Page 64 of Beautiful Venom

The girl who shouldn’t be in this town in the first place.

My phone beeps and I retrieve it.

Dahlia

Why are you suddenly attending this class?

Me

Do I need a reason to attend a class I’m enrolled in?

A class you’ve never attended.

I’m doing so now.

Are you stalking me?

Do you want to be stalked? Because I’m game.

A tinge of red covers her cheeks, and she shoots me a piercing glare. Too bad there’s no red lipstick today, but any red will do.

I thought you wanted me out of your sight?

I changed my mind. Seems I have to watch you closely after all, my wildflower.

13

DAHLIA

The DNA samples don’t match.

This applies to the three guys whose DNA I stole at the party.

Price’s, Novak’s, and Kane’s.

So after he fucked my face and came down my throat three days ago, I kept some of his cum in my mouth and then bagged it.

I’d like to think that’s the only reason I let him use me like a rag doll, but the throbbing between my legs at the time and long after I got home testify against that theory.

At any rate, the fact that his DNA wasn’t present under my sister’s fingernails was a relief I didn’t know I needed until I stagger against the laboratory counter.

Damn it.

Is his innocence that important to me?

Why?

Because I burn for his touch? Because his mere presence unsettles me to the point of losing control?

That doesn’t matter, though. I’ve had sex before. Sex is physical and doesn’t mean anything.

So why the hell…?

I stare at the DNA result sheet and then tuck it into my lab coat. The last thing I need is to lose this scholarship for performing illegal DNA tests.Andtargeting the town’s hockey gods.

Everyone here seems obsessed with the team. Even Mrs. Hales was asking if I could get Preston’s autograph since we go to the same college. Apparently, he’s the most popular and effortlessly attracts everyone.

Kane is second because he’s just so well-mannered anddreamy—Mrs. Hales’s words, not mine.

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