Chapter 26 – IVY
Chapter
Twenty-Six
IVY
We make it back home in one piece even though I insisted something was wrong with the plane and we were going to die.
I admit, I may have overreacted a bit, but it freaks me out how something so big can just be flying through the air.
Venom comforted me as best he could, which was sweet. The first few weeks of knowing Venom, I never thought I would use that word to describe him, but he has peeled back so many of his layers, slowly revealing to me the man he truly is.
The door slams shut behind us as we walk into Venom’s house, causing him to look back at me. “Sorry, that door is heavy as shit.”
“If you go around slamming doors, I’m gonna think you’re upset with me, darlin’, and then I’ll have to try to make up for whatever I did wrong,” he says as he pulls me into him.
“Oh. Well then, never mind. Maybe I am upset,” I tease.
“Mmm.” He grabs my face and kisses me.
When we pull away, something from our peripheral vision catches our attention.
Evelyn is now standing in the foyer staring at us with a smile on her face.
“We’re home,” I sign and smile at her.
“Yes, I felt the door close from the other side of the house. I thought I would be walking in on something much different.”
“She kissed me, for the record,” Venom quips, and I swat his arm.
Evelyn just continues smiling as she watches us, looking rather pleased with this new progress in our relationship.
“How’s the ladies doing?” Venom signs and asks aloud.
“Doing well. They all behaved. And how about you?” She raises her brows.
“Did I behave?” He looks over to me, grinning, then back to Evelyn. “Hardly.”
She shakes her head. “I’m glad you’re both okay. Are you hungry? I can put something together.”
“That would be great. I could definitely eat,” I say.
“Mmm, yes. I could eat as well,” Venom says, then eyes me with a playful expression causing me to blush.
Evelyn nods and walks away toward the kitchen.
“Behave!” I scold.
“You should know that’s not something I’m capable of. Especially when I still have the taste of you on my tongue, sweet beast.”
My thoughts instantly go back to the plane ride when part of Venom’s method of comforting me was eating my pussy until my body was trembling from what his mouth was doing instead of how turbulent the ride was.
Feeling flustered, I shake my head. “I’m gonna go help Evelyn.”
After eating, Venom, Evelyn and I spend some time in the greenhouse.
We both seem to have missed it, and I love when Evelyn joins us.
It feels amazing to be back in here, surrounded by such beauty and the familiar scent.
Venom checks on his pets and plants, tending to some in need of extra love while Evelyn sticks by me.
“These are my favorite,” Evelyn signs, smiling at a section of purple hood-shaped flowers with long bodies.
“What’s it called?”
Evelyn begins to spell it out when Venom walks up behind me. “Monkshood. Although you might recognize it by its other names, Wolfsbane or even Queen of Poisons.”
“I’ve definitely heard of Wolfsbane before. Wasn’t aware what they looked like. Wolfsbane is poisonous, right?”
“Right. Aconitine, a neurotoxin, is found in the Monkshood plant. I use it often. Ev has always said they looked like the most beautiful wildflowers.”
“They are beautiful.” I look to Ev and sign out loud.
“Beautiful and deadly,” Venom says. “Just like someone else I know.” He kisses my cheek and walks down an aisle.
I look back to Evelyn and see her smiling at me. My cheeks flush and I look away.
Evelyn touches my shoulder, getting my attention again. “I’m going to bed. Goodnight.”
“Okay, night.”
I continue watering some plants when suddenly something catches my eye, something with blue iridescent scales. “Venom! Shit, shit, shit. Venom!” I yell.
He comes running over. “Christ woman, why are you hollering like a rooster at dawn?”
“There’s a snake! In the plant.” He pushes away some of the leaves and inspects the area. “There! Right there!” I point to the thing.
“Oh, it’s just Mya. She’s quite alright. She likes to take her naps in the foliage.”
My eyes widen. “You mean, there are snakes just roaming around freely?”
“Of course, darlin’. I don’t hold my pets prisoner. Some even find their way into the main house. The ones on their best behavior are free to go where they'd like.” He winks.
“You mean the ones that aren't venomous?”
“Sure. If that's what makes you feel better.”
“Venom!” I throw my hands up in frustration. “I just don't want to almost die again.”
He chuckles. “Leave them be and you’ll do just fine. I do think eventually y’all will become friendly.” He pats my head.
“Doubtful.” I roll my eyes.
Placing a finger under my chin, he tilts my head, so I can meet his eyes. “We did, didn't we?”
“Something like that.” I can’t help but smile at the thought of how far we’ve come.
He leans in closer. “I still bite though,” he says in my ear, causing a shiver to dance up my spine.
I bite the inside of my lip to distract myself and move to put some distance between us when he grabs my arm and spins me back to him.
