Page 115 of The Venom We Bleed

Glancing down, I swallow hard as I see the red slipping out from between my fingers.

“Hey! What the ‘ell you doin’ out here!”

My lashes flutter as I hear the sound of Cory’s angry tone reach my ears. Never in my life have I ever been so fucking happy to hear that old man than I am now. Pain sears through my stomach and more blood seeps into my shirt, staining the gray fabric a crimson brown.

Rushing footsteps fly past me as the world tilts and the ground comes rushing up to greet me. Just before my face connects, the last thought in my head is …Prep Girl’s gonna be so pissed.

44

JULIET

The time that Gio was supposed to pick me up comes and goes. I send a text to him fifteen minutes later when I still haven’t heard from him. At the half-hour mark, I try to call him. No answer. I send more texts. I call a few more times. Still, there’s no response.

I could just … not go. No one is waiting for me but my dad and it’s not like he deserves my presence. Yet, now that I’ve decided to see him, I’m set on it. I have questions and no one else can answer them.

When it’s over an hour later and Gio still hasn’t bothered to answer my multiple missed calls or text messages, I grit my teeth and walk out the door. I should’ve known better than to rely on him, than to rely on fucking anyone. I don’t bother to lock the front up because, even though I’ve been staying with Nolan for weeks now, I still don’t have a key. I text Nolan, who’s supposed to be working at the garage, but there's no answer from him either.

The phone that Lex had given me is at least good for something. I’d forgotten how hard life was without a phone, but now that I have one again it’s easy enough to find the public transport system website and pinpoint the nearest bus stop.Thankfully, it doesn’t take long for the next bus to arrive and I find a spot by a window at the back.

I stew there the entire length of the ride to Hansgard Correctional Facility withBad OmensandThree Days Gracescreaming in my ears thanks to the headphones I’d pilfered from Nolan’s desk. Every passing minute is another sharp slice to my chest. Somehow, I can’t stop myself from checking my phone repeatedly for the several-hour bus ride.

No calls. No texts. Just … nothing. As if they forgot I exist. As if … Gio’s promises never happened. My teeth grind down hard enough that my jaw begins to ache and it takes actual concentrated effort to loosen up. I lean against the bus window and stare at the passing scenery without ever really seeing any of it. I have to wonder if this isn’t how kids in the system feel.

You’re lucky, Miss Donovan. At eighteen, you have a lot more options open to you. Mr. Calloway is offering to provide for you at the very least until you finish your senior year. Other kids would kill for an opportunity such as this. You won’t even have to leave your current school.

I close my eyes, remembering the words of the social services lady who had come to see me after my mom had left that note.Lucky. She’d said the word with no small amount of derision, her obvious distaste for me and my family name evident in everything she did. From her words to the curl of her upper lip, she’d made it clear that she didn’t care to be there. No doubt another Silverwood resident had been fucked over by the whole ordeal.

When the bus slows, my eyes open and I spy the large gray building that makes up the Hansgard Correctional Facility. Before we come to a full stop, I get up and pop the headphones out of my ears before stuffing them into my pocket and heading down the steps.

It’s time to see my dad.

Less than two hours after I entered the doors of Hansgard Correctional Facility, I slam out of them again with burning eyes.

Liars.That’s what they are—that’s what they all are. The Scorpion Kings and my father. They’re the same.

I storm towards the parking lot with my throat tight and my whole body shaking. Stopping halfway down one of the rows of beat-up trucks, cheap Mazdas, and a few minivans, I press my fists into my eye sockets and tip my head back.

“I didn’t do this, sweetie. I’m innocent.”My father’s words sink into my head, spinning around and around.

Why did I even bother coming? Why does he think proclaiming his innocence as he has since he was taken in months ago is going to change anything?

Maybe it’s best they didn’t show. Taking a deep breath, I drop my arms away from my face. A drop of wetness lands on my forehead and my eyes open. Dark clouds hover overhead, the perfect shitty kind of weather to a perfectly shitty day.

“I just need a little money, Jules. Morpheus isn’t answering my calls and your mother hasn’t?—”

More bits and pieces of the conversation I’d just had with my dad invade as another droplet hits my cheek this time. Dropping my head, I stare at the sneakers I’m wearing, fixating on the scuff marks over the toe as those two drops of rain turn into a light mist.

“I don’t have any money, Dad. The government seized all of our assets—you know that. Mom’s gone. She left.”

“What do you mean she left?” I can still see his shocked face. At least one parent seems rather surprised that the other wouldabandon their only child. That has to count for something? Wasn’t Morpheus supposed to tell him?

“She’s gone, Dad. She left town. I haven’t seen her in months.”

And I don’t think she’s coming back.

I hadn’t had the heart to tell him my suspicions, not when the news of Mom’s desertion had made him sit back on the rickety plastic stool of the meeting room we’d been allowed to see each other in.

“You must be staying with Morpheus, then…”

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