Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas

mumbles, more like she’s arguing with herself than me. “What the fuck do I
care if Aracely rips out all your hair?”
“My crew plays dirty.” I hug her close. “Yours plays bloody. Don’t
worry, I know we won’t win tonight.”
“No, you won’t.”
“So, let’s go,” I say and then whisper into her ear. “Just you and me for
the next five minutes.”
She turns her head away from my whisper, but I feel her chest cave and
her stomach shake. I love feeling what I do to her.
“I hate you,” she growls. But she revs the bike and takes off, and I smile,
tucking my chin onto her shoulder.
Ditto.
I close my eyes, squeezing her until I’m sure she can’t escape. The wind
whips through my hair, and the scent of the palms hits my nose, and I wish it
was day. I wish I could see the clouds.
Heat pools low in my belly, and I hug her with my thighs, aware of her
everywhere.
Iron didn’t feel like this. She smells like—I tip my nose up under her ear.
Like one of those artisanal perfume oils popular in the hippie shops where
they suck up all the oxygen, burning incense, and then wonder why they
don’t have any customers.
But I like it on her. She smells like cherry lollipops and…summer. I dip
my nose in more, grazing her skin.
“Fuck me or cut it out, Clay,” she says, throwing me another scowl over
her shoulder. “Your bullshit isn’t funny.”
I keep my smile to myself. I pull my nose out of her neck, but I stay close
as we cruise into the Bay. This neighborhood was incorporated into St.
Carmen in 1942, but its residents only admitted that when they were forced to
give their addresses on a job application. To them, Sanoa Bay still lives, and
if anyone says they reside here, then you know their families have been
rooted on the land since the sixteenth century. No one moves into this
shithole by choice.
Liv zooms past overgrown properties and turns onto a muddy road,
sporadic streetlights lining the dark path before we come to the village center,
which is basically Mariette’s, a small motel, a gas station, a bar, and an
autobody shop where the kiddies can feed the alligators marshmallows while
you wait for your oil change.