Page 17 of Truths

Chance leaves after Kara's long gone, and Marnie watches Venom move back along his shadow area away from the crowd while everything settles down and goes back to normal. It makes her very aware of just how tough Lex truly is, and she knows she should try and stay far away from her bad side. Well, further than she currently is. If she's willing to jump in and argue with a member, she probably can kick Marnie’s ass like she threatened.

Moving towards Venom, Marnie clears her throat to get his attention.

“What are you doing?” he asks, his eyes glancing at her but focusing on the rest of the room.

“Can we talk?”

“About what?”

Yep, he's not going to make this easy. “Um, us?”

“There is no us, Marnie.”

“I kind of got that when you gave Lex my panties to give me,” she snaps back, her voice low and thick with annoyance.

Venom's tongue slides out to run over his bottom lip, and all she can think about is the other places he's had that tongue. The areas of her body he's made feel better than she ever thought possible.

“I need space, Marnie. Plus, Lex is cool. She's not going to say anything.”

“For now,” she bites.

His head shakes. “No, not ever. Unless she's forced to. But if your dad walked up to her and asked her, she'd lie. She told me as much, and I believe her. I trust her.”

“Yeah, because she probably needs something from you.”

“Your dad's here, Marnie. You should walk away now,” he snaps back and moves towards the back of the room, leaving her standing alone.

No, this is not how it ends with them. She doesn't get broken up with through someone else. She's not in high school anymore.

“Meet me outside,” she says as she passes by, praying he listens and meets her in their spot. She needs to talk to him about this. And if it goes the way she wants it to, she'll leave without her panties after having her skirt hiked up over her hips.

Leaving out the front door, Marnie walks to the shadow-covered corner and presses her hand against the brick. The surface her hand has been countless times while Venom gaveher orgasmic bliss she hasn't had from anyone else. This arrangement would be any other man's fantasy. Commitment-less sex. Why does Venom seem so against it all of a sudden?

Time continues to pass, and she worries he's standing her up. Just as she's about to walk out to her car, footsteps catch her attention, and he stands before her. “I didn't think you were coming out here.”

“I wasn't going to,” Venom says, “but I figured we should have a conversation.”

“You think it's cool to dump me through someone else like we're in the eighth grade?” she asks, her anger surprising her.

He just chuckles and looks away as he leans against the building. “I can't dump you when we were never together, Marnie.”

“We were together. In a very, very intimate way.”

“You were using me. It was one thing when it was all banter and theoretical, but once it became reality, it didn't work anymore. Not for me.”

“What are you talking about?” she asks and touches his face with her hand. “We work very well together. If I remember correctly, very well and incredibly efficient.”

His face pulls out of her grasp, and she can’t ignore the sting the gesture causes. “What is it you want, Marnie? You gotta spell it out.”

“I want what we had before. Where we met up and had the greatest sex of my life. I don't know if it's the greatest of your life, but I think it's pretty damn good, at the very least.”

“The only reason I'm here tonight is to make sure Dax doesn't need anything with the shit going on with the Kingsmen with Dani back. I'm not your play toy. Not anymore.”

“That's not how I see you,” she exclaims, trying to pull him back to her. This is not how she planned the evening going.

He never looks directly into her eyes, and she feels him drifting away. “You see me as someone who's beneath you. I'm okay to take care of dirty business and save you, but I'm nothing more than garbage otherwise.”

“I never... I never said that.”

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