Page 8 of Karma
“I was wrong,” he says. “I didn’t think you were good enough for my little girl, but I was so very wrong. I’m sorry, Venom.”
They stare at each other, and Venom doesn’t know what to say. Instead, they stand in that awkward stance for a sufficiently long amount of time. It’s almost unbearable.
“She’s going to make it, and then you’re going to marry her. You’ll be the man she saw before I did. Just promise me that you’ll keep her safe and happy.”
Lex hurries into the hallway, but rather than attack Snake, she looks down the three hallways leading towards the waiting room. “Did you see someone out here?”
“No, why?” Snake asks.
“I swear, someone’s watching me,” she mutters. “Felt it at the wedding, too. You two good? We don’t need a doctor or defibrillator?”
“Marnie Banks?”
Venom runs back into the waiting room, and Lex points at him as she joins. “That’s your guy, Dr. West.”
“Now it’s my turn to say it, Alexis. We need to stop meeting like this,” the man in the dark blue scrubs says with a shake of his head before turning his attention to Venom. “She’s out of surgery and in recovery. The bullet nicked multiple organs, which resulted in a significant amount of blood loss. We hadto revive her twice, but she’s stable now. Critical, but I have no reason to believe she shouldn’t make a full recovery.”
“I need to see her,” Venom says.
“It’s not—”
“Let him go, Doc,” Lex says.
He looks at her and sighs. “This way.”
“How do you do that?” Venom asks.
“Because if I don’t let you back, she’ll just sneak you back there herself. This isn’t my first rodeo with Alexis.”
“Probably won’t be the last, either, Doc. Go see your girl, Venom.”
Tapping his heart, he nods at Lex before following the man back behind the AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY sign.
Griffin’s Beach
Marnie
Opening her eyes, Marnie feels groggy but smiles as she sees Venom resting his head next to their joined hands on the bed. Her parents sit in the chairs across from the bed, and she momentarily questions what happened.
The last thing she remembers is Venom’s face over hers as he cried. And there was pain.
“You’re awake,” Snake says and jumps up. He walks over and takes her free hand. “You scared me.”
“How bad is it?” Marnie asks, her voice hoarse.
“You’ll be okay,” Everlee says and moves to gently hold Marnie’s ankles at the foot of the bed. “The bullet hit a couple of organs, but they’ve repaired everything.”
The bullet. That’s what happened. Venom’s mom tried to shoot him, and she took the bullet for him. The fog begins to lift. “And your mom?”
“Nothing yet,” Venom says before pressing his lips to her hand. “You should’ve let me take that bullet.”
“Right after I promised to do whatever it took to keep you safe and not let anything hurt you? Not a chance,” she says and takes her hand from her dad to gently rub her chest. “Why am I sore?”
Swallowing, Venom stares into her eyes. “They had to revive you in the operating room.”
“Well, I’m glad they did.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there, kiddo,” Snake says, and she looks over to see his lip quivering. “I’ve been such an ass about all of this.”
