Chapter 88 Venom Inside
Eden’s Point of View
God, please let this be a dream… I prayed earnestly inside my head; I recited it over and over again within the second while my eyes darted up to see the man standing before me. His silver eyes were narrowed at me with an emotion that I hadn’t seen in a while—Longing.
I felt my breath hitch when his thin lips curved into a smile, his short dark hair framed his forehead, and strands of it fell to his eyes, giving him a much more lethal look.
My heart jumped in my chest, realizing this wasn’t a dream like I prayed it would be; it was a cruel, harsh reality.
Thorne looked so much different than what I remembered; he was way taller now, he seemed to have gathered more muscles, but his features remained soft and defined, reminding me of the reason I had been mindlessly in love with him—he feels more like a man now.
I blinked once, twice…trying to get out of the trance that I am in.
“You look as beautiful as always, My Eden.” Came his soft voice, and the moment he said that, I felt my heart pound, not from admiration, but from irritation. I twisted away from his touch, getting out of his embrace as if I was burned with fire.
I knew what this was… he was about to manipulate me—that lying, cheating scum of the earth.
“I’m sorry for bumping into you, thank you for catching me.” I quickly mumbled as I tried to walk past him, but then he grabbed me before I could scurry off. “Eden, love, please…” I pushed him away, twisting my hands out of his grip.
“Don’t you dare…” I seethed.
“Eden, whatever happened between us in the past is all in the past.”
“As it should be,” I murmured underneath my breath, trying to remind my foolish heart of the reason I had been so insecure for so long, the reason I still found it difficult to have sex and enjoy it without so much doubt in my heart.
“I know you have every reason to hate me and be angry at me, and I know I deserve it.” He tried to reach for me again, but I took another step backwards. “I am a changed person now; Eden, please just give me a chance to explain.”
“Explain what?” I asked not so curiously; I am not foolish enough to give this man a chance to cook up some lies to me. “I heard everything I needed to hear nine years ago; do you think I will stupidly forget that you cheated on me?”
He went silent.
“Or do you think I would forget you told me the only reason you kept me around was that you wanted to fuck me? Or the nasty text you sent me after I left you?” I was so close to losing everything right then, and screaming at him, but no matter what, this is my workplace, and I will maintain my self-respect.
His eyes burned with guilt and pain, but it was not enough; nothing he would do would ever be enough.
“I am sorry, but I only said that because I was angry.” He continued. “My brother was there, and I didn’t want to feel so useless…do you think I never cared about you? Do you think the only reason we dated for three years was that I wanted your virginity?”
“That is exactly what you said.” I snapped back.
“No, I didn’t mean it. We were teenagers in love, I was ready to wait for as long as you wanted, the only person I would do that for is you, Eden.” His fingers went into his dark hair, frustration evident in his eyes, but I don’t care—he didn’t expect to have it easy when this much venom has been sitting inside me for nine years now.
“Yeah, you waited so long with your other girls.” I chuckled bitterly.
“It was just one time.” He bit down on his lips, a little bit hesitant. “I know it’s not something to be proud of, but during our relationship, it was just one time I ever cheated on you.”
“I don’t care.” My voice was stiff and lacked emotion. I don’t even know who I was trying to convince, him or myself. “It doesn’t even matter to me if you did it once or one thousand times. I put my trust in you, and you broke it—yes, I cannot forgive you for even that, and since you know that I am married to your brother, you should at least have some dignity and act like you don’t know me.”
“I know the relationship you have with him, so it doesn’t matter to me.” He muttered, his voice gruff and impatient. “Do you think he loves you?”
“I don’t care.” I snapped back. “At least, I am certain he isn’t going to openly disrespect me.”
“You can’t be so sure, you don’t even know him.” He neared me again, and I took another step back, wondering why the hell this hallway was so empty this morning. “You don’t know who he truly is, how dangerous he is; you risk your life, spending even a second with that monster.”
“I thought I knew you, too, and you were my boyfriend, but you were worse than a monster.” I found the courage to suddenly approach him, and this time, he took a step backwards. “If you were so convinced that you were wrong, and you wanted me back, why did it take you nine years to reach out to me?”
“Do you think I didn’t try?” His voice rose again. “Yes, because you didn’t call me again after sending that nasty text to me.” I snapped my fingers. “And it was that easy to do. Or were you expecting me to chase after you?”
“That bastard, he is the cause of this.” Thorne suddenly blurted, and I paused, my eyes narrowing. “He deleted your contact from my phone, making sure that I never got to speak to you—I tried so hard to get it back, but it was impossible.”
I paused for a while, and in the midst of the seriousness, I burst into laughter.
“Whoa, you must really think I am stupid,” I say in between my laughs. “Do you intend to blame Theron for every single mistake on your end?” “It’s easy, you can just ask him, tell him about it, and see if he would have the confidence to tell you how terrible a person he is.” I felt my eyebrows fall. “I intended to text you at night to apologize when the tension had cooled off, but I realized your number was gone, Theron admits to removing your number from my phone because he wanted you instead.
I shook my head in refusal.
“No, you sent me a text—saying all the demeaning things in the world, and broke up with me.”
“I was never able to send you any text.” I felt my heart sink, and a small pain stirred underneath my stomach. “If you got any text from me after you left the cabin house, then that’s not me, that was Theron, and if you think I am lying, just ask him.”
No… this has to be some sort of joke.
I was about to say something else when I heard my name.
“Dr. Eden,” My eyes darted in the direction of Felicia, who had swollen eyes.
“Mrs. Benita is awake!”