Page 13 of A Love Like Venom

Although I don’t divulge in all the gritty details, we both have empathy for each other. We also have the mind to fill in the horrid blanks.

“I’m just glad you did it here and not at work. You can’t lose focus there, Alice.” There’s a heed of warning in her tone that I don’t dismiss. She’s right. It’s better to lose my head here, in our community college lecture, rather than at the club.

Attending community college is essential. It’s part of the key to getting me out of this god forsaken town. Having an education backing you does wonders for when you want a more respectable job. You’re more likely hired with a college education rather than just a high school one.

I already have some money saved up in my bank account. All I need is a couple thousand more to be able to rent a place in the big city. Working in the club while I finish up my associates degree will help me earn the money. All I need is a few more months. Four, if that.

I’m so close.

Then it’s goodbye Hollows Point and hello New York City.

A place where I become one of millions.

A fresh start.

A promised new beginning.

Maybe then I will see all the good life has to offer.

Except you have experienced the good life brings.

And look what he did.

He left me without saying a single word. One day he was there and then the next he was just . . . gone.

And the lines of good and evil, right and wrong, have been blurred ever since.

Because I have to believe he left me for a reason.

He was good. Reed Carter was once the only good I had ever known.

The boy who I had gazed upon the stars with.

How did it all go so horribly wrong?

“I know,” I finally reply, mentally shaking the thoughts of Reed Carter from my mind.

Except the man is immovable. There’s no way he’s ever going to go away.

He’s a part of me whether I choose to like it or not. He was once the reason I could breathe. Ever since he left, I’ve been running low on oxygen. Slowly suffocating.

That’s why I need to get out of Hollows Point.

Every memory of him is here.

“Do you want me to pick you up before work?” She asks, unaware of the panic blooming inside my chest.

God damn him.

I force out a quick reply. “No. You know how I prefer to have my own vehicle.” Having my own car is a vital survival tact. The minute I sense danger I can hightail it out of there. I’ve thought of living inside my car. Driving it far away and making it work.

But my poor baby would never last.

She’s unfortunately on her last leg.

I’m surprised she’s managed to survive this long.

But she’s a survivor. Like me.

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