33. Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Three
Griffin’s Beach Marnie
S tanding behind the bar of the restaurant, Marnie stares into space. She doesn’t know why she’s still in town. After the fall out with Venom, she should have packed her bags and booked a flight anywhere far, far away from here.
Summerville is out of the question. It just serves as a reminder of how horrible of a person she was. And Griffin’s Beach has the man she loves but doesn’t love her anymore. Maybe never did.
Venom was different from every other guy, and she knows she’ll never love anyone like she does him. Hell, it probably will never go away, and now she understands what people talk about when they wish they could stop loving someone.
“Lex?” Marnie asks as the blonde walks up to the bar.
Holding up a finger, she sees the phone against the curly blonde’s ear. “Lucas, it’s me. Have you heard from Hailey recently? I can’t get in touch with her, and I need to know how much she needs for the next semester.”
Studying her, Marnie’s nerves kick up. Lex has never once sought her out before. They’ve never spoken outside of a clubhouse, and there are only two reasons she can think of for this visit.
One: Venom’s hurt. Or worse—dead. Even as upset and hurt as she is, this would completely devastate her. She’d never get over it.
Two: Lex is here to give Marnie the final warning to leave town. Some timeframe will be imposed, and if she doesn’t hit that, she’ll face the wrath of the Queen Bee.
“Sorry,” Lex says and hangs up. “Lucas hasn’t heard from his sister, either, and I’m starting to get worried. I know she and Gavin officially broke up a bit ago, and she’s been MIA ever since. She normally doesn’t come home for breaks, but I thought she’d at least talk to her brother.”
“Can you go and check on her?”
She laughs. “She would love that. Anyway, I’m here to see why you’re still in Griffin’s Beach.”
And there it is. The threat to beat my ass should be coming any moment now.
“I don’t know,” Marnie answers with full honesty. She has no clue why she didn’t book it to a resort to drink her blues away on a beach somewhere.
“Do you have plans to leave?”
Sure, she could lie, but what could would it do?
Lex will likely see right through her, and so she shakes her head.
“I have nothing planned. I’m waiting for the pain to subside a bit because I know I’m not thinking clearly.
It’s a day-by-day situation right now, and not that you probably care, but getting out of bed and coming to work today is a pretty big accomplishment right now. ”
She fights back the tears as another wave of pain washes over her as it randomly does, and Lex shocks the hell out of her when she says, “Don’t go anywhere.”
So not the reaction I expected. “Why not?”
Sitting down, Lex leans forward onto her elbows. “Venom and Cinder broke up.”
“They did?”
“Yeah, she found your care package, and she lost her shit. Which… A fleshlight? Really? You never told me exactly what was in that thing.”
Snorting, she laughs and wipes her eyes. “It’s… You would’ve had to be there.”
“I know. The whole thing about his hand not being sufficient.”
“He really does tell you everything, doesn’t he?”
It both amuses and annoys Marnie how much Venom confides in Lex. Certain things should be private, but when he used Lex to deliver her panties back to her to drive the point home that their situationship was over, it shouldn’t be a surprise.
“Cinder took a knife or scissors or, hell, a box cutter, maybe, to it. I’m not really sure which. He told me why you gave it to him when I was a little concerned about your sanity when I saw the destroyed thing.”
“At least he knows he can talk to you.”
“Cinder lost her ever-loving mind when she saw what you’d given him, and she became a tornado of destruction. Smashed everything in his apartment. Based on the towel she had wrapped around her hand, she cut herself pretty good in the process, too. Then she attacked him .”
Eyes wide, Marnie feels like she can’t breathe. “With the knife?”
“No, her fists.”
“Is he okay? He’d never hit her back… How much damage did she do?”
Lex studies her, and it makes Marnie uncomfortable. “I broke her fucking face for it. He’s fine for the most part, but she’s not. And if she ever comes back around, I’ll fucking kill her. Which I told her before choking her ass out and having her delivered back to the junkyard.”
“Wait, she lost it because he got a gift from me? I didn’t even sign my name.”
“Oh, babe, you have no idea. She and Shep had a thing a long time ago, and she scared him.”
Marnie’s heard rumors about Shep before he met Heidi, and not many of those were positive. Not that she can blame him after how horrifically he lost his daughter. She’d probably dive off the deep end if she were him, too. As she’s learning, grief affects everyone differently.
“So… Not that I don’t appreciate the visit, but I would have expected you to tell me to get my ass out of town, not to stay. Why are you telling me stick around? I thought you hated the idea of us together.”
“If I hated the idea of you and Venom, I wouldn’t have given you ideas to put into that little basket, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have let you into his apartment to leave it for him,” she says. “Cinder went apeshit when he confessed he lied to you that night.”
Heart racing, Marnie braces herself on the bar top. As much as she doesn’t want to, her hopes begin to rise. “Lied to me about what?” It comes out as a whisper as though anything louder would shatter the possibility Venom could still love her.
“We both know what he lied to you about that night. He’s stuck on this bullshit idea that second chances don’t exist, but I think he’s finally coming around.
If you leave, I worry it’ll show him that he was right.
That giving in and being with you again would only break his heart.
I don’t want him to be right. Personally, I want to be right. ”
“You want to be right about what?”
