Page 46 of The Venom We Bleed

Mads sighs. “There she goes,” she murmurs. “We probably won’t see her again for the rest of the night.”

“Why did you bother to come if you knew she would act like this?” I ask, curiously.

She shrugs again. “I hate being left alone,” she answers quietly. “When you’re alone, especially when you’re surrounded by people, you just start to think about all of the ways you’re inadequate. I didn’t want you to feel like that.”

I stiffen at the insinuation. “I’m fine being left alone,” I say sharply. “In fact, I prefer it.” Jabbing the toe of my Converse into the dirt under my feet, I frown. “I didn’t want to come to this stupid fucking party and if I’d known Roquel would just abandon me the second I got here, I’d have resisted a bit more.”

Mads eyes me. “You came because you felt like you owed her.” She shrugs. “I’m the same. She’s a bit flighty, but she’s a good person.”

I don’t know what makes a good person anymore, but I certainly know that I’m not. I turn away.

“Are you going to leave?” Mads calls after me.

Pausing, I pivot back to face her and catch sight of the worry on her smooth face. She bites down on her lower lip as her eyes dart from me to the top of the hill and back again.

“I can’t even if I wanted to,” I remind her as I gesture around us and then up the hill. “Roquel’s my ride too, and she still has her keys. I doubt we can get a rideshare this far out here.” Not that I could afford to waste the money on one right now, but I don’t say as much.

My words seem to comfort her as the tightness in her face eases a bit. Mads’ shoulders slowly lower back down.

“Why don’t I go grab her keys?” she offers, taking a step back. “It’s probably better for one of us to hold on to them anyway. I can grab us some drinks too—soda, of course.”

“You don’t have to stay sober,” I remind her. “I said I’d drive us back.”

Even as I’m speaking, Mads shakes her head. “Nah, it’s no fun being the only sober one in a group of drunk people.” She hops back and grins at me. “Soda is good with me—better even. My parents won’t be able to say I was out drinking if they test me.”

“Test you?” My brow creases as Mads freezes where she stands, half-turned to race up the hill toward the crowd gathered around the bonfire. It’s clear from the look of shock on her face that she hadn’t meant to admit that much.

Sympathy unfurls in my chest, an old emotion I hadn’t expected to feel again after everything that’s happened. Somehow, though, Mads brings it all back. Drawing in a breath,I let the question go and don’t press her to answer it. Instead, I glance up towards the farmhouse and the laughing Silverwood Public kids drinking and dancing to someone’s old radio with shitty and static-filled music.

“Actually, do you mind if I stay down here?” I ask. “I’d rather avoid those crowds and just…” I don’t know how to end my request, the sentence trailing off awkwardly. Like me, she’s wearing longer pants and sleeves. Even if we’re far from the bonfires, we won’t freeze, so I hope she says yes.

Mads’ expression shifts into one of relief and then amusement. “Sure,” she agrees easily enough. “I’ll go grab Roquel’s keys and some sodas. We can hang out by the cars and chat until she’s ready to go.”

I nod, thankful, and then stand there, watching, as she makes her way up the hill. A feminine shriek that sounds too much like one of the girls from the parties I used to frequent—a sound that’s faked outrage—echoes down towards me. A girl is lifted into a big guy’s arms and he jostles her up and down as if he’s lifting weights, her tiny skirt flying in all directions and revealing that if she’s wearing anything underneath it’s not covering much.

My gaze switches back to Mads as she slips between the other students as easily as breathing. She disappears into the masses and no one even seems to notice.Interesting.Where I’m a pariah and Roquel is a partier, Madison Torres is like a ghost. An obviously lonely one if she thinks being my friend will do her any good.

I pivot back towards the Camry, intent on hunting through Roquel’s backseat for a blanket, when the sight of two broad-shouldered guys with a girl between them catches my attention. The three of them form a pattern of swaying shadows as the guys urge the long-haired girl between them towards the treeline, each of them reaching for her arms.

The girl stumbles and giggles lamely, her hair flipping over her shoulder as she glances back and up at them. A familiar look of unease crosses her face but then she gags and cups a hand over her mouth as her features morph into one of panic and disgust.

“I’m gonna puke!” she warns them just before she stumbles and races between the trees.

Let it go, I order myself.It’s none of your business, Jules. I grit my teeth and drag my eyes back to the Camry just a few short feet away. When I turn back, though, the guys are following her into the darkness.

Ice floods my veins as one of them, the shorter of the two with an uneven jaw and a tattoo peeking out of the collar of his shirt, looks over his shoulder and up towards the hill. It’s not the look of someone wanting help, but the careful observation of a predator making sure no one is watching.

Fuck.I close my eyes and once again, try to remind myself that whatever happens between the three of them is none of my business.

Somehow, though, my feet don’t get the memo because when I next open my eyes, I’m already moving away from the Camry, back up the hill, and towards the treeline to the place where they all disappeared.

19

LEX

What the hell does she think she’s doing?A deep, visceral need to storm across the open space of country lawn and drag the blue-haired vixen I just witnessed stride right into the woods back by her fucking throat assails me.I’m going to spank her ass.The thought pops up in my mind along with an image of Juliet Donovan bent over, that perfectly heart-shaped ass of hers settled over my lap as I paint her backside a pretty shade of crimson with the flat of my hand. In my imagination, she’d like it.

Oh, she’d cry and scream and beg me to stop—maybe she’d even threaten me with bodily harm—but she wouldn’t mean any of it. Or if she did mean it, well, I’d let her stab me if she let me fuck her.

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