He opened the door just as the footsteps reached the front of their apartment. “Speak softly. He is sleeping.”
“V-venom? You’re not dead.” There was no trace of black on their body; she was just that smart.
“Yes.”
It was a credit to her that she did not worry if Eddie was okay. She also did not seem particularly surprised by the news. Eddie was terrible at keeping secrets. Venom did not see the point; they could trust Anne.
“Did you text me?”
“We did, but Eddie fell asleep.”
She thought about that for a moment. “’We’, huh? I can come back later.” She started to turn away.
“Wait.” She paused and looked back to him. He twisted around Eddie’s intestines. “We… I am sorry. I did not think you would be strong enough to protect Eddie against Riot. I was wrong.”
“Understandable. I need to do more pushups,” she said. “Get swole?”
He relaxed. She was teasing. “Pushups are for losers,” he said. “We need to learn how to use the prey’s weakness against it.”
She smiled. She was not his perfect host, but they had shared an easy back and forth during their search for Eddie. “You’ll take care of each other, won’t you?” It wasn’t really a question.
“Yes.”
She nodded, her face straightening into seriousness. “Come to dinner on Friday,” she said. “I know where to get live lobster, and Eddie has a lot of things to say to us.”
Us. Anne and the man with the screeching machine. They were a “we”, too. A human type of “we”. Venom realized that they should have asked both over, even though he disliked Anne’s other.
Venom nodded. She eased the door closed and left. He remembered how to lock the door, having seen Eddie do it many times before.They did not need locks when they were home, but it made Eddie feel secure.
His Eddie worried too much. There were many strong forces around him, if he would only work in tandem with them.