Page 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Griffin’s Beach Venom

K nocking on Colt’s apartment, Venom leans against the doorframe with his forearm and lets out a deep breath. “Please don’t be having sex. Please don’t be having sex,” he mutters under his breath.

Colt answers just as Venom’s about to walk away, and the sounds of a hair dryer come from the barely cracked bathroom door. “I thought I heard a knock. What’s up?”

“Am I interrupting?”

Holding up his hands, Venom fights his chuckle at the five fingers with bandages on them. “Nah, we were able to get all the glass out of her hair. She’s just drying it now.”

The dryer stops, and Lex calls out, “Was that the door?”

“Yeah, we have company, so don’t walk out here naked.’

The bathroom door opens, and she rolls her eyes. “I don’t walk around many places naked. Two babies kind of wrecked this body.”

“Not true,” he says. “I fucking love that body.”

“Yeah, yeah. Down, boy,” she says and turns to Venom with a smile. “How’s Marnie? Is she okay?”

“I think she was more in shock than anything else. A shower seemed to help her, and she’s more coherent than she was when you first brought her back.”

“That’s good. The first time you get your ass kicked for the club can be a bit jarring. I was pretty sure she didn’t have a concussion, though.”

Colt snorts. “You’ve had enough to know. More than me, I think.”

The fact Lex has taken beatings for the club doesn’t sit well with Venom. None of the women should be in harm’s way, but he supposes that makes him a chauvinist.

“Lex, can I talk to you about something?”

“I’ll, uh, go see if Brock needs help with anything,” Colt says and kisses Lex’s temple.

She laughs, and Venom knows as well as she does that the only type of help Colt can offer with anything technology-wise is moral support. It’s the furthest from his strong suit.

“What’s going on?” she asks and moves to sit on the bed in her T-shirt and shorts. She looks so casual and comfortable as she looks up at him with blue eyes.

Looking out into the hallway, it hits him just then that Colt actually left. He left another man in his apartment with his wife, and the typical overwhelming flood of emotion hits Venom. He trusts them both.

“Will you hate me if I give Marnie another chance?” he blurts out.

She laughs. “Hate you?”

“Will you think less of me?”

“Venom, your choices are and always have been yours to make. I’m not going to condemn you for them. Unless you bring Cinder back in here. I do not like that woman,” Lex says, her knee pulled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around it.

Moving further into the room, he leans against the dresser, mindful to keep the door open. No matter how much trust Colt may have in them, he never wants there to be a question about his loyalty to either of them.

“Your opinion of me matters. Will you see me as stupid or weak for taking this risk again?”

“Do you feel she’s made up for the pain she caused you in Summerville?”

He nods. “I do…”

“But?”

His hand rubs his face, and he sighs. “Second chances are new to me. You’re the first one to really give me one, but before that, it’s always been one and done. What if… What if she doesn’t mean what she says?”

“That’s a risk you take with just about anyone in this life. Do you want to play it safe and end up without the woman who owns your heart for the rest of your life?”

“Can you just give me an honest answer? Will you think less of me?”

Lex sighs and shifts to lean forward, crossing her legs, and she shakes her head with a laugh. “Venom, I have always known Marnie was the one you wanted. She needed to prove herself to you. Only you can decide if she’s done enough to trust again.”

“But you won’t shun her or anything?”

“Boy, who do you think helped her come up with ideas for that gift basket? You think she just knew your favorite beer and chips? And who do you think let her into your apartment?”

It never crossed his mind to wonder how Marnie was able to leave the gifts for him. He was too overcome with the sentimental emotions tied to it. And then Cinder lost her damn mind, so he didn’t have much time to think much about the logistics.

“You helped her?”

“You remember when she came to talk to me after you told me she was in Griffin’s Beach?

” She waits for him to nod before continuing.

“She asked me what I needed for us to be good. I told her I’d let her know, and then when I went to check on her for you, I told her that if she really loved you, she should stay.

That’s what I needed for us to be good.”

“You did?”

Smiling, she nods. “I told her that I was sure you’d come around if she could stick it out a little longer.”

“You knew this whole time this is what I’d decide.”

It’s not a question, but Lex nods anyway. “Oh, I totally knew. I knew when you told me she moved here. But you had to be ready for it.”

“You’re an impossibly difficult woman. You know that, right?”

“Again, if I was given a Native American name, I’m certain it would be some variation of that.”

Grabbing her shoulders, Venom kisses her cheek. “I’m an idiot.”

“Most men are,” she calls after him.

