Page 57 of Deception
I do have a ride or die. Venom. He’d do anything for me.
Kai Russell, a strawberry blonde Marnie barely knows, joins. “I guess I am, too, right?”
“Hey, Creeper, how do you feel about this asshole calling your daughter a club whore?” Lex calls.
“Hey, Snake?” Creeper responds. “Fuck you. My daughter is not a club whore.”
“I wasn’t talking about anyone exceptmydaughter,” Snake defends.
Shrugging, Lex sighs. “You see, that’s where you’re just fucking wrong. Why would her situation be any different from the rest of us?”
“Because he’s fucking trash.”
Her drink splashes in his face so fast that Marnie didn’t even see Lex’s arm move. “The only trash in here right now is you, Snake. You don’t get to come into this clubhouse and insult oneof our old ladies. And you sure as fuck don’t get to say anything about our Sergeant at Arms.”
“Throw another drink in my face and see what I do,” he growls and wipes tequila from his face.
Marnie backs up against Venom. Whether out of fear of what Snake will do or how Venom will react, she’s not sure. All she knows is that she wants him out of the line of fire.
“Here, take mine,” Lily offers.
Taking the amber liquid filled glass, Lex tosses it in Snake’s face and steps forward to look directly into his eyes. “Now what?”
“I’d be real fucking careful what you do next,” Colt growls, his voice low and menacing from behind Marnie’s father. “You see, I have a personal issue with a father degrading his daughter like you just did, and I won’t stand for insults against my officers. Don’t even get me started on threats against my wife.”
“Especially because he’s not an officer anymore,” Ky says. “Big, tough guy doesn’t even have that Secretary patch on his kutte anymore.”
“It’s really not a smart move to insultourwomen,” Phoenix says and walks up to wrap his arm around Lily.
Looking around, her father realizes he won’t win any fight in this room, especially now, and he shakes his head. “This is a family matter.”
It’s Marnie’s turn to step up. Everyone else has done their part, but she needs to make sure Venom knows she meant everything she’s told him. She’ll choose him over everything.
“If you can’t accept that Venom and I are together, that’s on you, Dad,” she says.
“Marnie—”
“A good father would be happy his daughter found a man who not only loves her more than anyone else ever could but also protects her and makes her feel safe.”
“He’s a monster.”
Her slap against his face surprises even her. The anger quickly takes over her shock, and she glares at him. “If you can’t accept this, then you don’t get to be part of my life. I love him, and he’s done more for me than you know. More than you deserve to know.”
“You’re going to choose the guy you’re fucking over me?”
Just like Venom had to, Marnie has to choose. Venom or her father. “Yes,” she says, her back straight and chin out. “If you can’t accept him as the man I love and want to be with, then I choose him. He should be the one issuing me an ultimatum, but he wouldn’t do that to me. He’d suffer through your bullshit. For me. He’d do anything for me.”
Nodding, Snake backs away. “You’re choosing that piece of garbage you’re fucking over your father?”
“If you think what they have is as simple asfucking, you don’t have the slightest clue,” Lex says. “That’s like saying your marriage, which is still kind of on the rocks right now, is nothing more than ten years of being unable to please your wife in bed. Is that the most important part of your marriage?”
“Shut your fucking mouth.”
“Hey, you started this, asshole,” she says and holds her hands up.
TK laughs. “She’s right. And if you haven’t figured out yet, Lex is really fucking good at finishing shit.”
Holding his own hands up, Snake locks eyes with Marnie and shakes his head. “Fine. You want him? You can have him, but you don’t have a father anymore.”
