16. Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Sixteen
Griffin's Beach Venom
R olling onto his back, Venom catches his breath while Cinder wraps her body around his in a strange cuddle that doesn't quite feel intimate. He's spent the past four nights with Cinder, and it's been extremely acrobatic. It's taken a few days to recondition his body after using muscles he'd forgotten he had.
"That was amazing," Cinder says, her lips on his pec. "How the hell would anyone getting dick as good as yours walk away?"
He rolls his eyes, knowing she can't see him. He'd made the mistake of telling her about Marnie, and now she brings up the woman he suspects he'll always be in love with every chance she gets. Mostly to talk about her in the most unflattering and condescending ways.
"There was more to it than that," Venom says, his tone clipped.
"The sex alone makes everything moot. I haven't had someone make me come that many times in a row... ever. You really know what you're doing."
The smirk on his face is involuntary. He can't argue with her. If he wasn't worthy of being with women for more than night, the least he could do was learn how to please her and make her thankful she took the chance of getting sweaty with him. He rarely ever disappoints anyone.
"It's not hard to read a woman's body when you know what to look for. It helps when she's honest and tells you how it is, but even if she's not, her body speaks. Most men just haven't taken the time to learn the language."
"You have it mastered, baby. I had to put ice on my pussy the other night after we went six rounds. Most men are lucky if they can perform three. You have a hell of a lot of testosterone."
Her fingers trace along his chest, and the words bother him. He's not the type of man who needs that much reassurance in the bedroom. In fact, her moans and pussy clenching around him is more than enough.
"You tend to fall for insecure men, don't you?" he asks, and he presses her hand flat against his chest with his own.
"What makes you say that?"
"You're vocalizing your appreciation just a little too much. Makes me think you've been with men in the past who require that."
Smirking, Cinder snorts. "Looks like my body isn't the only thing you can read. I don't know if they tend be insecure by nature or if I intimidate them. In most cases, I seem to be the one with more masculine energy, which likely causes the problem."
Maybe that's my problem. She's not feminine enough for me. I'm definitely the dominant one here, but she gives me a run for my money.
"I'm not like that. If I don't make you come, tell me. It's not going to hurt my ego. In fact, I'll find another way for you to get yours. And when you do come, your moans are more than enough. Maybe a solid wow afterwards, but I don’t need all the other shit."
"You don't like being complimented?"
"Not repeatedly," he says and sits up. "It makes it sound like you're overcompensating."
Her lips form a smirk, and she growls. "I'll try to remember that. But when it's good, it's hard not to share how much I fucking love it."
"You can tell me you like it, but I don't need to hear it seven different ways," he says. "You up for a field trip?"
"Food?"
He could use food, too. And some type of rehydration drink. "Yeah, we can stop and get food first, but I want to take you to the clubhouse. I want you to meet some people."
I t's still surreal how much more at home Venom feels in Griffin's Beach after just a few weeks than he ever did in Summerville where he spent years. It still feels like a dream. All his life, he's been an outsider. The one who was only kept around because he can and would do the dirty jobs no one else could stomach. He doesn't feel that way here. No one looks at him like he's a freak. They talk to him, joke with him, and drink with him. It feels like a real brotherhood here.
"Hey, Shep, is Lex around?" Venom asks as Cinder clings to his hand.
The dark-haired man lifts an eyebrow as he looks at Cinder, and something passes between them that Venom can't quite decipher. "She's out back. I'll get her for you."
The moment he's gone, Cinder whips around to face him. "Who the fuck is Lex?"
The jealousy in her tone, especially after he's talked about her so many times before, catches him off-guard. So much so, he forgets to ask if she knows Shep. "I've told you about her, Cinder. She's the one I was getting parts for the day we met."
"You brought me here to meet another woman?"
Releasing her hand, he shifts her aside to reduce the amount of attention they're gathering. "Stop it. There's nothing to be jealous about."
"I'm meeting another woman!" she hisses.
"And one you should try to make a good impression on."
"Why the fuck would I do that?"
"Because if I say I don't like you, Venom will probably drop you like a bad habit," Lex says from behind them.
Venom whips his head around to see Lex, and her appearance changes him from annoyed to startled to concerned in a matter of four seconds. She looks like she hasn't eaten in days and not slept in more than that. "Lex, this is Cinder."
"I figured," she says. "She's got attitude."
"You think he'll drop me after I fuck him senseless every night?" Cinder asks, her eyes narrowing as she sizes up Lex. "Just because you say so?"