“Don’t run off just yet.” His finger gently grazes my cheek as he stares into my eyes. “My heart is reckless for you. I’m a mad man, darlin’, ready to give my life for just one more taste of your poison.”
I can’t resist him. This beautiful complex man standing in front of me is my weakness.
I want him as much as he wants me and now that we’ve gotten a taste of one another, we’re addicts, constantly craving for more, even if it ends us.
Because now, as an uneasy feeling rushes through me, I realize if I were to be without this man, I would simply die. “Take what you need,” I whisper.
He grabs me, bends me over a table full of lush green plants, thankfully not the one Mya is napping in, and pulls down my pants.
His hands stroke over my ass, kneading and smacking it.
I whimper when I feel his teeth sink into the tender flesh of my ass before he kisses the same spot.
I close my eyes and arch into him. He chuckles and descends to his knees.
A finger grazes over my seam before I feel his warm tongue slip between my pussy from behind as he continues kneading my ass cheeks.
“Mmm, yes,” I murmur.
My body begins to shake when his tongue spears into me.
A moment later, he replaces it with his fingers, reaching deeper inside me and drawing out more pleasure as he focuses on my clit.
I grip the edge of the table, vines from a plant tickling my face as he gets his fill of me.
My ass is smacked again and bit hard while his fingers still pump into me. “Oh, fuck.”
He pushes up my shirt, leans over me and begins peppering kisses along my back, still maintaining the rhythm between my thighs. My hair is roughly pulled back, forcing me to look at him with a groan.
“Christ, you’re such a good little viper. Now come for me. Give me your sweetness.” His voice is deep and smooth but teeters on the edge of becoming feral.
With my body bent over a table of plants and Venom’s fingers fucking me, I come. He drops down and replaces his hand with his mouth as he sucks up my juices.
My knees nearly give out, but Venom doesn’t let me fall. His mouth lingers between my thighs until he’s had his fill, then he rises, gathers me against his chest, and carries me from the greenhouse straight to his bathroom upstairs.
We sit in a warm bath, Venom behind me as he washes my hair so tenderly, even stopping to kiss the scars on my back.
“I admire you,” he says.
“What?” Where’s that coming from?”
“I was just thinking about how you’ve been given endless opportunities in your life to either break or be strong and you have showed up standing tall with teeth bared every time.”
I smile.
After a moment, I break the silence. “You know… you were never the villain.”
“You didn’t know me before all this,” he says solemnly.
I turn toward him and straddle his lap. “Well, I know who you are now, the person whose always been there underneath everything. The man you’ve become. And it’s far from a villain.”
“Does that mean I get a happy ending, after all?”
Smirking, I wrap my arms around his neck. “Time will tell, I suppose.”
A silence fills the room as we stare into each other’s eyes. He pushes a wet strand of hair away from my forehead before his eyes search mine, and then he kisses me. I grip him tighter, my hips pushing into him as the kiss grows passionate.
We break apart, and I look into his blue eyes again. An undeniable feeling washes over me.
I love him.
I’m so fucking in love with him.
After blow-drying my hair, I find Venom already in bed. He reaches into his nightstand and pulls out a battered, familiar book.
“Is that—”
“Yes. I told you it was one of my comfort reads as a child.”
“You kept it all these years?” My surprise bleeds into my voice.
“All three of my favorite. Every now and then I pick one up and read a few chapters. Just to feel that same magic I felt as a lost child.”
“That’s actually really beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as you, darlin’. Now come closer.
” Still naked, I crawl between his legs and rest my head on him.
He opens the book and begins to read. While his voice threads through the story, I trace invisible shapes across his thigh, circles and spirals and nonsense patterns, and he combs his fingers through my freshly dried hair. I’ve never felt more at peace.
This is what it feels like to love someone.
The thought hits me so hard I sit up before I can stop myself. “Venom?”
“Hmm?” He lowers the book, giving me his full attention.
“I need to say something.” His brows furrow, curious. I straddle him. His eyes dip to my breasts before climbing back to my face. “I love you.” Something flickers across his eyes—too quick to name. I give a nervous laugh. “I’m in love with you, Venom. You have my heart.”
His mouth opens as if he’s going to speak but closes again. Instead, he smiles, grabs the back of my head, and kisses me. In the next heartbeat he rolls me beneath him, sliding into me with slow, deliberate care.
It’s not rushed and not rough. Each movement feels like a vow, like he’s trying to tell me something without words. For a moment, I believe he is.
When we’re both spent and breathing each other in, he stands, pulls on sweatpants, and leaves the room without a word.
He might have just made love to me, but he didn’t say he loved me back.
He didn’t say it back.
I stare at the door after it clicks shut. Did I misread everything? Am I a fool for giving him my heart? I was sure he felt the same.
The longer I lie there, the more unsettled and hollow I feel. I slip out of his bed and retreat to mine.
Alone.