Page 62 of The Venom We Bleed

He’s right, but damn it, I don’t have the time to do that. Darrio wants me at the shop tonight when they bring in the next job. I’m supposed to take apart an Escalade they lifted fromsome business magnate in Tangier and Darrio doesn’t want any of the other mechanics’ hands on the fucker.

“I’m fine.” This time when I say the words, they sound at least marginally more believable. I straighten and sigh when my back doesn’t offer any more protest. Finishing scrubbing myself clean, I shut the shower off and rip the curtain back before stepping out.

Gio steps back and Lex tosses me a towel from where he reclines against the row of sinks on the opposite side of the room. I deliberately ignore the foggy mirror behind him and head back towards the lockers. They follow. Quiet falls over the room as I open my locker and pull out a pair of jeans so worn through that they’re more white than denim colored and a black sleeveless shirt. The three of us finish cleaning up the locker room before heading to the student parking lot. It isn’t until we reach the back of the lot where G’s Firebird, Lex’s SUV, and my Indian are parked that any of us speak again.

“Things with Megan are over,” G says. “I told her to back off Prep Girl, but if she doesn’t—then you’ll have to come up with a different plan. Short of making her one of ours, there’s no way we can keep the students off her ass.”

Making her one of ours might be our only choice. I sidle a look Lex’s way. Without commenting, though, it’s hard to figure out what he’s thinking as he slides on a pair of black sunglasses and crosses his arms.

“We need to address the other thing,” I say, keeping my gaze locked on Lex’s face even though half of it is now hidden from view. He doesn’t speak, doesn’t even move a muscle. I sigh. “What did you do to Rich and Josh, Lex?”

Gio frowns. “Why does it matter?” he asks. “They were pieces of shit. Let them disappear.”

“I wasn’t talking to you, G, though it’s good to know you approve.”

“They were going to rape her.” When Lex speaks, it’s in a voice so deep and low, I have to strain to hear it.

I lift my head and scan the parking lot. Once I’m sure we’re alone, I return my gaze to him. “They were missing from school today,” I say.

Lex doesn’t respond.

“Did you kill them after we finished roughing them up the other night?”

Nothing but silence meets my question. I curse. “Damn it, Lex.”

“No one will find them,” Lex says. “It won’t blow back on us.”

“We don’t kill where we sleep,” I snap. Gio snorts and I swivel to glare at him. “Got a fucking problem, G?”

He rolls his eyes. “Just with hypocrisy, man,” he shoots back. “If we don’t kill where we sleep, then what the hell was your dad?”

I shove my finger at him. “That was necessary,” I bite out.

“So was this,” Lex argues. “They annoyed me.”

The pulsing behind my eyes drives into my skull. “You can’t just kill someone because they annoy you.”

The asshole merely shrugs. “Too late. Already did.” Before I can say anything more, he fixes me with a look. “They already hurt several of the girls in school. They were going to rape her too. I took care of a problem. You would’ve done the same thing.”

But I hadn’t. I’d left them alive for a damn reason. Josh Michaelson and Richard Glean were pieces of shit, but they were too close to us that if anyone ever actually did find their bodies we could come under scrutiny.

“You wanted to,” Gio agrees, reaching up to clap a hand on my shoulder as I lower my arm. “I could see it in your eyes when you beat them to a bloody pulp that night.” Not that I’d been able to tell the difference after both G and Lex had dragged theiralready bruised bodies through the woods and thrown them into the trunk of Gio’s Firebird.

He’s right though. When they’d woken up and claimed to not understand why we’d come after them, I’d wanted to pound their faces—and I had. It wasn’t until later when they’d finally realized they’d been found out that I’d truly lost my shit. That was when the excuses had come—those girls had wanted it, they were teases, they asked for it. Why would they dress like whores if they didn’t want to be treated like one?

Each sentence makes me want to cut out their tongues. I’d barely held myself back from slitting their throats myself. Even now, it’s a struggle not to applaud Lex for his actions. The only thing that holds me back is the worry that if people start asking questions about where a couple of Silverwood Public’s basketball players are, it’ll come back to us … and to her.

“She saw you two drag them away,” I snap. “If someone finds out that they’re dead, she’ll be the last one to have seen you two with them.”

Lex shrugs, his big body barely moving as his shoulders lift and lower. “She won’t say anything.”

“You can’t be sure of that,” I say.

“It’s done,” Lex says. “There’s no taking it back.”

“And what are you going to do if she does decide to talk?” I ask, narrowing my eyes as I jerk my arm out from under Gio’s grip. “Are you going to be able to silence her?”

Lex stiffens and then uncrosses his arms, taking a step towards me. Gio hurriedly jumps between us, putting both hands up. “Whoa, whoa—calm the fuck down!”

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