Page 32 of Beautiful Venom
But I could have.
Kane gave me every chance to say that godforsaken ‘red,’ but I refused.
My head hurts long after I leave the shower wrapped in a towel.
I lie on my stomach on the bed and grab my phone that was returned to me on my way out of that damned building.
Instagram is open. Specifically, my last DM exchange with Kane, when I expected him to meet me by the entrance. And even though I didn’t think he’d help me, I also didn’t think he’d use me in that sense.
Though it’s useless to feel wronged or attempt to feel victimized. Not when I was offered a way out countless times but still went with it anyway.
I click on his profile and narrow my eyes at the caption.
Vipers’ Center & Captain.
More like a two-faced devil.
I studied Kane’s Instagram page like an essay during my stalking stage, but now, I look at it through a different lens. It’s hockey-themed and full of shots from games and practice as well as pictures with teammates, the coach, some professors, and fans.
There are others at fundraising events with the university’s top brass and the Vipers’ donors. The big names in town. His family, the Callahans, the Armstrongs, and the Osborns.
But those are few and far between, as if he doesn’t want his background to be the main focus.
He looks perfectly cordial in all of them. No signs that suggest he’s faking it or building an image.
His smiles give off a genuine, charming vibe, like he’d be great fun to talk to.
It isn’t until now that I realize those smiles never reach his icy eyes. Not really.
They look beautiful because of the color, but that doesn’t mean they smile with the rest of his face.
Maybe it’s because I already met the other side of him, but the veil has been lifted and I realize that the random, sometimes uncoordinated pictures are just a game he plays so well.
Like the perfect disguise he hides behind.
And now that my fate is tied to his in Vencor, I need to figure him out. Somehow.
I need to get closer.
Any way possible.
I go back to our conversations.
Me
Better test for that STD I gave you tonight
What? That should get his attention.
I guess my only consolation about the whole fucking raw part is that Kane and his teammates tested negative on their latest medical tests. I know because I accessed their reports behind my professor’s back.
My heart jumps when his reply comes immediately.
Kane
Very funny.
I wasn’t joking.
