Darling Venom

by Parker S. Huntington

“This is not the beginning of something,” Kellan warned. “If anything, it’s the end.”

She tasted like sweet venom. Warm and cottony and dreamlike. Deadly toxic. Gorgeously addictive.

“See you next year, Venom.”

Adolescent love is the greatest pain of all. It teaches you the power other people have to destroy you.

“Bet you all the pennies in your cheap little purse that I can make you drip cum on my face in less than ten seconds—before I even use my tongue or cock.”

Here’s a life lesson I’d never wanted to learn. Our secrets are nothing but a string of memories we wish to forget.

“I wasn’t concerned about your sex life because you were a patient,” he said casually. “I’m concerned about it because I want to fuck your brains out until you lose the ability to walk straight. Unfortunately for me.”

Once a year, for a stolen hour, I let myself be the venom. The toxin. The thing that poisoned her. But with one momentary lapse in selfishness, I pushed her away. I’ve regretted it every day since. For the first time, I saw Kellan. The thing that made him breathe and bleed. Me.

“Pain is growth. Fear is risk. You can’t be happy if you’re not growing and taking risks.”

“I love you, Charlotte Richards. I can’t promise you I’ll always be okay, but I can promise you I’ll always love you and I’ll never be ashamed to say it. Over the past five years, I lost myself in grief. But then I found the most precious thing in the world—you.”