Page 117 of Sweet Venom
And then his lips crash against mine, devouring me. His hand rests possessively on my neck as he drags me out of my tiny bubble for the entire campus to see.
“Is it true?”
I wince as Dahlia pins me with a stare. We’re at a local restaurant at her insistence, and, honestly, I’d rather just eat at the cafeteria, but all the stares were becoming unbearable.
Hell, I was even cornered by a few girls and guys who demanded to know my relationship status with Jude, but when I said there was no relationship, they didn’t believe me.
The chatter around us heightens as Dahlia keeps staring at me.
“It’s not what you think,” I whisper after I swallow a mouthful of the falafel wrap I’m eating.
“Uh…then what is this?” She pulls out her phone and shows me a picture posted on some social media platform.
Of Jude kissing me.
Damn.
He has me by the throat, my glasses are hiked up my nose, and I have a hand on his chest because I was trying to push him, but that doesn’t show in the photo.
It just seems that he’s devouring me, plain and simple.
And he was. My lips were tingling the entire morning.
Damn him.
“Oh my God.” Dahlia puts her phone away, her face paling. “Did he force you? Is he still threatening you? Because I’ll have Kane?—”
“It’s not that. Don’t make a big deal out of it, okay?”
“Considering he intended to kill you after he stalked you, yeah, I say I’ll make the biggest deal out of it. So what if he’s scary? I can be scary too or…like, Kane can be.”
I smile and take a sip out of my ginger ale. “Don’t be the one who comes between best friends, Dahl.”
“Well, if his best friend is bothering my sister, I’ll have words. Lots of them.”
God, she’s so fearless. I love that about her to bits.
But I’m also scared for her safety, and I definitely don’t want her to be on Jude’s shit list. Or for Kane and Jude to have a falling out because of me. It’s why I refused to tell her what happened after I woke up from the coma, but truly, I dislike hiding things from Dahlia, and she’s also persistent, so I ended up telling her about the stalking and why Jude came into my life.
In pure Dahlia fashion, she threatened to kill Jude, then she blamed herself for not noticing, which is the whole reason I didn’t confide in her in the first place. I hate that she still blames herself for my coma no matter how many times I made it clear that it’s not her fault.
I wish I was back to working long shifts at HAVEN and worrying about each month’s bills.
Because Jude’s attention is not only murdering my invisibility, but it’s also provoking a side of me that terrifies me.
I know he’ll keep his word.
And despite the fear, the trepidation, and everything in between, a part of me is looking forward to that.
“It’s just complicated,” I say truthfully.
Dahlia stops with a French fry halfway to her mouth. “What do you mean by complicated?”
“I don’t think Jude would hurt me.”
“But you were so scared at the mere mention of his name after you woke up.”
“It’s…because he puts me on edge, but it’s not necessarily bad. I’ll figure it out, okay? Just don’t bring Kane into this.”