Tilting her head, Lex just smirks. "I'll never tell him who he can or cannot date, but I don't keep my opinions to myself. If I don't like you, I'm going to tell you. And him. And if I don't like you, I'm not going to waste my time. He can, but I won't. Life's too short."
He decides he needs show he has loyalty, and he moves to stand beside Lex as he locks eyes with Cinder. Part of him hopes Cinder pisses Lex off and gives him a reason to drop her. Something with her isn't clicking outside of the bedroom. "If she doesn't think you're worth her time, you won't be worth mine. I'll be out."
"You two have fucked, haven't you?"
Lex snorts and holds her hands up. "And I'm done here."
"Because you seem to not remember," he says, his voice a growl, "Lex is like a big sister to me. You know, this is what I was looking for, and I think I got my answer. It's time to go."
"Wait," Cinder says and grabs Lex's hand to stop her from walking away. Lex looks down at it like something disgusting just splashed up onto her arm. Considering she's a mother, Venom can only assume how bad something must be to meet her definition of disgusting. "I have a hard time sharing. Only child. Plus, I really like him."
Nodding, she sniffles. "If you hurt him, I'll curb stomp you."
For some inexplicable reason, this earns a smile from Cinder. "You do that often?"
"Only on special occasions."
"I have a few tips to make it more impactful and painful. If you want."
Lex raises an eyebrow. "You do it often?"
"I have a short fuse."
"You don't say."
The two women stare each other down, and Venom can't decide if they're bonding or threatening each other when Colt walks up.
"It comes from being raised by my dad. He's tough, and I got a lot of shit growing up because he owns a junkyard. Didn't matter how much money he made, he dealt with trash," Cinder says.
So that's why she's such a hard person. She had to be tough.
"I get that," Lex says. "Grew up a biker's kid."
"Oh, good. They're bonding," Colt says. "No offense, you look... Fuck it, you look batshit crazy. We have about all the crazy women we can handle already."
Lex turns to her husband. "She can teach me to be even crazier, and when I get crazy, that usually means good things for you. In the bedroom."
"I think you might hurt him, actually," Cinder says.
"Never," Colt says and bites his lip as he stares into Lex's eyes.
Smiling, she winks at him. "I'll be back there in a minute."
"Have fun," he says and slaps Venom on the shoulder. "Seriously, though, this has disaster written all over it, but maybe that's just what you need."
"Excuse me," Cinder says, stepping forward. "You got a lot to say for a man about to get his ass kicked by a woman."
Lex steps in front of him, her face barely an inch away from Cinder's. "Touch him, and I won't stop at curb stomping you. You'll see how much tougher a biker woman is than someone who plays with cars."
"Hey, he started it."
"And I'm fucking ending it. Step back in your fucking place before I put you there. You say you have a short fuse, but you have no idea how fucking short mine is these days. He's not someone you mess with. I don't play when it comes to my husband."
Seeming to understand the severity of her mistake, Cinder steps back and looks at Colt. "I apologize."
"Yeah, okay. You good, baby?"
"I'm fine," she says, but Lex never takes her eyes from Cinder.
Colt walks away, and Cinder looks at Venom for some clarity. He just shrugs because he has no idea where they stand either.
"Did I pass?" Cinder asks. "Am I okay, or am I out?"
The blonde looks at Venom before sighing. "You pass. For now. Come for my husband again, though, and it will be the last thing you ever do in this clubhouse."
"For now?"
"I haven't made up my mind yet, so you're in a probationary period."
That doesn't sit well with Cinder. "Because of how I reacted tonight or because of that slut who broke Venom's heart?"
Hearing Cinder refer to Marnie as a slut makes Venom's scalp burn. She's got a lot of opinions about people she doesn't know, and it's not sitting well with him.
To her credit, Lex doesn't seem to like this much either. "That woman you're talking about is a part of this club. She's also a daughter, like me. I can say shit like that, even though I don't, but you don't get to."
"But—"
"No, there is no but with you and that statement. She's a part of the club. A woman of the club. You're nothing. Maybe if you make it to old lady status, it'll be different, but if you want to stay on my good side, you're going to keep any comments about the women here to yourself. Unless they're bunnies. Piss them off and curb stomp them for all I care."
It's obvious Cinder doesn't agree with this, and she definitely doesn't like being given orders, but she seems to catch the drift that pissing off Lex will hurt more than help. "Understood," she says through clenched teeth.
