Page 18 of Truths

“You agreed with Snake when he talked about me being dirt. You'd rather save face with your dad than admit you have actual feelings for me. Feelings outside of sex, and while I never used to think I was worth more than that, I have a friend telling me I deserve better. And I believe her.”

Lex. Damn Lex. Ruined this great thing Marnie had going. “This was something we both knew wouldn't be able to go anywhere. I mean, you don't exactly have a great reputation around here, and I'm a daughter of the club. Plus, it's kind of against the rules.”

“I wasn't expecting a happily ever after where we ride off into the sunset, but I didn't expect to be told that meeting up at my house instead of always here outside would ruin the illusion of what we were doing. That we'd be making it real. I would do anything for you, Marnie, because I fell in love with you, but I have to stop. I can't be willing to kill myself inside to make you happy. Not when you wouldn't piss on me if I was on fire. Not in public, anyway.”

“Oh, and I suppose Lex would?”

“Lex would stop the fire from happening. She doesn't care about appearances.”

Rolling her eyes, Marnie sighs. “That's what she says, but-”

“She sees me as a person, Marnie. A man. Someone who has feelings. You never saw that, and I can't really be mad at you because I didn't think I deserved that. But I do now. I can't be with you and pretend it doesn't mean anything to me, and I can't stand there and act like hearing you talk about how I'm dirt doesn't hurt. It's better to just make a clean break.”

“I'm not giving up.”

“You should,” he says and walks away towards the back entrance.

Her eyes stare at his retreating form until he's turned the corner, and she feels something break in her chest. Something painful. Rejection. She never thought Venom, of all people, would ever reject her. It's not a pleasant feeling.

Summerville

Venom

Lex still sits at the table with Colt, and everyone in the room looks at her a little differently. It's not very often women of the club stand up to the men, and even though it needed to be said, many of the members don't know how to react to her brazen outburst.

Venom personally loves it. Lex is amazing, and he kind of wishes he'd met her sooner. Maybe he wouldn't have gotten involved with Marnie and broken his own heart.

“Hey,” Venom says as he sits down.

Colt nods. “Need me to leave?”

“No, you're cool,” he says.

“I saw her talking to you. Guessing you met outside?” Lex asks, her voice low.

“Yep,” he says and sighs.

Her hand touches his forearm, and it registers how such a simple act of physical comfort in a room like this seems so monumental. It wouldn't be for any other man in here, but it is for him. No one else would have the balls to do it.

“What happened?”

With anyone else, he'd assume the ask would be all about gossip. With Lex, though, it feels genuine. Like she's worried about how he feels. No one else gives a shit because they assume he doesn't have feelings.

“She wants to go back to how things were before. She's not a fan of yours,” he says, worrying maybe he shouldn't have said anything.

Colt laughs. “Not the first woman of the club to dislike my wife.”

“Won't be the last, either,” Lex says and smirks. “Don't worry. I'm tough.”

“I'll say. You got in Chance's face like he was nothing,” Venom says.

“He is nothing. He's... I'm just going to get angry if we talk about him again. It took everything in me not to punch him in his stupid face.”

If he's honest, he was worried Chance would reach out and hit Lex. It would be the last thing he ever did if that happened. Grinding his jaw, he glares at the spot the whole altercation took place.

“Don't worry about Lex,” Colt says and pats his shoulder. “She can more than hold her own. My best friend in Griffin's Beach is over six feet tall, and she used her entire body to punch him, knocking him on his ass.”

“That was fun,” she says. “Ky knew he deserved that.”

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