Beautiful Venom: A Dark Hockey Romance (Vipers Book 1)

Warmth blooms across my face.

Both because of the blood rushing to my head and the embarrassment of being carried out of the club like a sack of potatoes.

People watch us, their whispers penetrating my ears and drowning out the music, but they part for Kane without being prompted. No one dares to get in his way as he strides with determined ease.

My stomach is draped over his broad, taut shoulder, and his big arm is wrapped tightly around my ass, restricting my movements.

“Let me go!” I scream over the loud music.

Either he doesn’t hear me or he doesn’t care.

I wiggle and lift my head, but it’s no use.

I think I see Preston dragging a laughing Marcus into the shadows while still having him in a chokehold, but the scene disappears as Kane walks out of the club.

Icy air envelops me and goosebumps erupt on my skin, mingling with the bubbling anger coursing through me. I ball my hands into fists and bang on his muscled back, his waist—anywhere I can reach.

“Put me down⁠—”

My words end in a gasp when he smacks my ass. Hard. So hard, my pussy throbs.

So hard, I’m scared that if I brush against him one more time, I might embarrass myself.

Apparently, my body didn’t catch the memo that we’re closed for business.

I punch his back again, needing to escape this humiliation. “I said put me down!”

Smack.

I jolt against his shoulder and my nipples harden against his back due to something entirely different from the cold.

“Run your mouth again and I’ll fuck you here and now, Dahlia.”

“Let me go, you fucking asshole!”

My world tilts off its axis as he maneuvers and slams me against the hood of a car.

His car.

“If you wanted to be fucked, all you had to do was beg for it.”

My back is glued to the cool metal, my hands pressed at my sides, and I’m spread-eagled, my dress riding up to expose the lace thong Megan said I needed with this type of dress.

The parking lot’s lights flicker, forming shadows on Kane’s stoic face. His chest that’s usually so calm and controlled is now rising and falling in an unprecedented rhythm.

The more his darkened gaze sweeps over me, the harder it is to breathe.

He leans down, blocking the horizon, and thrusts his knee between my parted legs. A tremor ripples through me as his hand skims over my skin before he grabs the dress’s fallen strap and twists it between his lean fingers.

“You had the fucking audacity to come to my territory, wearing the dress I fucking bought you, while wrapped all over another man.”

There’s a deceptive calm to his words, but his voice is rough, unrefined, edged with a barely contained fury. He’s also cursing, so he’s not as much in control as he pretends to be.

I support myself on my elbows and lift my chin, acting like his presence is meaningless and not—in fact—messing with my head. “Why would you care? We’re done, aren’t we? I’m nothing, aren’t I?”

“You are nothing. You’re so below nothing, you don’t even exist on the map.”

Rage ignites deep in my belly, but I force a smile. “And yet here you are. Acting unlike yourself for a nothing.”

His shoulders bunch tightly, coiled with tension, and his authoritative tone wraps around every word. “I’m only warning you that while you’re working for the team, you can’t flaunt yourself around with our rival.”

“What I do on my own time is none of your business. Whether I flaunt myself with your rival or let him fuck me or ride his cock all night isn’t something you should worry about.” I push at his chest. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a date to finish with Marcus.”

One minute, I’m sitting, the next, Kane’s hand wraps around my throat and he shoves me back against the car, his grip not choking, but tight enough to render me motionless.

A breeze sweeps through his hair as he hovers over me like a monster, and his words come out clipped. “You seem to have been deluded into thinking you can allow another cock to claim you, Dahlia. The thing is, you don’t have that liberty. You can’t belong to anyone else when you’re fucking mine.”

He lowers his head, his lips hovering over my mouth, so close, I can taste the violent passion. So close, his hot breaths mingle with mine.

And for a moment, I want to give in. To let him consume me again.

Own me.

Show me that what we share is only ours.

I don’t know what fabric people are made of, but his and mine are identical. We revel in the hate and violence, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss his touch.

Or the liberty that comes with relinquishing my control to him.

But I didn’t go through all of this shit just to get him back.

Things have to happen on my terms.

At the last second, I turn my face, looking at the silver car parked next to his.

Kane pauses, his grip loosening a little from around my throat as if he’s been caught off guard.

I look at him again and, sure enough, a puzzled look takes refuge in his icy eyes and his brows dip. He can’t imagine me refusing a kiss, especially since I was always the one who initiated them.

Craved them.

Demanded them.

Not now, though.

My fingers wrap around his hand that’s on my throat. “Tell me you care about me first.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“I know I did, but I’m not sure whether or not you’re joking.”

