Page 72 of Sweet Venom

“One big difference. I wouldn’t kill myself, and my mother loved me, unlike your waste-of-space mom.”

Her lips tremble, and her eyes seem brighter under the glow of the streetlight. “Yes, we are different. Worlds apart, actually. Because I’d never knowingly hurt someone or throw a violent tantrum just because life screwed me over.”

My jaw clenches, and I can feel it aching from how hard I’m grinding my teeth. What is it about this fucking girl that seems to push my fucking buttons?

“And yet you already did.” I speak close to her lips. “Didn’t you?”

“I did not. I’m really sorry about your mom, b-but…what did you expect a civilian like me to do? Run into the knife? Get killed as well?”

“If it would’ve kept her alive, yes.”

“Right.” She laughs, but it sounds heart-wrenching. “Because the lives of people like me mean nothing, so the rich should live while we rot away.”

“It’s not about rich or poor.” I stop myself before I blurt out that it’s about losing the one person who cared about me unconditionally in a heartless world.

Because why the fuck would I need to explain myself to Violet? She’s the one who owes me, not the other way around.

“Then what’s it about?” She’s watching me now, closely, as if trying to sink beneath my skin and latch onto my bones.

“Nothing you should concern yourself with.” I let her go and she steps back. “What you should worry about, however, is how you’ll pay for the stunt you pulled tonight.”

“Why should I pay? You’re the one who ruined my date.”

“I’ll ruin as many dates as you’re foolish enough to have. And you’ll pay for not following simple instructions, Violet.I clearly told you to thank him for the night and leave alone for home. What did you do?”

“I don’t have to listen to this.” Something flashes on her face, something dark and potent, matching the sparks that make my dick twitch on the regular whenever I’m around her.

She must also feel it, this dangerous attraction that shouldn’t exist between predator and prey. This lawless, unhinged need to slam her against the goddamn wall and fuck her.

Because she turns around and walks away, her fingers sinking into her bag’s strap as she quickens her footsteps.

She’s running away. The only thing she knows how to do well.

But I catch up to her and grab her elbow. She gasps as I pull her into an alley that’s far enough away from the main street.

I’m towering over her, again, and she’s pressed up against the wall,again.

Trapped with me.

Her eyes glow in the near darkness as she licks her lips.

My gaze zeroes in on the motion, my cock growing thick and heavy in my jeans. “Are you seducing me, sweetheart?”

“I would never,” she says, but then she’s breathing heavily, and her voice is hoarse.

“But you were seducing Tobias earlier, weren’t you? Falling against him. Giving him a view of these tits.” I grab a handful of her breast, and she presses her lips together as if fighting, struggling to deny what’s happening. “But these aremytits. I saw them first, touched them first, licked your favorite drink from all over your tight, little pink nipples first.”

“S-stop talking like that.”

“Why? Is it making you hot and bothered?” I slide myother hand down her stomach, relishing the tremor that grips her even though I’m touching her through the camisole.

My fingers open the button of her pants.

She doesn’t stop me, but she doesn’t touch me either, her arms motionless on either side of her.

“If I reach inside your panties, will I find you dripping wet for me?”

She turns her face the other way, but I slide my hand from her breast to her jaw and turn it back toward me as I bite her lower lip and then kiss her.