Page 71 of Venom
“I love you, Raya,” I say first before she can snap at me for calling her out the way I did inside, making her mouth part. “When I told you before the fire, then after the fire, that I loved you, that you were mine, I meant every word. For years I have essentially been your bully,” I give her a lopsided smile making her narrow her eyes as she cutely scrunches up her nose. I quickly continue as she opens her mouth to snap at me and I state, “I decided to focus on the fact you wouldn’t speak to me or look me in the eye instead of seeing the bigger picture. I missed the rosy cheeks you’d get when we’d lock eyes or how you’d gently chew your bottom lip trying to decide whether or not to speak to me,” I lean forward a little, “I decided to ignore the hurt you’d have every time you’d see me with another woman. I accused you of being a patch chaser despite having money, money I now know you don’t touch unless it’s for school because I knew deep down, you were mine, are mine.”
“And you are mine,” she whispers in return, and I nod as I murmur, “Yeah, kitten, I am yours, always have been, always will be, and after years of running away from my feelings, I’m finally running towards them, I just need you to run to me too.”
“But I’m a killer, Cale,” she whispers, the guilt she’s holding clear as day, and I can finally see what her problem is.
“So am I,” I reply with a quirk of a brow. I admit, “I have killed hundreds, Raya, including Cherri, and I don’t feel one ounce of guilt, and neither should you. Those men were murderers, including the ones who had just joined the Hyenas, and Clara planned on burning Hudson alive, she hit him. I don’t look at you differently for what you’ve done. I’m in awe of you for trying to avenge your father. I just wish you had told me so I could have helped you.”
A few tears fall from her beautiful eyes and I kiss them away and whisper, “You have honored your father by continuing his legacy with the firehouse, you are honoring your stepfather who you see as a dad by studying law like a badass, you have stuck by my sister, even when she was in the wrong without hesitation and dealt with my jackass self over the years while still holding onto the crush you had for me. You are amazing, Raya Wilson, and I am so madly, deeply in love with you it is terrifying. I am going to hold onto you, I want to spend the rest of my life annoying you,” she snorts, and I smile before I take a deep breath and whisper with a plea, “Marry me, kitten,” shocking her.
Her eyes widen, and I gently grip her jaw and rasp full of emotion, “We don’t need to date to see if we’re compatible because we know we already are. We piss each other off, joke, flirt, and always find ourselves looking for the other. We have basically spent the past I don’t know, nearly twenty years getting to know each other. I want eternity with you, Raya, to continue this song and dance we’ve been doing but instead of one of us walking away at the end of the day, we come back together, we kiss, we fall even deeper in love if that is even possible,” I slowly lick my bottom lip as her tears fall and I whisper, “I want a family with you, kids we call our own, a life together… I want you, Raya.”
“But I’m, I…,” she stutters, her body trembling against mine, and a little fear fills me until she sobs, “I’m used, Cale, dirty.”
Fuck.
I grip her jaw tighter and I protest instantly, “No, you’re not,” I admit, “You are perfect in every way. You are strong, independent, loyal, kind, caring, and a fucking fighter. Calling you mine makes me one lucky son of a bitch,” I kiss the corner of her mouth, and I whisper, “Don’t make me beg, Raya, because I will. Marry me, not next week or next month or in a year, but now. Come to City Hall with me and let me make you mine. We’ll call your mama and Gregory, marry me now...”
Raya grips my shirt, one I know she will steal later, just like she does with every other on I wear before they get washed, just like the one she is currently wearing, and she sobs, “But Ivy,” and I smile gently.
Without moving away from her, I grab my phone from my pocket, unlock it, bring up the last caller ID, and press on it.
It rings three times before someone picks up.
“That was quick,” Psycho answers, “did she do a runner and you need me to help capture her?”
I roll my eyes while Raya pulls back a little and grins a watery grin as my sister shouts, “No kidnapping my best friend, that is my job if she doesn’t speak to me by next week!”
“Actually,” I say, ignoring my sister’s threat, “I need you to grab your wife, son, and my dad and meet us at City Hall, and on the way, pick up Gregory and Grace.”
“Yes!” my sister screams instantly, already knowing what we’re doing without me having to explain, and I pull the phone away from my ear for a moment before Psycho chokes, “Twenty minutes, we’ll be there in twenty fucking minutes,” then hangs up, and I lock eyes with a teary Raya.
“You sure about this? I’m broken, remember. I don’t even know if I can-can…”
I lean forward and cut her words off with a kiss already knowing what she’s about to say before I pull back a little and I admit, “I can’t lose you Raya, and whatever challenges we face, we’ll face them together, one at a time. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, I am always going to be yours do you understand me?” her bottom lip wobbles and I gently rub my thumb along it as I whisper, “I have always wanted you, I just showed it the wrong way and every step of the way with your therapy, with your trauma, I am going to be beside you. I love you. Now what do you say? You going to marry me?”
My eyes race between hers as I hold my breath, hoping she comes to her decision without me having to tie and gag her before carrying her to City Hall but Raya being Raya, gives me a shy small smile, one she used to give me before I realized my feelings for her, and her eyes tear up again before she pushes off my bike and kisses my lips hard.
I grip her ass and lift her, causing her to wrap her legs around my waist as our tongues tangle before I smile into the kiss along with her. I know our future is going to be full and fucking amazing and an hour later, we’re leaving City Hall hand in hand, rings on our fingers with the whole club and her parents cheering, throwing petals at us as my sister sobs happy tears.
What more could a guy who has made as many mistakes with his girl as I did over the years, ask for?
Hmm, maybe a little girl just like her mama…
Chapter 28
Raya
I slowly trace my finger over the gold ring with dark and icy blue diamonds all around it, and my heart continues to pound, like it has since Cale asked me to marry him.
Teenage me got her dream, got her wish, while adult me is confused and oh so god damn terrified.
I feel dirty, filthy actually, a feeling Dr. Hans said should slowly go away as I come to terms with what happened to me. The first time, my revenge became my sole focus so I didn’t dwell on the fact I was raped and nearly killed. Back then, Cale barely even looked my way which I’m now seeing was his way of denying what he felt for me over the years but now, my revenge is done. The Hyenas are dead and I saved Hudson and myself.
I got my revenge for my father while surviving a house fire, saving a child, and now my mind is no longer fogged over.
I’m now reliving every kill I did, every scared look of the people I beat to death with a pole, Clara’s wide, shocked eyes as the bullet hit her head. They all haunt me before I feelhishands on me, the tearing of my insides, the sharp pains in my back and side...
I was raped, had a metal pole shoved inside me, the same pole I killedhismen with. The same pole I killedhimwith.
