Page 179 of Tempting Venom
After the rink, I ignored him. Not because he didn’t text first—he did—but he was deflecting as usual, resorting to that deplorable impatience of his.
Preston
Miley won’t stop yapping about you. It’s causing me troublesome auditory poisoning that I’m holding you accountable for.
Hello?
The asshole store called to order more of you.
If you keep ignoring me, I’ll introduce you to my friend—blunt force trauma.
Fine. Let’s pretend you’re not reading these texts as soon as I send them. We both know you can’t stay away from me, Marcus. Let’s see how long you can last before you’re on your knees where you belong.
The prick knows exactly how addicted I am to him. That’s why he keeps pulling these types of stunts left and right. He’s fully aware I won’t drop him.
I can stillpunishhim, though.
He’s been irritable lately. I know because I might have followed him around yesterday after school. What? I never said I’d punish myself—and not seeing his face for too long is certainly a punishment.
Let’s just say Preston is taking the punishment exactly how I’d expect Preston to take a punishment—dramatically.
He was throwing a fit and whining and fighting with Jude just because he got his coffee order wrong.
“Juuude!” he called as they were heading tohis car. “Did I say latte? Pretty damn sure I saidtriple-shot Americano. Black.Like your fucking soul.”
“You don’t need three shots,” Jude dismissed him, scrolling on his phone. “One is enough.”
“Oh, here we go. Doctor Jude picked up his brother’s annoying habits and is now prescribing caffeine limits. It’s ONE shot. One! What am I supposed to do with this—this…bean-flavored water?”
“Drink it.”
He took a sip and gagged theatrically. “Just so you know, this is a crime against humanity.”
“You’re being dramatic.”
“Dramatic? Me? You’re the one who messed up. I give you one task.One. Bring coffee. Not solve world hunger. Not develop a soul overnight. Justcoffee.”
Jude released an exasperated sigh as if he was used to this, and I, for some reason, didnotlike it. “I get your order right every other day. It’s not my problem you changed it today. If you keep bitching, I’ll kick you.”
“Try me, big man. I’ll bury you ten feet under.”
“It’s six feet, idiot.”
“Ten for you. So no one ever finds your sad, little corpse.”
I suppressed a smile, because, truly, he can be the most adorable grump, which is odd, because he’s also usually cheerful. At least, that’s the propaganda image he wears on campus and in the league.
Preston the prince. Preston, who has the personality of a saint, when, in fact, he’s the most high-maintenance person I’ve ever met.
I’m at a loss for what I can do to make him fall in line. Because he’s right. There’s only so much time I can go without him before it feels like I’m punishing myself instead of him.
I speed back home as the rain pours down harder, filling Stantonville’s roads with puddles.
The lights in the neighborhood are almost all broken, and only my headlight offers a reprieve from the night.
A tall, dark figure cuts in front of me as I’m about to stop. I hit the brakes hard as my eyes adjust.
Who the fuck?—?
