Demons [Eddie Brock] Venom

6. Dream

She opens her mouth to speak, then clamps her jaw tight and grinds her teeth together. Nodding, knowing that she cannot get out of this, she heads to the bedroom where she knows a dress of his choice will be waiting. Along with jewelry that is gaudy and not her style at all; he's changed her, changed the foundation of which she once was.

Her teeth are still grinding as she slips into the red dress, adds the diamond tear-drop earrings and a matching necklace that lies in the crevice of her breasts. He enters the room moments after she slips into the little red heels that match -at least he knows she is incapable of walking in heels higher than an inch.

"Beautiful," he says to her, studying the reflection of her face in the mirror.

She hold his gaze only for a few seconds, a courtesy but one she must not maintain for too long -looking into the eyes of a predator brings out the feral animal inside of it. She so offers her sweetest smile, though it's so rich it makes her feel sick to her stomach, and turns to face him.

"Where are you taking me tonight?" she asks kindly.

"Only the finest place for the finest girl in the city."

She wants to correct him and say she is a woman, but she is too afraid, and so she must not be a true woman if she remains silent.

Rory jerked awake, startled by her dream, eyes frantically scanning to figure out exactly where she is. For a moment she recognized nothing, and then it seeps back into her, the familiarity. With a breath of relief, she told herself that she's not back there, with him. She's in Eddie's apartment, she deduced that she fell asleep on the couch when she was over. Glancing at her hands, she saw the wraps he put on them the night before.

"He tended to my wounds," she said with half a laugh. Then, she stretches her arms over her head and lets a yawn consume her, wake her.

Getting to tired feet, she walked over the Eddie's coffee maker and fixed a pot. She glanced at the half-open bedroom door and wondered if he was still asleep, then poured two cups of coffee. Recalling what Eddie took in his coffee last time, she did his cup up the way he liked. Walking over to the bedroom, she knocked on the door frame.

Eddie rustled in his bed, blanketless and fully clothed.

"Good morning, Sunshine," she said to him.

He craned his neck around and spotted her, a look of disappointment in his eyes.

She wasn't his ex-girlfriend, she knew that was what caused the disappointment. It didn't bother her, she wasn't here for a relationship, she was here to give him a cup of coffee and hope that he remained sane enough to stick around in the apartment building.

It was sad but true that she liked having him around, she liked knowing he would stick up for her whenever Mike came around.

Or if he came around.

"You're amazing," he said as he got up, taking the cup of coffee from her. He shifted just slightly as though he was about to kiss her on the cheek; it was obvious he did this with his ex-girlfriend, and it made Rory sad that he was still stuck in his old habits.

"Want to move in?" he asked playfully as he stepped into the light of the living room. The sun peered through the dusty windows.

She laughed loudly. "Oh no, I don't live with boys."

"Oh, I'm just a boy am I?"

She grinned. "Well the tater-tots in your freezer suggest that you might be in your teens."

He laughed, then pointed accusingly at her. "Raiding my house, huh?"

"Curiousity got the best of me, how else can I psycho-analyze you? Make sure you're not trying to pull a fast one, trick me into your home and life all while plotting my murder."

His eyebrows rose. "He really did a number on you."

"Yeah." She looked down, her hair falling into her face -her sweatband fell off sometime overnight and was laying on the floor by the couch. "But let's not dwell on the past."

"Perhaps we should, as it's still affecting your future. Hate to see a woman afraid of her own shadow because of people like him. People like Mike."

She realized he called her a woman, not a girl.

"I should go," she said as she placed her mug back on the counter.

"But you don't have to," he told her, offering her so much with those words. 

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