Page 84 of Tempting Venom

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“Waiting for you to answer my question.”

“Why does it matter? Just…” His eyes dart to the stick, then back to me. “Go on.”

“Not until you answer.”

“You—”

“Do you want to be hurt by me, Preston?”

He nods once.

I shake my head. “Use your words.”

“Yeah.” He gulps, the word barely audible.

“Full words.”

“I want to be hurt,” he grumbles. “Happy now, you piece of shit?”

“Very.” I grin, stepping toward him, and he holds his breath.

“Are you…going to use the stick?” There’s a certain awe in his words, as if he can’t believe it himself.

“Yeah.” I grab a fistful of his ass, and he gets on his toes as I bring my palm down on the red flesh in a violent slap. “What’s your safe word, baby?”

“F-friends.”

I chuckle darkly in his ear. “We’llneverbe friends.”

“Thank fuck for that,” he grumbles, but his eyes are bright and expectant.

Alive.

And it makesmefeel alive.

Complicated. Everything about him iscomplicated.

And the harsh reality is—I can’t stay away.

12

PRESTON

Iknow what you’re thinking, brain, and I swear it’s not what it looks like.

Says me…to my own brain…which means it’s literally my brain arguing with itself, trying to spin this into something less apocalyptic than it actually is.

Because how the hell am I supposed to explain this disaster to myself?

And itisa disaster. A catastrophic, end-times mess.

First, I have a full-blown panic attack in front of Marcus because ofissues.The same issues Dr. Duret and Dr. Fenwick are failing to fix because they’re apparently using Pinterest mood boards instead of medical degrees.

Then I let the same man who witnessed that beautiful performance of “Preston Loses His Shit Live” dothisto me.

I don’t even know what “this” is, but it involves him shoving me into a locker with his massive, muscular body pressed against mine.

He’s heavy.

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