Page 56 of Deception
“I don’t know,” she says. “I hope not.”
“Hope not what?” Marnie asks. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Have a conversation without actually having a conversation? He doesn’t complete his sentences, and you just know what he’s saying,” she says. “Teach me your ways.”
Kent laughs and taps the bar before straightening up. “Good luck with that. You can’t teach intuition.”
The Chapel doors open as Lex turns to answer, but she stops when Snake barrels out of the room and right towards Venom. He grabs Marnie’s man and slams him against the wall.
“Dad!” she shouts and jumps off the barstool.
“You fucking prick,” Snake growls. “You’re fucking my daughter, aren’t you?”
“Again with this obsession with your daughter’s sex life?” Lex says with a bored tone as she walks over to stand by Marnie. “It’s creepy at this point.”
Glancing at Lex, Marnie knows she’s buzzed, and she’s not helping. When she looks at Venom, her boyfriend just stares at her father without moving. Everyone knows he could break free and kill her father within seconds, but he doesn’t. Yet.
“What I am or am not doing with your grown daughter is none of your goddamn business.”
“The hell it’s not!”
“Dad, let him go!” Marnie cries and tries to pull his arm back.
Snake slams Venom against the wall again, nostrils flaring, and presses a forearm against his neck. “Are you fucking her?”
“Yes!” he growls. “Now take your arm off my throat before I rip it from your body and beat the shit out of you with it.”
Backing away, Snake clenches his fists but changes his mind before he swings. He pushes him into the wall but doesn’t hold him there this time. “Fuck you!”
“No, fuck you!” he shouts back and pushes him away. “I’ve kept my temper in check out of respect for Marnie, but touch me again, and I’ll make you wish I killed you.”
Marnie moves between them, keeping Venom behind her as she faces her father. “Stop it!”
“You… How could you let him turn you into a club whore?”
“What the fuck did you just call her?”
She puts her arms out wide to stop Venom from lunging at her father. The only way to do it would be to knock her down, and she knows he won’t.
She’d be lying if she said the words didn’t sting, and she can’t help but stare, stunned, as the tears burn in her eyes. Her father being angry wasn’t unexpected, but the hatred towards her was. It momentarily paralyzes her, making her look like a girl trying desperately to fly in large gusts of winds.
“How does that work, exactly?” Lex asks, her drink in her hand as she helps lower Marnie’s arms to her side. “You know, because with your logic, that would make me a club whore, too.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Snake asks and backs away.
Smart move, Dad. You smacked her before, and if you do it here, Mom will be burying you next to Grandpa.
“Well, Marnie’s a daughter of the club. So am I. She’s an old lady to a member of the club. So am I. If she’s a club whore, that means you think I am, too.”
“Me, too,” Lily says, and Marnie sees the fellow blonde daughter walk over to them. “I’d suggest not getting arrested anytime soon because you’re not really giving me warm and fuzzy feelings. I take offense to being called a whore of any kind.”
“And you just called the wife of the President a club whore. God, you’re one stupid motherfucker, aren’t you?”
Marnie looks at the three blondes. The lawyer wears what she’s come to learn is Lily’s signature outfit. A pencil skirt, three-inch heels, and a silk blouse. She moves so effortlessly in a way Marnie can’t comprehend, and she almost laughs at the three of them lined up like they are. All blonde. All varying attires. Professional, casual, and slutty. It’s the whole spectrum.
Melanie will jump in and defend Lex with anything, and Marnie suddenly longs for a friend like her. A ride or die. Even in Summerville, she’s not sure Sutton Cannon would have done that like Melanie does for Lex.
