Page 52 of A Love Like Venom

Now the stars hold no meaning, an endless sky shrouded by the darkness she created.

Alice Hall made me believe I was more.

How fucking foolish of me to believe her.

I'll never give everything to someone ever again. In the end people see your strengths and weaknesses and use them against you.

That's why I'm done.

"You act as if blowing up someone's car is normal behavior, Oak."

Sighing, he shakes his head. "I was hoping that would be the closure you needed. Except it was never about Caitlin was it? It's always been about her."

"Oh, they're both guilty. One more so than the other but both have blood on their hands."

Along with disappointment he stares at me likes he trying to figure out what puzzle piece I'm missing. There's more than just a piece.

"How close were you two?" He wonders, demanding an answer.

"Not how close you're thinking." Which only makes it a thousand times worse. What Alice and I shared was deeper than what I had with anyone else and that included my momma, bless her soul. With my momma I always wanted to prove to her that I could be better. That I wasn't a product of Hollows Point. But with Alice . . . with Alice I could be myself. All my flaws didn't matter with her because she saw the beauty in them.

Then she turned everything that was once beautiful hideous.

"You had your little taste of revenge, drop it. Jesus fuck, Snake. Did you see how terrified she was? You really want to contribute to that?"

My jaw clenches as my fingers itch to hit something or someone.

Because Oak isn't entirely wrong, and I hate him for it.

I hate myself because when I saw that sheer terror on her face, I wanted to destroy the person who put it there.

And it's fucking with my head.

I'm supposed to hate her but here I am wanting to protect her.

Maybe that's just it. I can protect her from everyone else but myself.

Fuck me. This wasn't supposed to be complicated. She shouldn't be able to still fuck with my head.

Fuck!

"Can we just send the fucking message and get out of here?" My tone doesn't hide my agitation but thankfully Oak ignores it.

"We wait out here or try and find them," he tells me.

"Let's try and find them," I answer him too quickly. Truth is I need to get as far away from Alice as possible. The girl is fucking with my head.

He nods his head. "You know this area. Where do you think they are?"

There isn't much to Hollows Point, the town doesn't offer much. Growing up there wasn't anything for kids to do than run around in the streets.

What there is though is a strip club not too far from here. Hollows Point only has one that is probably still open for business.

I'm sure The Crowned Devils would be there. Hell, they're probably trying to recruit them to come to work for their club. Maybe even better and try to buy the business for themselves.

The Crowned Devils MC is trying to own this town and everything surrounding it.

If they didn’t, they wouldn't try to push in our territory.

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