Page 27 of The Bitterness of Venom

"It's unisex."

She looks away, back to her drawing. Not offering her name. Just a curious question and nothing else. I grab a coloring sheet, a little kitten playing with ribbon. She pauses as I dig through the half-broken crayons. I don't make any other move to converse, I just color next to her. She eventually relaxes, her shoulders unfurling from around her ears, griplightening on the crayon. We spend the limited time I'm allowed here like this. In silence, just coloring. Once my time is up, my classmates say bye to the children, and I stand.

"Will you be back next week?"

I shrug. "Sure."

I think I catch her smile, but she uses her hair as a shield to hide her reaction from me.

And the strangest thing happens.Ismile.

Desmond Rickman:Once upon a time, my doll came to my room.

I click out of the message and set my phone on the bed. Pushing my glasses back up my nose, I bring the book to my lap. I will not be going to his room, nor will I be having anything to do with him. He has afiancée.And I'm not one of those women. No matter what he thinks, I won't be his plaything anymore.

EIGHTEEN

Past

I grit my teeth as I press the ice to my ribs. Wincing as I look down at the black-and-blue bruise. I can write it off as a hockey injury, but my dad and I know that’s a fucking lie. I wish he didn’t hit me as hard as he does the bottle, but better me than Mom.

It’s Friday, which means Blaise should be here soon. Which means… I need to hide this little mishap. She has enough shit going on in her life, she doesn’t need my bullshit on top of it. Because I know Blaise, she’ll make this her problem. Sometimes I think she’s too soft, but then I remember she’s the only light I have in my life. Two broken kids that put each other back together. Even if one doesn’t realize it.

I look out my window, smiling when I see a familiar face jumping from the railroad track.

Present

I look down to the read message and back up to my door, waiting. But I know it’s pointless. She read the message twenty minutes ago and my patience is wearing thin. Rising, I pocket my phone, stretching my arms and rolling my neck. Guess I’ll be going to her this time. I slip on my shoes and a hoodie, grabbing my keys. Her door is right across from mine. Three steps, to be exact.

I don’t knock—of course I don’t fucking knock—I barge into her room like the wrecking ball I am. She doesn’t get to storm back into my life and then fucking ghost me. She startles when her door bangs against the wall. Pure puzzlement on her face, her peacock eyes so wide and unguarded for the first time since I’ve seen her again after all these years apart. The image in front of me is nostalgic. The black-framed glasses perched on a slightly upturned freckled nose. My T-shirt drowning her body as a book sits in her hands. It reminds me of all the times she ran away from home, crawled in my bed, and read me some romance story. It causes something painful to sting behind my rib cage at the sight.

“What do you want?” she demands, mask firmly back in place. Her peacock eyes freeze over, concealing the emotion that was present only mere seconds ago.

I rest my hands on the doorframe, watching her closely. “Why didn’t you come to my room?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you had afiancée?”

Ahh. Now I see why I’m getting the cold shoulder. “Because that isn’t important.” And that’s the truth. Krystal is no one in the grand scheme of things. Sure, our parents made arrangements, but they know I’m not going to follow through. I’ve already verbally committed to an NHL team and will begin as soon as my senior year is over. Krystal won’t be coming with me, and she knows that. She just likes to stake a claim, and I allow it because I don’t fucking care either way. But letting Blaise believe our relationship is real gives me an advantage over her.

“Feels like a big deal to me.” She glares, scooting her glasses up her nose.

I smirk. “Feeling jealous?”

She scoffs, looking away from me and to her window. “You wish.”

“I wish for lots of things. Your thighs around my head, your lips sucking my cock, but your emotions? I can assure you, those have no importance in my mind or wishes.”

Her lips part slightly, and I imagine shoving my thick cock down her throat, before she shakes her head. “Get out.”

I tilt my head, stalking toward her, crowding her into the bed before swooping her over my shoulder and stomping out of the house. She bites my back, so I sink my teeth into her plump ass as I take the stairs two at a time. When I reach my car, I throw her ass in the front. She could escape if she wanted but by the little huffing noise she makes while I back out of the parking lot, she’s accepted her fate.

I drive us out of town, going into a secluded area in the forest, and kill the car. She tries to look around but it’s too dark. If she could see, she’d see that it’s her little place she likes to frequent to hide from the world. On a rock next to a train track. Where she daydreams and smokes her weed. Skips fucking class as if I don’t pay for that shit.

I let the silence bleed as thick as the darkness, then reach into the back seat and grab my zip ties. Snatching her wrists,she startles but isn’t fast enough to stop me from snapping her wrists together behind her. Grabbing my tie from my bag, I wrap it around her eyes. Looking at the clock, I see we have five minutes before my next segment of entertainment begins.

I pull her over the console by her trapped hands and she kicks and screams, but it all falls on deaf ears as we slide out of the car and I drag her up the hill, to the pebbled stones of the train tracks. “What the fuck, Rickman?” She calls me by my last name as if I don’t know the way her pussy tastes.

I pull her until we are standing in the middle of the train tracks on the bridge. She looks ridiculous in nothing but my T-shirt and my tie keeping her glasses in place. Slowly, I back away as she takes a step forward, falling to her knees with a soft curse. I hop off the track at the end of the bridge, crossing my arms. A smile breaks free as the oncoming train’s horn blares from a short distance away. I watch her freeze on the ground and then quickly try to find purchase to get up with her hands tied behind her back.

---