He hurries back to his apartment, and as much as he wants to talk to Marnie about everything, he doesn’t want to wake her. Not after such a traumatic evening.

Walking inside, he quietly strips out of his boots, jeans, and kutte. He walks towards the bed and bumps into the dresser, realizing he’s about two steps off from where he thought he was, and he fights saying the curse words screaming in his head aloud.

“Did you find Lex?”

He snorts. “I guess trying to be quiet to let you sleep was pointless. Yeah, I talked to her.”

“Did she get all the glass from her hair?”

Chuckling, he climbs onto the bed next to her. “Yeah, and it only cut five of Colt’s fingers.”

“Poor guy.”

He turns on the lamp next to the bed and looks into Marnie’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“For what? This attack was kind of a fluke. And it’s not as bad as it seems. I only have a small headache. Honestly, it scared me more than hurt, not that I’ll admit that too many people.”

Venom takes her hand and holds it, his eyes spotting a scrape on her skin. He has no idea whether it’s from the attack or something else, and he runs his thumb over it gently. “I lied to you.”

“When?”

“That night. I told you I didn’t love you.”

A small intake of breath makes him look back up into her eyes. “If you really don’t love me, you don’t have to say it because of what happened. It’s okay—”

“I’m so in love with you that I don’t feel like I’ve been able to think straight from the day we met. Being without you is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I lied because I’m an idiot. I thought I had to fall out of love with you, but the truth is, Marnie, I never will. I’ll always love you.”

“It really hurt when you said it. If that’s how I made you feel, I don’t know how you could love me. Nothing has ever hurt more than that night. I couldn’t breathe. I honestly thought it was going to kill me.”

Cupping her face, he lays down beside her, resting their heads on the pillow. “I’m so sorry. I never should have said it. My head… I should’ve listened to my heart. I just didn’t trust it because it was broken.”

“I’m sorry, Venom.” Her lips gently touch his as she runs the back of her fingers over his cheek. “I’m sorry I did that to you. If I could change it and take it back, I would. I’d give anything to take it back.”

“Me, too,” he says, claiming her mouth and deepening the kiss when she parts her lips.

They lose themselves in each other, hands everywhere, as though they can’t break contact for fear of the other disappearing. Before he knows it, they’re both naked, and he teases her as he thrusts his cock between her legs but not entering her.

“Wait,” Marnie says, her hand on his chest even though her leg hooks over his hip. “Are you really single? Cinder’s gone?”

“Cinder’s so far gone that I have no idea where she is. But, no, I’m not single.”

Her eyes lock with his. “You’re not?”

“I might be getting ahead of myself, but it’s up to you. I’m yours, if you’ll have me.”

“Really?”

The way her lip trembles as she searches his eyes makes him love her even more. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Venom,” she says, kissing him as the tears fall and hit his tongue.

“William.”

Leaning back again, she looks perplexed. “Pardon?”

“That’s my real name. William Maddox.”

A smile spreads across her face, and his heart damn near explodes. “I can call you William?”

“You’re one of only a handful of people who know my real name. I want there to be no secrets between us.”

“I love you, William,” she whispers and shifts her hips, guiding him inside her.

It’s the first time they’ve been together since they were in Summerville, and it feels magical.

The way she digs her heel into his ass as she tries to pull him as close as physically possible to the small moans and pants from her lips as she moves with him makes him see it’s the right choice. The only choice.

“Tell me you love me again,” she whispers with her lips against his neck.

“I’m in love with you. I finally feel like I can breathe again, love.”

Marnie nibbles his skin, and he knows she loves the nickname she used to fight against. The thought of making her Marnie Maddox in the not-so-distant future excites him as his orgasm approaches.

“I’m close,” she moans, her fingernails gently scratching his back.

Shifting his hips, Venom thrusts harder and faster, his hand pulling her leg higher against his side, thankful when he feels her muscles clenching around him. They both cry out, his release filling her as he remembers he should have pulled out.

If she minds having no barrier between them, she says nothing. But the moment she begins to sob softly, he worries he screwed something up.

“Marnie? What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t think I’d ever have this again,” she says and kisses his neck as they remain connected as one. “I was so sure you’d never forgive me, but I still had to try. I couldn’t give up.”

He runs his hands over her hair as he tries to soothe her. There’s not much he can do besides tell her how much he loves her and how sorry he is for lying.

If he’s honest with himself, he wasn’t sure he’d ever have this again, either, but he can’t tell her that. Not now. She carries enough guilt with her, and he makes the decision to put everything in the past. Forgive and forget.

Marnie and Venom are officially together, and this is home. Marnie is home.