“Sorry, who’re you?” this Italian fucker with his gold chain across from my woman asks.
“Her man, but I made that damn clear, so fuck off. There looks to be an easy target walkin’ in the door now.” I motion toward the bridal party and the woman in white with the sash and tiara. The dude in front of me smirks and has no problem leaving Venom behind.
Nikki, Faith, and Iris are all here with her and luckily for me Reno and Iris are decent friends. If it wasn’t for Iris always checking in with Reno, I wouldn’t have any idea where they were. It would’ve made finding her a bitch.
“I . . . I didn’t think this was your scene,” Venom tells me, and she’s right. I told her yesterday when she asked me about coming here that I didn’t wanna, ‘cause it looked fuckin’ stupid, said it wasn’t my scene at all.
“It wasn’t, but I think it is now. You see, there’s this really cool chick here, and I might’ve fucked up and acted like a dick to her earlier. But I want her to know I didn’t mean what I said, how I was just pissed and shit.”
Venom smirks lightly and looks up at me through thick lashes. “You called Emerson, didn’t you?”
Dammit. The woman knows me better than I know myself sometimes. “I might’ve,” I mutter, not wantin’ her to know she’s right.
“Bet she told you that your temper got into the way of things again.”
I don’t bother noddin’ ‘cause we both know it’s true. I got one hell of a temper.
“Sorry for what I said, I . . . I don’t wanna push you away, not when we’re just startin’ this.” I take a step closer to her and grab the back of her neck, grabbin’ her firmly I bring my lips down onto hers and lick my lips before colliding mine with hers.
Again, she’s sweet like honey on a hot summer day. I struggle as she pulls away, but I’m sure the gigglin’ goin’ on behind her has somethin’ to do with it. I glance past Venom and there the girls are, smirkin’ like teenagers.
I open my mouth to say somethin’ and my phone starts buzzin’ like crazy. Yanking the phone from my back pocket, I see it’s the group chat we have for the club and Boss wants everyone ready for church bright and early.
“C’mon, we’re goin’ home. I’m not done with you yet, and we gotta be in church at the ass crack of dawn.” I lace my words with promise and intent, fully plannin’ on rippin’ every fabric of clothing off Venom’s body at the first opportunity.
If you ask me, we both waited long enough for this to happen between us, for the inevitable to slowly wither away and I can’t fuck this up. I know she’s hidin’ shit from me. I know she has secrets, but I have to wait. There must be a reason for it and I need to trust in it. That’s even what Emerson told me. She said there’s always a reason for keeping things to yourself, and that eventually if I’m patient enough Venom might open up to me about the stuff I discovered.
Venom’s eyes flash with excitement and she ends up noddin’ her head at me. I glance back and see Faith, Iris, and Nikki are still tearin’ it up on the dance floor, so I shoot a text over to Muffler and tell him to get his ass over here and make sure they get home safe. We don’t ever leave our ladies alone, especially after what happened to Faith a few years back. They’re always with a member of the club, and even though Venom’s a chick too, she’s still a member of the club.
While I wait for a text back from him, I tell Venom we will be headin’ back to the club but not yet, how I want to wait for Muffler. She completely understands so we both get a shot of vodka and she starts giggling after.
I cock a brow in amusement.
“I’ve had so many of these tonight. I don’t even think in college I partied this hard.”
“In college you didn’t have Nikki,” I laugh and she begins to cackle too. It’s the truth. Nikki is a riot, it’s why all of us fuckin’ love her.
Venom and I share a couple more shots before Muffler’s large frame fills the entrance of the bar and he heads straight up to us. “You’re clear, brother. I’ll watch the ladies,” Muffler tells us and takes a seat at the edge of the bar. I give him a nod in thanks and take Venom’s hand, pullin’ her out of the bar with me and we walk the few blocks back to the clubhouse.
Out of nowhere she stops dead in her tracks and I turn to look back at her in confusion. “Why’re you stoppin’?”
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Do what?”
“This, with me . . . Rico, I’m not . . . I’m not some average girl with a normal life. I have issues. I have demons. And obviously, you know I have secrets I’ve yet to tell you about.”
No shit. “Yeah, I know. I’m willin’ to wait, to trust in the fact you’ll tell me when the time is right. If it makes you feel better, tell me somethin’ about you right now, somethin’ I don’t know.” I’ll do whatever it takes for her to feel better about this. I know she has issues and we’re going to work through them. I want to be with Venom and fuck if I’m gonna let her weasel away. When I sit back and think about shit, I realize I never took any time to get to know other women. Sure, there was a couple girlfriends I had in the past, but it was nothin’ more than hookin’ up and makin’ each other feel good.
With Venom, I want more.
I wanna know about her damn past. I wanna know the truth behind the article I found, and it’s not ‘cause I’m a nosey bastard. I just wanna know if she’s okay. Granted, given what I’ve already read I know there’s a hell of a story behind it all.
“I have a twin sister,” she blurts out.
This is the first time I’ve ever heard her talk about her family. “You never told me about her.”
She shrugs her shoulders. “Yeah, well, we don’t get along the best. She’s always getting into impossible situations. Back when we were teenagers, we got along a lot better, but when I started going to college things fell apart. I . . .” Venom trails off, stopping dead in her tracks. She gnaws on her bottom lip and I can tell talkin’ about her sister isn’t somethin’ easy to do. “I miss her a lot, even if she’s always been the type to stir up trouble.”
I take a step closer to her and rub my hand against the small of her back, gently urging her to walk with me. She comes forward and we walk together side by side, with my arm wrapped around her waist. We don’t say a word. There’s nothing but the sounds of cars whizzing by.
This woman doesn’t have a clue how important she is to me, or how much the small bit she just gave me makes my heart swell with joy. She is opening up to me, and even though it’s just a bit, I’ll take it.
Chapter Fourteen
Venom
We get back to the clubhouse and I don’t miss the mischievous look in his eyes, the one that tells me exactly what he wants. His gaze lingers longer than usual and I find myself staring him down. His room is on the floor above mine since he’s an officer in the club, and we’re in the stairwell on my floor.
I start to take a step forward but Ricochet grabs my wrist and shoves me against the wall. “Where do you think you’re going, Showoff?”