Page 50 of The Venom We Bleed

Good girls … get shit on by the world.

I don’t want to be good. Not anymore.

I blink again, and reality invades once more.

The image of me attacking Josh evaporates, and in its place, I’m right back where I was—with my back pressed against the unyielding bark of a tree and his hand on my throat.

Why don’t I want to let the rage go again?

“I always wondered what Prep pussy felt like,” Rich comments as he hovers over Josh’s shoulder. Josh squeezes my throat roughly. I don’t fight back. Not yet.

Instead, I eye them both. The two of them have got to be athletes at school, they're built big and thick, each of them a solid five inches or more taller than me. That doesn’t mean I’ll take this lying down though. No. I won’t let this happen to me. I can’t.

I force myself to take a calm breath, squeezing in as much air as I can around Josh’s hand as I stop fighting. I let my arms fall back to my sides. Spots of black and white dance in front of my vision. Out here, it’s so dark that the only way I can even see the two of them is because the moon is shining down through the treetops.

Cascading light spears through the leaves and over their heads and I spy a third man hovering in the shadows just behind Rich. My heart thuds rapidly against the inside of my ribcage. Fear spirals through me as well as the urge to maim. I’m not going down like this. I won’t let this happen.

The third figure is bigger than both Rich and Josh, though not by much. He’s taller than both, but his features remainin the shadows. His silhouette is all I can make out. I inhale sharply as he moves closer, silent somehow in the underbrush full of twigs and crunchy, dry leaves. A tingle of awareness creeps into my limbs. The third figure moves through the shadows like a wraith, silent and deadly. My heartbeat picks up speed, but before I can do anything—attack or scream—Rich is gone from behind Josh. He disappears as if he evaporated into nothing but thin air.

Shock slams into me a moment later. Not that his friend, Josh, even seems to notice. The idiot somehow takes my sudden stillness as his opportunity to bend down and brush his mouth along my throat. I barely feel it. My focus is on what’s happening behind him.

The third man—the shadowy stranger—reappears and lifts Rich up by his throat, the smaller man’s voice disappearing as he clamps down and silences him. He dangles there, back and forth, feet swaying just a few inches above the ground. A hysteric snort bubbles up out of my nose and I reach up, slapping a palm over my mouth and nearly smacking Josh in the face.

Oh, right.Him.I forgot he’s still there. Josh’s head lifts a bit and he scowls down at me, not the least bit aware of the peril his friend is in. Instead, he’s solely focused on me as he moves his mouth to my face. I turn my hand and push it against his mouth and chin, and using my back to brace against the tree, I shove him back.

“Don’t even fucking try it.”

Since Josh had dipped down to kiss my throat, his grip loosened and it makes it far easier to twist out of his hold. Reaching up and pinching the back of his hand, I spin out of reach, the sharp crack of a branch snapping under my sneakered foot.

Josh’s furious gaze meets mine. “Listen, you little cunt, I?—”

He doesn’t get to finish whatever he's about to say because a second shadow appears next to the first and a fist collides with Josh’s face. The abrupt attack sends Josh sprawling to the ground into a tangle of roots and curses.

I back up, hissing when something sharp slices across the back of one calf, digging into my jean-clad leg.

“What the fuck!” Josh barks as his friend coughs and hacks.

My gaze goes to the new men. The hoods both are wearing fall back, revealing a pair of familiar faces. The last I would ever have expected to be grateful for—or welcome seeing. Two of the Scorpion Kings appear as if formed out of the shadows themselves. What little light there is gleams on the murderous intent in their eyes.

Rich and Josh are so fucked.

21

JULIET

Curiosity holds me tight in its wicked grip.

Lex and Gio look like dark avenging angels as they stand in the little clearing Rich and Josh chose to lead their prey to. Dressed in black jeans and an equally dark hoodie, Lex cants his head to the side, eyes sliding from the man in his hold to me as Gio reaches down, hauling Josh up from the ground and holding him aloft.

A flash of silver catches my attention and my eyes drop to a chain that dangles out of one of Lex’s jeans' front pockets. It spans around the side, disappearing into the back. Unlike Josh and Rich, whose attire—worn jeans, sneakers, and faded jerseys—speak of their athleticism, Lex looks more goth than jock right now. Gio’s not far behind.

“G-Gio, man,” Josh stutters as his eyes span quickly to Rich’s and back. “W-what are you doing out here?”

Like a snake watching its quarry, Gio Vargas tilts his head and scans down Josh’s frame before returning to his face. If Josh expects an answer, Gio doesn’t give him one. I slide back against the tree I’m braced against, my hand reaching out and skidding over harsh bark until a splinter digs into my palm.

A hiss escapes my teeth as I yank my hand away. In the dim lighting, Lex’s head jerks towards me and a low growl emits into the air, freezing the blood in my veins. I go still, my breath shuddering to a stop in my throat. That growl … that sound … there’s nothing human about it. It’s the sound of an enraged animal, violent and ready to tear through bone and flesh.

“Don’t kill them.” Gio finally says, but it’s not what any of us expect.

---