Page 18 of A Love Like Venom

I let out a small chuckle. Hollows Point hasn’t taken away her innocence. Not like it has mine.

“Only if you have someone to watch the stars with you.” I lie to her. I lie and I don’t even care. Because for once I have something this town can’t take away from me. Something good. Something filled with light.

“Then, can I watch them with you?”

I hop down from the roof of my trailer and stand before her. She’s a whole lot smaller than me. Tiny and fragile. She’ll have to be careful climbing up the ladder to get to the roof.

I hold out my battered and bruised hand. The same hand that plunged a knife deep in between my father’s shoulder blades. The very same hand he then crushed with his fists. I didn’t feel it. The pain. I didn’t feel it at all.

But when she puts her hand in mine I immediately feel. I feel her touch light up each dark corner inside me. I suddenly feel alive. Giving her another smile, I say, “I’m Reed Carter.”

Squeezing her hand in mine she replies, “I’m Alice Hall.”

Alice Hall was once my wish come true. Then, she turned into one of my worst fucking nightmares.

Finally, after a long ride, Oak and I pull up outside of The Crowned Devil’s club, Hell’s Gates.

There isn’t one god damn fancy thing about it from the outside. A concrete building, I’m assuming a once before warehouse, with brick thrown in throughout the structure. The building is cracked and worse for wear. A red neon light flashes uncontrollably with the club’s name. The consistent flashing is enough to give one a seizure.

Two stained red tempered glass doors greet us at the entrance. If they were smart it would be bulletproof.

Against the night sky the club looks like a horror movie.

Who in the fuck would want to come here? Let alone fucking work here.

Twelve motorcycles line the outside of the club followed by random people. They all remind me too much of my childhood. Seeing them smoking their cigarettes in one hand and holding a beer in the other. Of course, because it wouldn’t be Hollows Point without it, there are a few people with needles ready to inject in their veins.

Always staying fucking classy.

I shake my head at the sight of it.

Oak and I set up our bikes a good distance away from the club. We don’t need any of The Crowned Devils getting ideas to slash our tires while inside. It would be their death wish, but I wouldn’t put it past them.

Men like them play too fucking dirty.

“This place is where you grew up?” Oak asks incredulously.

Taking the pack of cigarettes from my inner pocket I take one out and light it up. Bringing the cigarette to my lips I take one long puff before exhaling. “Home sweet home,” I say with a smirk.

Oak shakes his head in disbelief. “How did you fucking survive?”

I pull in another draw, the nicotine calming me. I try not to smoke as much as I used to, but this situation calls for it. “You find ways,” I vaguely reply.

“You sure you can handle being back here?” Oak has always been a sensible man. He’s also the only one who knows of the mask I wear. The only man of Vipers MC who has a small inkling of the man I really am.

And I had to open my mouth to Haven last year when she was going through some rough shit. Was a mistake, too, because now she’s always looking at me with a hint of concern. Every time she catches me alone, she asks me how I’m doing.

It’s really fucking irritating.

I only opened my mouth because I knew Haven was letting the darkness inside her control her. And I wanted to tell her how dangerous that could be. And how she didn’t want to end up like me. A man consumed by it.

But that’s the bed I made and now I must lie in it.

Oak may be concerned with my ways, but he doesn’t show it. At least not blatantly.

If I go too far he’s the one who reels me back in.

I do the same for him.

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