Page 56 of Truths

“You didn't volunteer to see me?” she asks with a smirk.

If only she understood that this wasn't easy. That he's trying to do everything he can to fall out of love with her when she'll never see him as anything more than a monster. “No, I tried to get out of it, but I didn't have an option.”

“Oh,” she says, her face falling. “I'm sorry to bother you.”

“I'm glad you're safe,” he says, turning back around.

“Do you even care?”

Whipping back to face her, Venom stares hard. “Excuse me?”

“You didn't want to come, and you want nothing to do with me. Were you just following orders, or do you care?”

“I never want you to hurt, Marnie. And I sure as hell will never just stand by as a man tries to hurt you. That'll never be what I do.”

“Because you don't let men hurt women, right?”

He steps closer to lower his voice. “No man should ever touch a woman like that, but I will be damned if I ever let a man lay a hand on you against your will. I'll kill him if given the chance.”

“I... I didn't think you'd care. That you want nothing to do with me because you hate me.”

“What the fuck makes you think I hate you?”

Her eyes avoid his. “Because you want nothing to do with me anymore.”

“For a smart woman, you can be awfully dumb sometimes.”

“Excuse me?”

“I can't hate you, Marnie. Did you get that from the last conversation we had? I'm in love with you, but you'll never be in love with me. You see me as less than you, and for the first time in my life, I'm standing up for myself. Forcing me to see myself as more than dirt, and I can't do that if I let someone I would do anything for look at me as mud.”

Snapping her eyes to his, she gapes at him. “Wait-”

“If you think I'd ever stand by and watch someone hurt you, you really don't know me at all. It kind of proves my point that we're not good for each other.”

“Venom!” she calls, but he's already walking away.

He hops on his bike and starts it, drowning out her calls for him to come back, and Colt looks at him. “You good?”

“I need to get the fuck out of here. Once this shit settles with the Kingsmen, I'm gone. I can't do this anymore,” he says, backing out and peeling out of the bar parking lot.

Colt quickly follows after him and follows him to Venom’s house. “Venom, wait-”

“William.”

“Say what now?”

“Are we friends?”

Snapping his head back, he looks at Venom like he's a crazy man. “Yes.”

“Then call me William.”

“Your real name is William?”

He nods. “Surprising, isn't it?”

“Kind of. I would've pegged you for a Brantley or Caden or something.”

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