Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas

heard of Biscayne Bay.
Bay… Not Sanoa Bay.
The gears in my head turn, and I’m afraid to ask. Nothing happens in this
town without going through my grandmother, but I’m not sure I want to
know. I was joking with Liv about Sanoa Bay being leveled for a golf course,
because it’s been a threat since we were born. No one ever thought it would
actually happen.
I tuck the suspicion away for the moment and smile up at her. “We can’t
all be as strong as you, Mimi.”
“You see what I want you to see.”
Her eyes fall away from me, something else playing behind them.
“Every woman has her secrets, Clay,” she tells me. “We all have our sins,
and I’m not special. You can have whatever you want, as many times as you
want, for however long you want.” She nudges my chin again. “As long as it
stays a secret.”
I can’t hold back my smile. “I can’t believe you’re telling me that.”
“Refusing yourself the things you need to feel alive only brings two
consequences: detriment or death. We would break.”
I stare at her.
“We can have what we want,” she tells me again. “Quietly.”
“What if it hurts to hide?”
“Oh, Clay.” She shakes her head like I’m so naïve, but it’s not in a way
that offends me. “Everyone hides. The generations before you devoted their
lives to building something that lasted. Working for the duty and legacy they
inherited. It was important.” She pauses before she continues. “But that inch
—those quick minutes they carved out in the shadows—that’s what they
lived for.”
My blood warms under my skin, the hair on my arms rising, and all of a
sudden, the possibilities seem endless tonight. An inch… I rub the inside of
my finger, brushing my tattoo. I got it on my birthday in December to remind
me that there’s a piece of myself I hate and love and it drives me nuts, but I
need it, because it’s the only thing I look forward to. That place I can escape
to in my head where I can have the only thing I want anymore.
“As long as it stays secret,” she points out again.
Yes.
“That is the price, I’m afraid.”
I nod once. I can live with that. As long as I can have her. Thank you,