“I’m not. I want to hear you say you care, and that, from now on, you’ll allow me to get close. I want a true relationship, not a sex-buddies situation. You’ll take me on dates and tell me about yourself. You’ll watch movies with me and let me just chill at your place, even if there’s no sex involved.”

He pauses.

I pause, too.

That’s not what I had planned. I only wished for him to stop pushing me away, but maybe, deep down, that’s exactly what I’ve wanted this whole time.

I really hate it when he emotionally abandons me as soon as the sex is over.

It didn’t bother me in the beginning, but then it started to make me feel anxious.

“You’re out of your mind,” he says in a bewildered tone.

But he still has his hand on my throat.

He still hasn’t left, his fingers burning metaphorical holes in my skin.

“For wanting normal?” I ask.

“We’re not fucking normal, Dahlia.”

“I know, but sex isn’t all we have either, no matter how much you try to convince yourself that’s the case.”

His fingers tighten around my neck. I can see the conflict in his eyes—that part of him that fits perfectly with mine—wavering, flickering, but there’s also his annoying control-freak part, the one that always drags him back behind his defenses.noveldrama

The part I’ve never managed to win against.

“The answer is no.” He releases my neck with a shove.

My heart falls and a piercing pain rips through my rib cage.

“I can fuck you if you need that, but there will be no relationship.”

I press my trembling lips together. “A relationship or no fucking.”

He shrugs.

“Fine.” I plaster a smile. “Step aside. I have a date to go back to.”

A muscle jumps in his cheek. “Don’t make me go back in there and choke him to death.”

“Be my guest. I’ll find others.”

“I’ll slice each and every one of their throats. Go ahead. Fucking test me.”

“You won’t possibly know them all.”

“Try me.”

“It’ll be a hassle to clean up.”

“I have enough money to take care of the problem.” He squeezes my chin with his fingers. “You let another man put his hands on you and it’ll be the last time they touch anything.”

“You’d rather go through all that damn trouble than be in a relationship with me?” I shout, shoving at his chest. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“You!” he shouts back, the veins in his neck nearly popping. “You’re everything that’s fucking wrong with me. You’re ruining my goddamn life.”

“You’re destroying mine!”

“Then walk the fuck away, Dahlia.”

“Let me go, then!”

“I already did!”

“No, you didn’t. It’s not considered letting go if you threaten to kill my possible prospects, Kane.”

“You have no other prospects but me.” He yanks my dress to my waist, exposing my panties.

A shiver rushes through me. I’ve been soaking wet since he carried me out, but it became worse with his touch and the back-and-forth.

I’m burning for him in ways I’ve never felt toward anyone else.

In ways I can’t truly control.

It will feel good when he touches me. I know it will, but I simply can’t tolerate what happens afterward anymore.

I slap his hand away. “Don’t touch me unless you’re ready to fully commit. And this is not a ‘don’t touch me that means you can use me.’ This is a ‘red,’ Kane.”

He freezes, his index finger twitching, then he steps back and runs his hand through his hair. “Fuck!”

I’ve never used the safe word, not even when I thought it could get to be a bit too much. I loved it when it hurt, when he fucked me so hard I couldn’t walk for a while.

But I’m using it now. This is the red line I didn’t know I had.

I refuse to have his body without his heart—and soul, if need be.

I refuse to be another stop on his journey. And even if I end up being that, I want to be the unforgettable stop he can’t purge out of his mind.

The one episode in his past that he can’t stop thinking about.

“Fuck!” he roars louder, but this time, he clutches my jaw again. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re asking for, Dahlia.”

“I don’t care.”

“You’ll regret this.”

“I won’t.”

“If this happens, you can never back off.”

“That’s okay.” I stroke his face, mirroring his ruthlessness with my gentle touch. “Kiss m⁠—”

The last word isn’t even out of my mouth before he slams his lips to mine, kissing me with so much fervor, my head spins.

Maybe it’s because I haven’t touched him for a long time, but everything is electrifying. The brush of his lips against mine, the pads of his fingers tilting my jaw back so he can deepen the kiss, his hand fisting in my hair, his jeans brushing against my thighs.

Everything.

This kiss is claiming but also surrendering.

He wants me. So much so, he can’t hold back.

I’d like to think he needs me enough that he doesn’t want to let go.

And I need him, too. He’s the only man I’ve ever craved with every fiber of my being.

My hand slides over his lean waist, his back, touching, stroking. I’ve been so deprived of him, I’ve experienced withdrawal symptoms.

This kiss is my long-awaited hit.

Still kissing me, he releases my jaw and I pause, thinking he’ll push my hands away as usual, but he reaches between us and the sound of a buckle echoes in the air.

