Page 16 of A Love Like Venom

So, a small part, albeit tiny, will always love Reed Carter even on the days that I curse his name.

I just wish my hate for him was stronger.

That’s a psychology lesson for another day.

Snake

Hollows Point is nothing to brag about. It’s not even something you would want to mention to your closest friends. Hollows Point is the dirty little secret you want to keep to yourself.

And I’m glad I got the fuck out of there when I did.

I haven’t stepped foot back there since.

Except for now.

Riding on my motorcycle with Oak leading I can already taste the desperation from the people who reside here.

When you’re a kid you have dreams. I didn’t have dreams. Even at a young age I knew growing up in Hollows Point dreams were only meant to die. And hope . . . hope was such a far-off thing I didn’t truly know the meaning of the word.

But that’s what Hollows Point does. It taints your soul, dragging you down in its dark hole, daring you to make an escape.

I had two escapes that this town couldn’t take away from me. One being my mamma. She was an angel. A saint, really. I didn’t have much growing up. I don’t think any kid in Hollows Point did. It was the one thing we could all relate to. When you growup with nothing you appreciate what you have so much more. I was fortunate, so fucking fortunate to have my mamma.

She was a single mother, having to do with my piece of shit father leaving us for another family. I did not miss him. Truth be told I was fucking glad that he left. The man was a grade A asshole with a mean right hook that my jaw just seemed to love.

Tough love is what he had called it. He said a man had to know when to take a punch and suffer silently through the pain. I learned rather quick that my tears would only earn me another blow. Pain after a while became tolerable. There are times to this day where I will light a match and not feel a thing when the flame kisses my skin. I can thank my old man for that.

He taught me to hide my pain. Suffer through silence. And I was good at it. Hell, I still am. There’s a reason why Vipers MC sends me to do the dirty work. The pain doesn’t bother me.

That all changed when I finally witnessed him laying a hand on my sweet nothing but good in her heart mamma. Then, the silence was broken. The pain had become unbearable. With each blow he landed on her I had felt it on me. When she cried it had pierced my eardrums.

That was it for me.

Fuck with me and I’ll take it, fuck with someone I love then it’s over.

I swear I became someone else that day. I was young, too young to know how to use a knife and where to pierce it to cause damage. Too young to fight with a man who was twice my size. Too young to be already broken by the town of Hollows Point.

I was young and beyond tired.

At the age of ten I had enough.

The kitchen knife, one my father had dangled in my face one too many times, landed deep in between his shoulder blades.

When he released my mamma from his grip, he sent forth all that anger towards me. But I was used to the pain by then. Numb. Each kick, smack and punch hardly made me wince.

On the bright side, that night was the last time I saw my father. Told us he would go to another family who would appreciate hislove.I wished all the fucking luck to them.

I became a product of growing up in Hollows Point.

But I had my mamma.

Then, I had the stars.

I didn’t dream, because I saw what Hollows Point did to people with dreams. The town killed their dreams and crushed their spirits. So, no, I didn’t dream. I did, however, wish upon the stars. And there were millions of them in the night sky I could wish upon. There was a great chance that one wish upon a star could come true.

Or at least that’s what I had told myself.

Then one night. . .

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