Page 57 of Consequences

“And get yourself locked up, too? Hell no,” Cinder says.

“Why are you even here?” Melanie asks. “You’re not officially part of this club yet. Isn’t this kind of a no-no?”

Hopping to her feet, Cinder talks over to Melanie, getting in her face. “Wanna take this outside, bitch?”

“I swear to God, Venom, I will choke her out if you don’t figure out a way to muzzle her,” Lex says. “Get her out of Mel’s face, or she gets to deal with me.”

“I could take you,” Cinder says, whipping around. “I heard you’re on a bit of a losing streak lately. Your own brother tried to take you out.”

A stab of betrayal hits Lex as she realizes that not only does Venom know what happened with Zane, Venom told Cinder.

Fuck if I’m gonna lose this one.

She cracks her knuckles before motioning Cinder to come at her. Before the new woman can even take a full swing as she reaches her, Lex pins Cinder’s arm behind her back, forcing her up and onto her tiptoes as the force threatens to dislocate her right shoulder.

Cinder squeals in pain, and Lex smirks from behind her. “Yeah? How’s that working out for you?”

“Let me go!”

“Are you going to fucking behave for once?”

“Yes!”

Releasing her, Lex shoves her towards Venom and shakes her head. “For the record, I don’t like her. And you, Colt, and Ky are all on my shit list.”

“What the fuck did I do?” Ky asks.

Whipping around, she looks at him. “There are only five adults who know what happened with Zane, and Venom wasn’t there.”

His eyes widen. “Uh… about that…”

“What?”

“You didn’t tell her?” Ky asks out of the corner of his mouth to Colt.

“Tell me what?”

Colt’s hands fly into the air. “Okay, for the record, I wasn’t the one who said anything about the whole Zane situation. It wasn’t me who brought it up.”

“Hey!”

Looking around, Lex’s chest tightens with unease. “Where’s Zane, Colt?”

“We stripped him of his leather two nights ago.”

“He’s gone,” VP says. “Decided it was better if he just took off since everyone thinks he’s a shit person. Left Margaret with me.”

She cracks her knuckles and lets out a deep breath. “Melanie’s right, Venom. Cinder doesn’t belong here.”

“Look, I know I have a short fuse—”

“I don’t give a flying fuck about you right now. It’s probably best if you get the hell out of my face.”

Venom hangs his head, but Lex can’t meet his eyes. He betrayed her talking to Cinder like this. “They’re right. You gotta go. And nothing you heard here is to be repeated.”

She looks at him with unwarranted pain. “Venom—”

“If anything does get repeated, we’ll make sure it’s the last thing you ever speak,” Lex says. “Go.”

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