiles comfortingly. “I’ll be at the bar downstairs making sure Naomi doesn’t make bad decisions. Come find us when you’re ready, okay?”

When she’s gone, I move to the edge of the rooftop patio, away from the other laughing club-goers. At the railing, I glare out over the city, my heart twisting as anger stabs through me.

I hate that I’m this mad. Hate that I never saw this coming.

But mostly, I hate that I caught feelings for a man who warned me a thousand different ways himself that he wasn’t capable of reciprocating them.

Brutal fucking. Violence and sex. That’s what Kratos and I have. That’s what we share.

Nothing else.

Angrily, I yank out my phone out. I absently doom-scroll TikTok for a while, trying to clear my mind of lurid images involving Kratos and that woman fucking. When it doesn’t work, I switch to Instagram. When that also fails to take my mind off things, suddenly, another thought crosses my mind.

I think it’s fair to say you’re free to do what you want too, right?

In a heartbeat, I’m opening the Club Venom site and logging in to my fake account.

It’s not that I even want anyone else. And I hate that. I hate that even though he’s apparently fine screwing some other woman, I still only want him.

I glare at my profile screen: not a single new match. No new messages. Nothing.

Pouting and feeling the heady effect of that last shot, my eyes slide up to the top of the screen.

Wait, what?

My gaze lands on a tiny little hyperlink under my profile name, and the profile picture I uploaded of my butt in yoga pants.

Reset profile options.

I frown and tap the little question mark next to it. A popup window opens on my phone:

Resetting profile options clears any cached data on your account. Warning: clicking this will entirely reset your match parameters, potentially giving you more matches than you may be looking for.

Sane me says to close the window, put the phone away, and go find my friends.

Tequila-drunk angry me taps the link.

Your match parameters have been reset.

Big deal. As if I’ll get any new?—

My phone dings. When I look at it, I freeze. A message I’ve seen before pops up.

Dear BrokenBee,

A match has been made for you with another Member. You have both been notified. Please use this link to initiate a private chat with your potential partner. Like at the Club itself, we encourage the use of anonymity, as well as open and honest communication. Both parties should discuss hard limits and safe words before meeting. Please enjoy your experience.

Holy shit.

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