Page 108 of Poison Touch


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He ignores my question as he paints a few brush strokes on his canvas.

“Gunner...”

He swishes the saturated tip in the cup of water before setting the brush down. I wait for him to look at me. When he finally does, I hate the sadness and disappointment in his eyes.

“I could ask you the same thing, little Ninja.” His voice lacks the light and fun tone I’ve grown used to.

He’s right. I don’t know what to say. Trying to defend his counter-question will only make the situation hurt worse. Over the past couple of months, a slow-growing connection has developed between me and each of the boys, an understanding and an unspoken trust. But with all of the secrets between us, there was never any chance of true friendship or trust.

Chelsea announces that it’s time to clean up our supplies.

Gunner is locked up as tightly as I am. I’m both relieved that I don’t have to answer and irritated because he’s the easy one to talk to, the one who can’t wait to spill all the juicy details. Not today.

Going through the motions, I barely remember anything said or explained in biology. Like a zombie, I write illegible notes that may or may not make sense when I need them.

I keep my head low on the way to the library, the place where Edge and I had several intense and uninhibited moments. These moments I relived in my imagination more than once. I briefly look up to see the four of them standing just outside the massive wooden doors.Shit!I turn to make a one-eighty and practically run into the group of people I didn’t notice. Apologizing, I maneuver and spin around, only to land directly into the arms of Venom.

“I just want to talk,” Edge says. He’s a hell of a lot calmer than he was this morning. I’m not sure if this new demeanor is good or bad, or what his angle is. By talking, does he want to confess shit, or does he want information from me? If it’s the former, he already told me he wasn’t the one who killed my dad. He also said it was complicated.

I glance at the others behind him. Kade catches my attention first and gives me an inconspicuous nod as if he’s letting me know it’s okay. It’s all going to be okay. I can trust them.

Can I, though?

Edge is staring at me when I turn my focus on him.

“What about?”

He reaches out his hand for me to take. “The past.”

35

EDGE

Reluctantly,Ninja nods but doesn’t take my hand. Gunner, Levi, and Kade stay behind as I guide her away from the library. Tension mixed with relief coils in my gut. The combination is virtually impossible to conquer as I try to keep my cool. I’ve had days to think about what I would say to her, how much I would tell her, or if I should tell her anything. The smartest thing I could do is leave her the fuck alone, but then she’d be in even more danger than she is now. No one has ever been able to tear down my steel walls, but she managed to find a way to get under my skin and burrow her way into my life. I can’t leave her to fend for herself against wolves she has no way to defend herself against.

The courtyard is empty. Side by side, we walk to the stone bench in silence. She sits down without glancing in my direction. I do the opposite. I straddle the bench so I can look directly at her. Even with the hurt, fury, and confusion streaking across her face, she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. It takes more power and self-control not to reach out to touch her than it does to take down a beast of a man in the cage. I wind my hands around each other to keep them from drifting toward her. Thelast thing I want to do is freak her out. If she runs from me, then I can’t protect her.

I need to figure out what’s going on in that pretty little head of hers. Talking to her and getting her to open up won’t be easy unless I’m willing to give her something in return. Where she is in all this, what her intentions are, and how dangerous those intentions are to Venom. And, in turn, how much she’s putting herself in danger.

She plays with the ring in her eyebrow as she impatiently waits for me to start the conversation.

The first time I ever saw her, despite the pure agony splayed across her face as she watched her father brutally murdered, I knew, one way or another, she would be the one who could end the madness. She’s been marked by Venom for over a year. I can’t blame them. A powerful and fierce fighter lives in that perfect body and could bring millions to the table. What they didn’t bank on was for their new plaything to make her own agenda after what they took from her. They also haven’t figured into their plan that their all-star fighter would fall for her. I wish I could change our circumstances, but there’s not a goddamn thing I can do about that now.

“What do you want, Edge?” Exhaustion, above all else, settles into that question.

“Why are you ignoring me? We—we had—are?—”

She lets out a small laugh, but there’s no humor in it. “There’s not even a name for what wehad. And now, we’re nothing.” She shrugs. “It’s as simple as that.”

As much as her words sting, I can’t focus on the label of what we were or still are. It doesn’t matter right now. I just want to get to the bottom of what made her shift. “Tell me, why the hell are you so mad at me? The last thing I knew, we were eating apple pie, and then nothing. Friday morning, you were a ghost,then after I saw you at the fight—” I run my hand over my head. “Fuck!”

I expect her gaze to still be distant when I look at her, but she’s looking at me. Light glints off the silver bar above her tired eyes.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

She shakes her head. “Don’t play stupid. Did you honestly think I wouldn’t find out that you fight for Venom?”

With my frustration rising to dangerous heights, it’s taking everything I have to stay calm. Losing it will only push her further away. “You knew I was part of Venom.”