Page 141 of Tempting Venom
I wish he were that shallow; it would be so easy to deal with him then.
“It’s becausethis idiot—” Jude squeezes my shoulder. “—decided to burn Osborn’s bike out of spite. Told you he won’t sit still. He’s not the type.”
“How do you know what type he is?” I’m obviously fishing for info, because I realized with staggering perplexity that I know close to nothing about Marcus.
The man I let touch me in the obscenest ways possible and kissed out of impulse—no, we’renottalking about that, I was high and it doesn’t count—is a complete mystery.
Yes, sure. He’s the Osborn’s illegitimate child. He was brought up by a single mom who works as a head nurse in Stantonville’s hospital. He studies mechanical engineering at that hellhole SRC and has been playing hockey almost as long as we have. He earned the position of captain of the Wolves last year, and he’s a star of the college league and the god of that ghetto town.
Oh, and he’s a mechanic. Odd—but not surprising, I guess. He’s good with his hands.
Not that I’mthinkingof his hands.
But anyway, all that information is basic as fuck and was obtained by a simple background check from Hayes. And yes, I ordered a background check. I might have asked Hayes for a more detailed one.
Don’t judge. Need to be prepared or some shit, as Kane always says.
The point is, I need more information about the guy who’s messing with my head.
“Have you seen him on the ice?” Jude says. “He holds grudges.”
I frown. “Osborn holds grudges? He’s as clean-cut as boring Kane over here.”
“No,” Kane says. “He’s more antagonistic, to put it lightly. You don’t watch the Wolves game replays, so you might not have noticed this, but if anyone crosses him, they’ll get it one way or another before the end of the game. Sort of like with Jude. But unlike Jude, Osborn doesn’t slam back right away, risking penalties. He’s patient and calculative, willing to let the rage simmer, then he strikes back at the exact opportune moment.”
“He’s also extremely violent,” Jude says. “Some players who’ve gone against him have ended up with permanent damage.”
“Extremely violentcoming from you?” I gawk. “Who are you and what have you done to my bestie? Show yourself, Jude’s imposter!”
“Jude is right. Osborn is truly violent. You just don’t see it in full gory detail like with Jude since he’s not impulsive. His strikes are harsher because they’re premeditated.” Kane sighs. “Calculated violence is more dangerous than impulsive violence.”
Calculated violence, huh?
Was it also calculated violence when he decided to fuck with me?
Now that I think about it, during the years of rivalry, there was always this invisible string between us, and I wasn’t quite sure what it was. And while he did target me like he had a vendetta against me, I thought it was a normal hockey thing, you know?
But maybe it wasn’t?
Marcus’s fixation on me started after that game where I called his mom names. Apparently, he holds a grudge—and here I thought I was the pettiest petty of all petties—so maybe it didn’t end after he checked me all the way to Sunday.
Or won the game.
Or made me look like a goddamn fool.
Maybe this entire thing has been a game to him. Not that I treated it any differently, right?
My grip tightens around the stick as all sorts of thoughts crowd my brain and the static heightens.
“Point is,” Jude says. “Stop needlessly provoking Osborn, Preston.”
“I’m not scared of him.” I snap my fingers. “It should be the other way around. I could kill him in his sleep.”
“You could, but your father wouldn’t be thrilled about it,” Kane says. “He’s basically one of us now, though not officially for some reason.”
I narrow my eyes. “What reason?”
“Beats me.” Kane shrugs. “His father doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to bring him back.”
