“Morning,” I keep my tone casual, like normal, and wait for her response. I don’t take my eyes off her body, and quickly enough she’s responding to me.
“Morning,” it’s one word, but I’ll take it.
“Coffee should be done in a few minutes,” I say matter-of-factly, carefully assessing the situation in front of me.
“Cool.” Her tone is so cold, and her voice is gravelly, like she’s parched or she’s fighting back the urge to bust out into tears before my very eyes. I’d bet on the latter.
“What’s going on with you?” I cut straight to the point, waiting for some sort of response. A few moments pass by and I still don’t get it, so I speak up again, only this time I clear my throat, “Venom, what the hell is going on?”
She moves her hands from her face and stares right at me. “Nothing.”
“You’ve never been a bad liar until now,” I’m blunt, but I get straight to the point.
She pinches her lips together and I don’t miss the way she curses under her breath. While she’s making her frustration clear, I don’t give a flying fuck. I want to get to the bottom of this.
“Just leave it alone, will you?”
“Not gonna happen. I’ve bit my tongue for a few days and I’m not going to ignore something happening blatantly right in front of my eyes. You’ve been drinking more, sleeping less. You’re snapping at the people who care about you . . . what for? What the fuck is going on?” I really wish I knew her name, that I could pull it out of a hat but I don’t know that about her. Hell, I don’t think any of us do. After she first came here, I brought it up to Boss, but Boss told me it didn’t matter what her past was, or if she wanted to keep things from us, how it was a safe place and she could keep whatever demons she had in the past right where they were. It’s insane. Venom is as close to me as Emerson is and yet I don’t even know her fucking name.
“Nothing is going on. I’m just tired. I told you already.”
“Bullshit. Something’s going on and you’re not talking to anyone. How are you even getting it out?” At this point my tone’s getting nastier as I’m now getting frustrated. She could’ve just told me and I might’ve been able to help her somehow, but instead she’s only getting more and more upset, more guarded.
“It’s my business, Ricochet. If you don’t like it then oh well,” Venom snaps in my direction and the coffee beeps at the same time, signaling it’s ready.
I turn around and get her a cup before getting one for myself, then go and hand one off to her. She leaves the cup on the island for a minute before taking it, and while I’m aggravated as hell with her, it is a peace offering of sorts.
I stand while she sits and we both sip on our coffees. After a few minutes, I think we’ve both calmed down enough to speak normally. “If you’re not gonna talk to me about it, will you at least get your energy out somehow?”
Venom raises her brows. “Yeah, and how do you suggest I do that?”
I shrug my shoulders and take a sip of coffee. “I don’t know. A fucking workout? Something to get your heart rate up and some sweat goin’.”
“I’m not fucking you,” Venom immediately says.
“When did I ever suggest that? Jesus. I mean, you need a workout. Fuck. You finish your coffee and then I wanna take you somewhere.”
Thankfully she didn’t put up a fight when it came to this. She finished her damn coffee, changed her outfit and met me back downstairs. Now we’re walking down the street and I’m about to take her to the one place where I find solace. Some people go to church, or temple. Not me. I come here—the gym.
I’m not one of those muscle heads who lift weights and get into bodybuilding competitions. But, every now and again I need to get some frustrations out in a positive way. There isn’t always stuff goin’ on at the club. I mean, we get into issues with people and whatnot, but it isn’t like those situations are ref’d and you have someone telling you if you’re takin’ it too damn far. While I don’t mind my adrenaline pumping every now and again with a situation I can’t control, I don’t go looking for trouble. It’s how I became good friends with Frank, who owns the place around the corner.
I pull the door open for Venom and the two of us walk in. Not many people are here this early in the morning, but Frank and a few of his boys are always around. It’s like they never leave the place. “Aye, Ricochet! What’s up, my man?” Frank calls over to me, standing from where he was sitting a moment ago. He’s wearing some sort of jogger outfit and has a gold chain hangin’ around his neck.
“Nothin’ much, just comin’ here to get some steam burnt off. This is Venom, she’s in the club with me. Venom, this is Frank.” The two of them say their introductions and I cut to the chase. “You got anyone she can spar with for a bit?”
He grimaces. “Not right now, man. Marlena won’t be in until seven at least but knowin’ you you’re not gonna be around that long.”
“Yeah, maybe twenty, thirty minutes,” I reply.
“Alright, you spar with her then. You know how to take it easy, and I know you won’t hurt her, so you help ‘er get out whatever she needs to.” Frank’s opened up his gym to everyone who needs