Folding her hands, she leans forward even further. “I believe you love him, and I believe you’ve seen how big of a bitch you were when you made him feel like trash.”
“I do, and I have,” she whispers.
“I’ve listened to him, and we’ve talked, and I think you two will find your way back to each other. Your father’s going to have a fucking heart attack, but no one really gives a shit what he thinks anymore. Unless you do.”
She lets out a shaky breath. “I don’t care what Dad thinks. Have you told Venom you think this? Because I think it would go a long way to—”
“Oh, no. And I am not going to. Just like I didn’t tell him I thought Cinder was nothing but an epic mistake upon meeting her. He has to come to this on his own, otherwise he won’t trust his heart.”
“That makes sense.”
“The real question is whether you still want him back or not.”
Lip trembling, she fights back the sob stuck in her chest. “I don’t know that I ever really had him. He looked me in the eyes and said he doesn’t love me anymore and doesn’t know that he ever did. Lie or not, that shattered me.”
“Got a taste of what he felt in Summerville, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess, I did.”
Tapping the bar top, Lex sits up. “You asked me what was needed for us to be good. Stay and fight for him. Unless you feel it’s too far broken to fix, don’t let him push you into giving up. You deserve to work for it, but I really do think he’s coming around.”
“If he felt like I do right now, I wouldn’t blame him if he never wanted to see me again. I couldn’t breathe, Lex. I would have rather taken a shotgun blast to the chest, and then I went completely numb.”
“He was upset at causing you pain. That hurt him that night. He thinks it’s a necessary pain, but I think he needed to see how much you care in order to start listening to his heart. But that’s just my opinion.”
Marnie opens her mouth to respond, but Lex stands and walks away before she can. “Guess the conversation’s over?”
It’s only Monday, which means it’ll be a long, slow night. The only customers are older couples who come in for the early bird special and order old fashions and side-cars.
At least they tip well.
A slightly disheveled blonde woman walks into the bar with a man who looks oddly familiar. Marnie can’t place why, but the hair on the back of her neck immediately stands on end.
“Okay, that is definitely a working girl,” Emme says when she walks up to put in an order. “And he looks like he likes it rough. Maybe even into something kinky.”
“I don’t ask questions anymore,” Marnie says, chuckling uncomfortably as she pours the scotch for Emme’s table. “Hopefully he’s a good tipper.”
Emme takes the drink to the table, and the blonde walks up to the bar. Something in Marnie’s gut says she needs to remember her. “Hey, you know the Deranged Drifters club, right?”
“Kind of. My dad’s a member in Summerville. I just moved here.”
“Can you get in touch with Frances?” she asks, her voice a whisper.
Narrowing her eyes, Marnie runs through the members she knows. She would definitely remember that name. “I don’t know a Frances.”
“But you know the club, though?”
“Yeah, but I don’t know everyone’s real names. Do you know his road name? I could see him keeping Frances under wraps. That’s the kind of name that gets a guy’s ass kicked on the playground.”
Shaking her head, she forces a smile. “Thanks, but I don’t.”
“Do you want me to call someone?”
A cold feeling hits Marnie as the woman shakes her head and walks back to the table. The man gives her an almost predatory smile, and Marnie’s heart begins to race. Something about this man is off.
Why do I feel like I need to memorize this woman? Maybe I should call someone. Or Lex. Lex would know someone in Griffin’s Beach named Frances.
The tattoo almost glows from the table, and Marnie focuses on it. How she overlooked it when she was right in front of her, she has no idea, but she sees it now. A cross on fire with a banner.
What’s that name on it? I think it says… Aaron?
The rest of the night carries on, and she doesn’t notice the couple leave.
“He paid cash,” Emme says, “and tipped a normal amount. You were staring hard at them. Got a thing for the dude?”
“Something feels off.”
“What did she say to you?”
“The Drifters. She wanted me to get in touch with someone I don’t know.”
Emme shrugs. “Maybe some guy lied to her and said he was part of the club to seem cool. Some guys need a gimmick to get chicks. Even when they’re hookers.”
“Yeah, maybe. Do you ever have one of those feelings like you just saw someone for the last time?”
“Like she won’t be here again?”
“No, like she might die.”
Gavin walks into the restaurants and over to them. “Who might die?”
“Gavin, do you know anyone in the club named Frances?”
He laughs. “No, but I wish I did. I’d give him shit for that name. Why?”
“This woman was asking me to find him. Said he was a Drifter. I can’t explain it, but… I feel like that woman’s going to die soon.”
“You’re, like, the worst psychic ever. Please don’t ever tell me what you see in my future,” Emme says and laughs. “If it’s bad, I’d rather be surprised. I’ll be right back. Just gotta finish one table, and then I’m out.”
Marnie looks at Gavin who gives her a concerned stare. “I hope I’m wrong. But, hey, uh, Lex was in here a bit ago. She can’t reach Hailey. I know you two called it quits, but you haven’t heard from her, have you?”
“Nope. Not since she freaked out because I took advantage of being single like she made me,” he snaps. “Lucas probably has.”
“No, he says he hasn’t talked to her, either. Lex needs to know how much she needs for tuition or something. She’ll probably call.”
“And that woman is probably not going to die,” Gavin says, giving her a reassuring smile.
Forcing a smile of her own, Marnie nods. I wouldn’t be so sure.