Agony

16

"Anyone found anything yet?" Ace asked.

We were back in Dallas's apartment, it was the next morning.

After picking up whatever the boys had come across, we were all extremely exhausted. Ellie stopped by her apartment to change into some of her own clothing. Veronica was there, she was shocked to see the both of us, but elated all the same.

We briefly hung out with her as the boys headed to Dallas's place. Afterward, Ellie and I joined them.

She and I slept in my room, Dallas in his, and Ace on the couch.

"Nothing," I frowned, flipping through one of my father's journals.

The boys had found a stack of almost twenty journals. I never knew my father liked to write as much as the journals expressed. He wrote daily entries, for years.

The one I'd just finished was from back when I was six. Nothing important happened. Even so, some of my father's notes were heartwarming, like him talking about picking me up early from school to go for an ice cream run.

The four of us were spread around the living room, flipping and skimming through the journals.

"I found a brief mention of Venom," Dallas announced, flipping through a grey journal. "But all it says is that your parents had a run-in with them and managed to get away."

"When was that?" I asked. If we could pinpoint the date where the whole thing started we'd be able to narrow the journals we needed to look at.

"Twenty years ago."

"How long has Venom been around?" Ellie asked aloud.

"No idea." Ace responded. "I grew up hearing my father talking about it."

"Off topic, but which one of your fathers was with your mother first?" I asked.

"My father," Ace replied. "He and our mother met back in high school. Dallas's father came into the picture three years after I was born, it was an affair. And out came my little half-brother."

Dallas snorted, "You make it sound like I'm some sort of alien."

"Maybe you are." Ace shrugged.

Dallas threw a tissue box at him.

Ace chucked a pillow back.

"How does that work though? Are your fathers enemies or something?" Ellie pitched in.

Dallas shook his head. "Quite the opposite. Both of them had a thing for our mother back in high school, and they were both best friends. Ace's father wasn't even bothered by the affair. Disgusting if you ask me, but they're both very close friends."

Interesting.

"So did your dad marry your mother?" I asked Dallas.

He shook his head. "Polygamy is not legal in America, thought you would be more educated, Cherry. You shouldn't have dropped out of med school."

I kicked him. "Shut up, med school wouldn't teach us that. Besides, how would I know? I'm not married. Hell, I'm not even in a relationship."

Dallas wiggled his brows suggestively. "I can change that."

This time I threw a pillow at him.

"If anyone is changing that, it's gonna be me." Ace argued.

I threw a second pillow at him, narrowly missing his head.

Dallas scoffed. "Good luck. You'll really need it after messing up the first time."

"Excuse you both, but I'm not getting involved with either one of you." I snapped.