“Kane…” I whisper, half excited, half horrified. “We’re in a public place.”

“You should’ve thought about that before you provoked me. All bets are off, wildflower.”

I moan as he rubs his hard cock against my panties, over my clit. Pleasure pools at the base of my belly as he repeats the motion agonizingly slowly.

“You’re so fucking wet.” He slides the flimsy fabric aside and glides the length of his cock against my slit. “You’ve been dying for my cock, huh?”

“Oh God.” I wrap my arms around his neck.

“Or is this because you planned to fuck Osborn, hmm?” He aligns the crown with my opening.

I clench, so ready to suck him inside me, but he only thrusts the tip in slow, shallow movements.

“Kane…” I groan in frustration.

“Tell me, Dahlia. Did you doll up and turn into a fucking goddess for Osborn tonight?”

“It was for you, asshole.” I wiggle against the car.

“For me, huh?”

“Yeah.” I pant as if I’ve just finished a marathon. “I knew you’d be jealous.”

“Hmm, so it was to make me jealous?” He thrusts his entire massive cock in one go.

Jesus.

This man is a beast. It’s been some time, so it hurts, but it’s a good pain.

The pain I’ve been missing.

Kane doesn’t move for a few seconds, his cock throbbing inside me as I get accustomed to the size.

Both his arms slam on either side of my face as his molten gaze sinks into mine, a dark glint growing in his light eyes.

“What else did you want to accomplish tonight, Dahlia?”

“Prove you can’t let me go.” I scratch at his neck and grin. “I was right.”

He retreats and then thrusts back in. I scream, my back arching against the metal.

Oh fuck. I almost forgot how brutal he can get. And how much I love it.

A grin paints my lips. “You’re crazy.”

“Because of you.” He drives into me again, his rhythm picking up.

“I’m crazy too, you know.” I bite the lobe of his ear and whisper, “If I see another woman’s claws on you again, I’ll invite you to watch my next orgy.”

He grabs my hair and shoves me back so that he’s staring down at me. “You need to stop bringing up other men when you’re being railed by my cock.”

“Does that mean I can bring them up at another time—” I moan when he thrusts against that pleasure spot, my lips forming in an O.

“What was that?” His mouth pulls in an evil grin.

Why is this man so damn hot?

“I said I can bring them—oh fuck!” He rams into me in quick succession, so I have no choice but to cling to him, my words turning into intelligible moans.

He fucks me deep and hard, just the way I like it.

He fucks me like he hates me.

But he doesn’t. Not in the least.

He lets me hold on to him and hugs my back.

“You need to shut that fucking mouth, Dahlia. This cunt is mine. You are fucking mine.” He slaps my ass cheek. “Do you understand?”

Tears gush from my eyes, but they’re pleasure tears. The tears only this man can provoke.

My nails dig into his neck, and I bite on the lobe of his ear, then moan. “I’m not sure I do.”

“Watch it.” He sinks his teeth into my bottom lip and pulls. “You’re provoking me.”

“Is it working?” I moan as he hits that spot again.

“Jesus fucking Christ.” He pushes me into the car and lifts my legs up so that they’re resting on his shoulders.

The new angle gives him deeper access and Kane uses it to his advantage. He thrusts into me harder, faster, the car rocking beneath our weight.

“Want me to ruin you, Dahlia? Want me to fucking claim you so if anyone comes out and sees us, they know who the fuck you belong to?”

My ears ring and I’m barely listening as the wave grows near.

“That’s it.” He circles my clit. “Come for me.”

I do.

Deeply.

Fiercely.

Uncontrollably.

Kane claims my bruised lips, eating up my scream.

I roll my hips, riding the wave, kissing him back, getting so lost, I forget where we are.

As his movements turn more frantic, more urgent, I grab his face with both hands and pull away. A trail of saliva connects us as I whisper, “Come with me, please.”

“Mine,” he growls, his mouth devouring mine, and then I feel it.

The warmth.

The deep warmth that fills my insides.

He comes for a long time, his cum filling me up and gushing out, on the car, the dress—everywhere.

“Such a fucking mess,” he grunts against my lips.

“Your mess.” I kiss the tip of his nose, feeling so damn light and happy.

I thought happiness was snuggling up with Vi at the end of a long day and watching a true crime documentary or trash TV while eating popcorn.

Happiness used to be having a roof over our heads and sorting out the month’s bills.

Happiness was a scholarship, a small door of opportunity, or a stranger handing us their used clothes.

But right now, as Kane mutters a curse and carries me in his arms, I realize there’s a different type.

Happiness I didn’t know I needed.

Happiness that scares the living hell out of me, but I still want it anyway.