Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas

“What the hell?” someone bellows.
I look up, seeing Liv standing in the doorway as I hover over Megan on
the floor.
Liv runs up, flipping on the light. She takes in Megan and me and dives
down to pick up her friend; Megan shivering like a scared rabbit as she
grapples onto Liv.
Liv turns to me. “What the hell is the matter with you?”
Her brothers spill into the house behind her, and I grab the flag from the
table and bolt out the back door and into the yard.
Patting my hand over my mouth and singing, I dance into the forest. “I
got the flaaaaag,” I call out. “Come and get it!”
I dart back toward the village and Callum’s car, but in moments, Liv is on
my tail. I feel something muddy hit the back of my knee, and I’m on the
ground, flipping onto my back and looking up at her.
She comes down, pinning my wrists to the ground.
“Get me off the ground,” I order.
“In the dirt is where you belong!” she spits out. “You’ve never been
uglier to me. How could you do that to her? What the fuck is wrong with
you?”
I don’t answer, clenching my teeth so my chin doesn’t quiver.
I know she’s right. The walls close in, and sometimes I feel like I want to
die.
“That money and that house doesn’t make you clean,” she says. “It just
provides a shield of defenders who are only there because they hope to get
something out of you. They don’t love you. No one loves you!”
She rises, and I pause, her words sinking so deep I can’t breathe.
In a fog, I climb to my feet.
“What, am I supposed to treat you like glass because you have a dead
brother?” she bites out. “I’m supposed to make an exception for your
behavior, even though a toddler has better fucking manners than you do?”
I clutch the flag in my fist as she advances on me and backs me into a
tree.
“I swallow your shit,” she growls, her cheeks flushed, “because you’re
not important enough to spare an effort, but I’ve reached my limit. I’m tired
of hearing that I’m not good enough. That I deserve to be treated like
garbage, because of who I am or where I come from or who I want to be
with.”