Page 20 of A Love Like Venom

Oak and I take a seat at the very end of the bar. Our bodies angled so we can see everything going on around us.

And it’s when my eyes scan behind the bar I see it.

Or rather I seeher.

Her beauty hits me first. A great sucker punch to the gut that steals my breath and stops my heart. This isn’t new. Her beauty has always affected me. Even when it really fucking shouldn’t have.

Her beauty is such a far cry in difference from her sister’s. With Caitlin it was all about the attributes and how she flaunted them. As a young man it was her provocative ways that lured me in.

At least that’s the superficial reason I tell myself.

The real reason is I was too much of a coward to go with the girl I really loved. Too scared to take the risk with her. Probably because I knew I would eventually fail her. That my darkness would taint her.

I didn’t have to worry about that with Caitlin.

And, so, Caitlin, the sister who embodied sex and hardly the risk, was the sister I chose to be with.

But Alice . . . my fucking god, Alice. She has a beauty that’s unrivaled. She’s angelic. Radiant in a way no girl will ever achieve. And the way she moves . . . Alice moves like a dancer with having none of the experience. So elegantly, beautifully. It’s as if she has wings and she just glides across the floor. Althoughshe’s small, smaller than what society deems as irresistible, she’s the most desirable. A lean figure with small but perky tits, hips that flare out to a nicely peach ass. Her legs . . . god, her legs go on for days.

Alice was kissed from the angels above and God sent her down to test sinners like me.

So, no, as much hate as I have for her, I can’t deny how beautiful she is.

But something has changed about her. At first glance the average man wouldn’t notice, but I do.

I always notice.

I fucking hate now how I still do.

Her radiance is waning. Where once the beauty was blinding now it’s a flickering light. It doesn’t diminish how beautiful she is, but there’s a major difference from now to when I last saw her.

Dark circles show through the poor application of makeup. Her mouth, full and luscious, is set in a drawn line. Shoulders that are usually set back and proud are now slumped. And her eyes. Her eyes once a beautiful honey brown that held so much life and promise are dying.

But this is what I wanted.Right?

I wanted to see her suffering and by the sheer looks of it she is. Nobody else may see it but I do. I know she’s suffering behind those pained smiles she gives to the patrons. I see how defeated she is in the way she moves behind the bar. She’s no longer gliding, she’s dragging.

This is what I’ve been wanting to see.

Then why does a small fucking part of me, the treacherous traitor that is my heart, bleed for her once more?

I hate that the boy she knew still lives inside me. I hate how she’s the one who brings him out. I hate that despite how muchI wish for Alice Hall to suffer a tiny fucking part of me will never agree to it.

Fuck. I need a drink.

She can’t keep doing this to me. Messing with my head. It’s easier to hate her. To not confront these conflicting emotions.

As she smiles again, this time a genuine one to the blonde barmaid, and laughs like she used to, I decide right then and there that I will continue to hate her.

Clearly little Alice isn’t completely ruined after all. Too bad for her that I want to be the one to do it.

To cause as much pain as she did me.

Fuck the man I was. I’m not her Reed Carter anymore.

And she’s not the wish I once thought came true.

It’s time for her to meet Snake. The man she created.

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