Page 17 of The Venom We Bleed

Lex’s little obsession is gone by the time I get to my bike, but the memory of her cold blue eyes glaring up at me is imprinted in my mind. She’s different, that much is obvious.

Silverwood’s once-rising socialite has completely changed, and I can’t say I don’t like the new Juliet Donovan. Outside of the expensive clothes, makeup, and elite attitude, I’d expected Juliet Donovan to shrivel and disappear into the background. I’d almost relished in the news that her father had become an even worse criminal than me.

The lives I destroy are already on the downhill slide—addicts and wannabe street thieves who see no other way out of their own lives. The people I kill are killers themselves. But Allen Donovan had one-upped the entirety of Darrio Vargas’ enterprise by going a step further. Embezzling millions? A white-collar crime if I’d ever heard of one, but unlike other embezzlers, Donovan had targeted the people of his own town and he’d been stupid enough to get caught.

Gio steps up to my side, his gaze locked on the path she’d taken around the side of the building. I can feel the burn ofLex’s gaze on my face as he stops next to the SUV parked by the Indian Scout Sixty I’d rebuilt practically from scratch.

“Are we just going to let her go?” Gio asks.

My eyes cut to him and then to the crowd still hovering. “Move on,” I bark out, and that seems to do the trick. They skitter away, hurrying towards their own cars and cliques of friends without so much as a backward glance.Fucking sheep.

“Where do you think she’s going to go?” I answer his question with one of my own and an arched brow. “She’s got nowhere else to go. She’ll be back tomorrow.”

Lex’s unspoken irritation is a searing burn against the side of my face. I slide a look his way, meeting his eyes. “Go on,” I mutter. “Say it.”

Lex shakes his head and glowers at me.

“You’re too protective of her,” Gio huffs. “Is she really worth it?” A snarl erupts as Lex swivels to face Gio, who quickly puts his hands up in the air in an obvious action of surrender. “Fine!” he says. “Fuck—you really need to see someone about that unhealthy obsession with her.”

He’s right about the unhealthy part, but I know that none of us have forgotten the promise we made. I’d never actually thought taking someone like Juliet Donovan with us when we leave this shithole town behind could be a true possibility—but the last three months have changed things.

She’s no longer an icon that Lex can’t touch, but she’s also no longer the girl he’d fallen in love with. The sweet innocent perfect princess. I wondered how she would take to her new circumstances when news of her father’s crimes came out. She hadn’t hidden, hadn’t cried, hadn’t begged someone to save her. Instead, she had surprised me—and everyone else in Silverwood, poor and rich alike—by fighting back. Even when Denise Donovan skipped town, leaving her daughter behind,Juliet hadn’t sought out her old friends. Then again, the reason was clear.

Lex and I had been there the night of her eighteenth birthday—we’d heard the truth of what happened before Avery Carpenter and Brandon Pillard had gotten ahold of the rumor mill. Her best friend and boyfriend had fucked and fucked Juliet Donovan over. What a fucking cliché.

Still, I had to hand it to the girl—she was made of stronger stuff than I would’ve guessed. Lex’s insane infatuation is starting to make sense. Had he seen beyond her exterior all these years to the core of utter steel that hides behind a pretty face and silk dresses?

“Lay off him, G,” I order, shaking the thoughts free and refocusing on the present. Delving into my back pocket, I withdraw my phone and check the time. I open my mouth to tell them both I’ll see them later—after my shift at the shop—when a flurry of movement out of the corner of my eye stops me.

Megan appears, storming through the last groups still hanging out in the parking lot, and makes a beeline straight for us. Her face is patched from this morning’s fight with a big white gauze taped over her nose. I narrow my eyes on her. I don’t know what Gio sees in her other than her tits and pussy, but for a girl that’s grown up in the south side of Silverwood, she certainly hadn’t been able to touch Princess Juliet.

Her face is a mask of anger, but beyond the emotion are signs of her failure this morning. Her broken or bruised nose has purpled out the sides of her face into her eye sockets, making it look like she’s got a black eye split between both.

“Gio.”

He’s already marching out to meet her before I’ve finished saying his name, but it’s too late. The two of them meet face to face only two cars down. Megan thrusts her shoulders back, the action jutting out her tits, practically shoving them into Gio’sface as if she can entrance him to do whatever she says with them. I catch Lex’s eye roll.

Yeah,I silently agree. Gio’s a pussy chaser, but he’s not stupid.

“Did you do it?” she demands, her hands going immediately to her hips. “Did you take care of her?”

Gio crosses his arms. “She’s been warned away.”

“A warning!” she shrieks, the sound of her voice grating on my nerves as she leans around Gio and glares my way.

I wait, arching a brow, but she knows better than to start on her bullshit with me. I couldn’t give a fuck less what Juliet did to her face. As far as I’m concerned, Meg earned it. Ever since Gio’s made her a regular fuck, she’s been pushing her luck—gaining more and more traction as aScorpion Girl. My lips twist down at that. Fucking stupid is what it is. There’s no such thing as a Scorpion Girl.

“She needs to be kicked out of school,” Megan spits, returning her gaze to Gio. “You said you’d take care of it. You promised. Everyone hates her anyway—it’s her fault a lot of our parents lost their jobs!”

Gio lifts his shoulders in a nonchalant shrug, but it’s Lex who answers. “It’s not her fault.” Lex’s deep baritone causes Meg to stiffen. “The sins of the father don’t become the sins of the daughter.”

Meg eyes him with distaste but doesn’t directly reply to him. Can’t say I’m surprised. She shifts closer to Gio as if a baser instinct is telling her that he’s the safest of us. He is.

I’m over Meg’s whining and I let Gio know with a quick jerk of my thumb towards the glass double doors that lead back into the school building. “I’m heading out,” I tell him. “I’ll see you after work.”

Gio nods and then with an exhalation, he uncrosses his arms and takes Megan by the shoulders, turning her back towardsthe student building and slapping her ass to get the girl moving. Megan’s complaining tone rises over the noise of people talking and cars starting as he directs her back, leading her away and leaving Lex and me alone.

Megan better watch out. She might give good head, but her recent demands and possessive behavior have the makings of a bad breakup. She’s gotten too full of herself, and even Gio is slowly losing interest. I give it less than two weeks before he dumps her ass. Gio sticks around chicks longer than Lex or I ever have—but it’s always just been for the pussy. The second they become an inconvenience, he moves on. Meg’s hit that stage. More than an inconvenience, she’s become a fucking annoyance.

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