Page 95 of The Venom We Bleed

Sweat beads pop up along my spine and trail downward. I close my eyes and forget everything else. I forget where we are, who he is, whoIam, and I justfeel.

Grinding against Lex’s cock without taking it inside me is so vastly different from any other encounter I’ve ever had. It’s as if the two of us are on the verge of doing something so wrong, so taboo, that we’re questioning our own minds. Yet, once we start down the path, there is no stopping.

Our breaths mingle together as he leaves my breasts, my nipples sore and achy from his ministrations. His hands grip my hips and pull me down harder against him. He forces me to move faster, higher and then lower. My eyes open and I look between our bodies, where my cunt leaves a wet spot over the hard bulge in his pants. Panting, sweating, gasping, begging silently for a release that’s just out of reach, I grip his shoulders and whimper as his fingers dig into my skin. I’m going to have marks tomorrow. The smell of sex is heavy in the air, only lessened marginally by the wind that slips in through the open back window and door.

It doesn’t even occur to me that I’m out here, in the middle of nowhere, with a man I consider my enemy, naked on his lap as I grind my way to an orgasm that threatens to wreck all of theothers in my past. I’m overwhelmed by him, consumed by him, and I revel in it.

“That’s it, baby,” Lex grits out through clenched teeth. “Take it. Use me to make yourself come. I want to see you fall apart.”

His eyes are on me, no longer between us, but on my face. I should be embarrassed. I should feel ashamed. I don’t. I’ve long since stopped caring what others think of me. Why should I when I’m the only one who has to be me? I’m the only one who has to live in my skin and be who I am. They don’t get to decide what I do with my body or my life. They can walk away, but I’ll always be me.

“Ride me, baby,” Lex urges. “Ride me like you want me to come inside you and fill you up.”

I’m shaking, so damn close to the edge that I can practically taste the pleasure on the other side. Something holds me back. Something is keeping me from reaching it, and the longer I try and fail to get there, the more frustrated I grow. My head throbs as I rise and fall harder over Lex’s cock.

I’ve never met another guy who would ever let a girl do this. Use him without taking his cock out and using it, but that’s exactly what he’s doing. His hand cups my ass, moving me faster as his pants collide with my body. He groans and his other hand moves between my legs, sliding through my wetness until he finds the pearl of my clit.

A scream lodges in my throat. I’m there. So close. Almost…

He slips right past my clit and I swear if I could kill him with just my thoughts alone, he’d be a pile of ash. The low chuckle that reverberates through his chest and into mine is both amused and pained.Good,I think. At least I’m not the only one in agony.

“I’ll take care of you, baby,” Lex promises. “I swore I would. I knew you’d be like this—so pretty, like fire in my hands.”

I feel like fire. Smoke and flames cascading up to the marked and imperfect ceiling of the SUV. My hips jolt as he slides a thick finger inside me. A cry of pleasure escapes my throat and I bite down on my lower lip hard enough to taste the rusty flavor of blood. His finger continues thrusting and then a second one is added. I whimper, arching against him as he stretches my opening. It’s been so long since anything felt this damn good, since I wasn’t thinking about bills or school or work or how much I hate the world. The tears lingering in my eyes and on my lashes break free, slipping down the sides of my face. I have to stop this. This is too much like what happened with Nolan. I can’t do that with both of them—not the same way. That would be like treating them as if they were the same person and they’re not. Nolan is … Lex is…

“Lex,” his name comes out hoarse. The sound only seems to drive him to move faster, harder. He holds me against his chest so that there’s hardly any room between us—just enough for him to keep fucking me with his fingers.

Stars dance in front of my vision. My insides flood with renewed wetness, the gush of liquid between my legs making the slicking sound of his fingers that much more prevalent. Denim scrapes against the inside of my thighs, yet another piece of the kaleidoscope of sensations that drives me up that final cliff.

Lex leans forward and takes my lower lip between his teeth. He soothes the split I created with his tongue, licking away the blood. That’s what does it. Not the fingers in my cunt. Not the grind of his cock against me. Not even the sore throbbing of my nipples in memory of how he’d pinched and twisted and played with them. His kiss, filthy and tasting of raw blood and pain, sends me into my orgasm. My thighs shake and quiver and I collapse against him, my body locking down as pleasure swarms me. So sharp and sudden that it makes my eyes roll back intomy head and my insides clench around the fingers still thrusting into me.

I don’t know how long it takes for the orgasm to ease, but when it does, I find myself in much the same position. Sitting on Lex’s lap with my head pillowed on his shoulder as he holds the back of my head. Between my still trembling thighs, his cock is no longer hard, but there is a decidedly far wetter spot than before. Exhaustion pulls at my limbs, wrapping long tendrils around my body and forcefully dragging me closer to the dark. I can’t let it win.

Lifting my head, I gaze down at the man beneath me with a frown. He stares back at me. For a long moment, neither one of us says a word.

Then I ask the one question that no one has been able to answer yet. “Why?”

Lex shifts forward, pressing his forehead to mine. I swallow roughly, feeling as if my tongue has swollen to an impossible size. “Because,” he whispers back, nuzzling his head back and forth, “you’ve always been mine.”

My throat works but no words come out. The need to deny him, to tell him that I belong to no one is right there at the tip of my tongue. They hang there, a silent rejection that never comes and now I wonder if they ever will.

37

JULIET

The Scorpion Kings are obsessed. That fact wouldn’t be such a problem if it weren’t for one teensy, tiny little detail. The object of their obsession is me.

It’s a conundrum, considering that the rest of Silverwood hates me.

The week following mynightwith Lex, it becomes increasingly clear that they have no intentions of letting me get away. Every morning, I’m driven to school by Nolan and every afternoon, I either hang out in the library doing my homework or, if I have work, either Lex or Gio drives me over to Tangier.

It’s all anyone is talking about—the fallen princess of Silverwood Prep has become the Scorpion Kings’ little whore. I honestly can’t tell if this was their plan all along or if the guys really don’t give a fuck.

“Hey.” A bag drops next to my head where I lie on the edge of the amphitheater’s stage. I look up as Mads sits down next to me and swings her legs over the side. “Is this where you’ve been all week?” she asks casually. “I haven’t seen you around.”

I wave a hand through the air. “Just trying to avoid all the prying eyes,” I tell her.

She snorts but doesn’t respond. Instead, she lifts her bag into her lap and begins rifling through it. Plastic crinkling noises precede her hand appearing in my line of vision, a bright yellow bag dangling from her fingertips. “Here,” she offers. “I figure the Kings haven’t been feeding you much.”

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