Page 47 of Acceptance
“You’re sure? She seemed pretty adamant she had the right club. I told her I was new to this charter, but I definitely know road names.”
“Positive. That’s a name I’d definitely remember,” he says with a chuckle. “I do background checks on everyone. Grayson only helped with Summerville when we patched them over.”
“And I know all of them,” she says. “She looked scared. The guy she was with gave me really bad vibes, but he looked familiar, too. I can’t place him, but then… never mind.”
This isn’t just a ploy to talk to Venom. At first, he was positive she came in here making this up, but she looks genuinely concerned. “No, what were you going to say, Marnie?”
“This is going to sound really weird, and Emme and Gavin thought I was nuts, but I got this feeling when I saw her walk back to the guy she came in with. It was… It felt like I might be one of the last people who would see her alive. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and this cold feeling washed over me. There’s no other way I can describe it.”
“Why didn’t you come here sooner?” Venom asks.
If she was so worried, she should have come in here weeks ago.
Swallowing, she looks at the ground. “I got a really bad case of food poisoning. Landed me in the hospital for a few days because I was so dehydrated. Honestly, I thought I was going to die myself. I was also a little scared you’d turn me away without talking to me.”
Marnie was sick enough to be admitted to the hospital, and she had no one with her?Who am I kidding? She probably had her parents with her.
“You could have called.”
“No, I couldn’t,” she says, finally looking him in the eyes. The pain he inflicted when he confronted her in the parking lot after finding her gift basket still lives in her pretty eyes, and it takes his breath away. “You made that pretty clear.”
“Marnie—”
“I’m sorry I bothered you. Thought maybe it was important, but she must’ve gotten the guy confused with another club.”
She’s gone before Venom can say anything, and he wants to run after her. He wants to tell her he’s sorry and didn’t mean it, but he stays planted where he is. What good would it do? They can’t be together.
Griffin’s Beach
Jamie
Lying in bed with Undertaker, Jamie feels a mixture of emotions. Mostly, she feels sad for him. He admitted a while ago who Nina was and what she meant to him. How she’s the only other woman who’s had his heart besides Jamie.
He’s been so obsessed with Jamie that she never really worried about it. Until now.
The evening was one she’d been excited to plan for them. She’d gone shopping with Lex and Melanie to get an outfit and various toys for them to try out. Something about being with this man makes her feel bolder than she’s ever felt before, and she wanted to show him how much he means to her. How confident he makes her when she’s been nothing but insecure her entire life.
He’d been excited when she called to tell him she had something special planned for them, and he tried to get her togive him hints. And seeing him anxious to get Church over with made her feel like a sex goddess. He gave her a look she’s only ever seen others give their women, and she fell even more in love with him.
Instead of going home and carrying out her plans, they’re lying in his clubhouse apartment. The one place they haven’t had sex and won’t because he doesn’t want anyone to hear. Fucking against the bar the night they nearly broke up was a onetime thing.
His breathing evened out half an hour ago, and she knows he’s asleep. Jamie, however, can’t stop her mind from spinning. First, she has to deal with the unfulfilled feeling because she didn’t get the release she’s craved all day. Something she never thought she’d experience with him.
I could slip my fingers into my panties and take care of things myself. But it doesn’t feel right with him here. It’s also the first night we haven’t had sex since I moved into his house.
He hasn’t called her baby doll once since before Church, and then he recapped what he learned about Nina with more emotion than she expected. He also didn’t tell her he loves her before he fell asleep.
Tears fall freely now, and she wonders what this all means. Which brings her to the biggest thought in her head: Nina. The picture Undertaker sent to Brock was found pretty quickly for someone he hasn’t seen in over ten years.
Maybe he doesn’t love me as much as he loved her. Or worse—does hestilllove her?
Undertaker knows all about Jamie’s abandonment issues, so she can’t stop herself from thinking he’s only with her because he doesn’t want to hurt her. That maybe he doesn’t love her as much as she believes. It can’t all be in her head, right?
And now I’m the default consolation prize. Nina’s dead, so he really can’t have her.
Reaching over, Jamie takes his phone and can’t believe what she’s about to do. The last thing she ever expected was to bethatgirl. The one who looks through her boyfriend’s phone while he sleeps, but she has to know what’s hidden in there.
The text messages prove to be nothing out of the ordinary. Or what she assumes is ordinary. Mostly because he doesn’t text unless he has to.