"Have a good night. I'm going to go fuck my husband now."
Grabbing Cinder, Venom damn near carries her down the hallway to his apartment that luckily sits on the opposite side of Colt's before she can say a word. The moment the door closes, he strips her naked, guides her to the bed, and buries his face between her legs. The best way to get aggression out of Cinder without her using her fists is in bed.
"Yeah, you better fucking eat me for how well I held my tongue," she says, her legs opening wider.
He flicks his tongue teasingly before slipping three fingers inside her, making her moan. She swings her legs up onto his shoulders and digs her heels into his back to make a point as he holds back his wince at the pain.
"Fuck, suck my clit, baby," she pants. "Just like that. "Yes, yes... YES!"
Most men would be thrilled, but the ability to bring Cinder to orgasm so quickly frustrates Venom. There's no challenge. No real effort required. Not like Marnie.
Stop it! Stop thinking her.
"You've really never fucked Lex?" Cinder asks.
Standing, he says, "Never even thought about it." He strips naked and points at his cock. "Get on your knees."
She smiles and does as he commands, taking him into her mouth. Wrapping her hair in his fist and twisting it around his wrist, he slams into her mouth, forcing her to take him all the way into the back of her throat. Her gag reflex isn't sensitive, and she likes it rough. It's the one thing he loves about taking her to bed. There are very few limits, none of which he's encountered yet, and it's interesting in its own right.
"Suck my cock, you dirty whore," he growls.
Moaning, she sucks him to the point her cheeks hollow out, and he comes hard in the back of her throat. She swallows every drop before he slides out of her mouth. Smiling up at him, she says, "Only your dirty whore."
"Better be," he growls and helps her stand.
"Are we staying here tonight?"
They move to lie on the bed, and he almost wants to take her home. Leave her there and come back here to sleep alone. "I figure we can sleep at my place unless you want me to take you home."
"How much sleep were you planning on getting?"
Sex is almost becoming exhausting, but maybe it's because there's nothing more than a physical connection with her. She doesn't let him in enough to know her on a personal level, and sex is really all they have between them. If someone asked her favorite color, he'd have to guess. Her favorite food? No fucking clue. But worse, she knows nothing about him, either, and she doesn't seem to want to know.
"I wasn't thinking about going to sleep right now."
"Any chance you have any lube sitting around here?"
He narrows his eyes. Cinder never needs help in that area. In fact, it borders on too much wetness sometimes. "Feeling a little dry?"
"What I want you to do to me requires a little help."
The meaning isn't lost on him, and he lifts his eyebrows. He's never done it, but he's immediately standing at attention and ready to give it a shot. "I know who I can get some from."
"Lex?"
"Gross, no. Jace and Mel. They're freaky as hell. I heard they have a sex swing set up, and there have been requests to have them soundproof his apartment. Give me a sec, and I'll be back," he says, scrambling to put on his jeans and heading into the hallway.
Shep grabs his arm and pulls him away from his room, and he wants to push the man off him. He's got an opportunity he hasn't had before, and he wants to find what he needs and get back to the naked woman in his bed.
"Look, I gotta go get—"
"Dude, you gotta be careful with that one," Shep says.
"What?" The look passed between the two of them comes back into his mind, and he realizes Shep knows Cinder in the way Venom knows Cinder. Maybe better. "Wait, you and Cinder...?"
He looks at the ground. "Heidi can't know, or she'll lose her fucking mind. Cinder's someone I sort of hooked up with for a while right before Heidi. No one knew because that chick is batshit crazy, but the sex was fucking incredible. Until it got to be too much. She took a bat to a bike she thought was mine, pushed it in front of a semi-truck, and then put it in her dad's car crusher. It wasn't mine, thank God, and the owner pressed charges. She spent twenty months in county for it."
"You fucked her?"
"Every which way and then some. Let her do some freaky things to me, too, but it got to be too much. I called it off, and she lost it. The only reason she never came after me when she was released is because there another guy she fixated on. Heard he ended up in an institution afterwards. Not sure how true that one is. Just... be careful. She's got more than a few screws loose."
The older man walks back into the main room, and Venom looks conflicted. He can handle a crazy chick, but should he? Does he stop this before it goes too far?
She's offering up a golden opportunity, idiot. I'll figure this out afterwards.
He hurries towards Jace and Mel's room, pushing the concern he's had nagging him since he met Cinder out of his mind for at least one more night.