Page 18 of Craving Venom

You’re full of shit.

Keep telling yourself that. But let me ask you something, if I’m so full of shit, why haven’t you blocked me yet?

He’s baiting me, and I know it. But I don’t have an answer.

Maybe I just like proving you wrong.

Or maybe you like the way it feels. That thrill, that rush when you step close enough to the edge to see what’s on the other side. Good girls like you are addicted to the danger, even when they’re too scared to admit it.

Addicted to danger? The fuck is he talking about? I’m not addicted to anything. If anything, I’m appalled by the way he twists everything, like some demented mirror that only reflects the worst parts of you.

Stop calling me a good girl. I’m not a good girl.

Sure, sure. Whatever you say...good girl.

My teeth grind, and I’m about to throw my phone across the room or maybe just hit him with a reply that’ll wipe that smug tone off his imaginary face when my phone buzzes in my hand. The name “Tria” flashes across the screen, accompanied by the sharp trill of her ringtone.

“Shit,” I mutter. Tria. Her messages. All twenty of them that I completely forgot to reply to.

With one last glance at Zane’s message, and the infuriatinggood girlsitting there like a challenge, I swipe to answer the call.

“Hey,” I say, trying to sound casual.

“Hey? Hey?” Tria’s voice is sharp enough to cut through the phone. “Faith, you ghosted me for a whole day! I thought you were dead or, I don’t know, kidnapped or something!”

“Sorry, I—”

“Twenty messages, Faith. Twenty. You better have a damn good reason, because I swear if you flaked on me for some moody crime documentary binge again—”

“It wasn’t that,” I cut in quickly. “I just... got caught up with something.”

“Caught up with what? And don’t you dare say ‘nothing.’”

“I’m not saying ‘nothing.’ It was... work stuff.” It’s not entirely a lie. Zane is technically work. Just not in the way Tria would expect.

She groans. “You’re always working. You’re going to fry your brain one of these days, Faith. You know that, right?”

I don’t answer. My gaze flickers back to the screen, where Zane’s last message is still sitting, waiting, taunting me.

“Are you even listening?”

“Yes, I’m listening,” I say quickly. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t reply. I’ll read through everything you sent and—”

“You better,” she interrupts. “And you owe me coffee for the emotional damage you’ve caused me.”

I can’t help but smile a little. “Deal. Tomorrow?”

“Deal.” Tria’s voice softens for half a second before it hardens again. “But I still hate that you ignored me. Seriously, Faith, I was about two minutes away from filing a missing persons report.”

I stretch my legs out, toes curling against the cold floor, and exhale loudly. “You know how I get sometimes. I didn’t mean to—”

“Uh-huh.” She cuts me off sharply. “But you can’t blame me for being paranoid. Especially after last night.”

My brows knit together as I scan my memory for what she’s talking about. “Last night?” I repeat slowly. And then, it clicks.

Oh, no.

“Tria, no,” I groan.

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