Page 36 of Going Home

"Sounds good."

Gavin can't stop staring at her ass as she walks up the steps and into the house, and he really wishes the guys hadn't shown up already. He definitely wants to get to know Hailey a lot better.

"Stop staring at her ass," Ky says, slapping him upside the head.

"Can't. She's hot. And stop being so abusive. Someone might call the authorities on your asses," he says.

The comment earns him playful punches from both older men, but he doesn't mind. He can't get Hailey out of his mind now, and he plans to take his sweet time with whatever they've tasked him with in hopes of talking to her again.

Chapter Thirteen

Griffin's Beach

Venom

Venomstepsoutsideofthe clubhouse to get some air. He'd hoped spending time in Griffin's Beach would lessen the desire he has for Marnie Banks, but the truth is, it's done the complete opposite. That old saying of distance making the heart grow fonder seems to be true, and he can't decide which would be worse: Staying in Summerville and seeing her everywhere without being able to have her or being here in Griffin's Beach where he still loves her but can't see her.

Neither option sounds more appealing over the other, but this is the best option for him to stick to his guns. No pun intended. All his life, he'd been told he wasn't good enough. Unworthy. Trashy. Dirt. Everyone couldn't be wrong, could they? Hell, even the men in Summerville treated he as though he was bordering on leprosy. And those guys were his brothers.

But then Lex came along. For the first time in his life, Venom felt like he might just be worth knowing. He both loves and hates her for doing that to him. Because she made him realize he's more than dirt, he lost the woman he's madly in love with.

No, that's not true. I can't lose what I never had. And I never really had Marnie for more than an hour or two a night. But I might've put up with it a little longer if Lex hadn't come around telling me I was worth more than Marnie could give me. Damn her.

What he lies awake at night thinking about is why the woman he loves can't love him back. She knew how to hurt him without trying, and when she agreed with her father that he was nothing more than dirt, he knew it was the end. She saw him as beneath her, and he probably is. He also can't remember hurting as much as he had the night it all came crashing down around him.

That's not true, either. Walking away from her, telling her that whatever situation-ship we had was done, hurt the worst. Someone could've stuck hot spikes under my toenails, and I don't think it would've even fazed me.

Last night, out of spite, he went to the gas station and bought a pack of cigarettes. Venom quit because Marnie told him she hates guys who smoke, and he hasn't picked one up since. Until now. He just stares at the white paper covered roll of tobacco as he rolls it between his fingers. If he smokes, it's a giantfuck youto the woman who took his heart without even knowing she had it. The woman he hates that he loves.

"I thought you quit."

He whips around to see Marnie standing behind him. "What are you doing here?"

"Can we talk?"

"About what? The real estate here in Griffin's Beach compared to Summerville? Pretty much the same. Okay, bye."

Her dark hair frames her round face, and she looks like a damn angel. She cut it a few inches, and it stops just before her collarbone. "That's not what I want to talk about, Venom."

"No."

Her perfect eyebrows furrow as she frowns at him. "No?"

Does she tweeze her eyebrows to get them so damn perfect? Wait, her mom is a hairdresser. She probably has them waxed or some shit. Maybe lasered. Why the fuck am I so concerned about her damned eyebrows?"There's nothing to talk about."

"I want to talk about us."

He lets out a sigh and shakes his head. "This," he says, motioning a hand between them, "doesn't exist. Not anymore. In fact, according to you, it never did. We were just having fun."

Her hand reaches out and takes his, but he pulls it away like she wears one of those cheesy shocker doo-dads from the nineties every dad thought was hilarious. No, it doesn't shock him. It freezes him. An icy burn that one feels before frostbite sets in and requires amputation.

Marnie looks so hurt by his reaction. "What if I want it to exist?"

"You live in Summerville. I live in Griffin's Beach."

"That can be remedied."

"No, it can't, Marnie," he says, shaking his head and taking a few steps backwards. "It can't."

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