Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas

“I notice men.” I wave the air, clearing the smoke. “Your sweat and
stench, however, trumps any attraction.”
“I can shower.” He eyes me. “Wanna help?”
Help him shower? “What are you doing?” I ask. My ire perks up that he’d
make a pass when he knows I’m seeing Liv. I didn’t peg him for a shitty
brother.
“I don’t trust you,” he tells me, turning down the music and speeding
down the road. “I think you’ll hurt her. I think you’ll get her into a situation
that will devastate her.”
He thinks he knows me.
“She acts tough, but everyone’s the same,” he goes on. “They just want
someone to love, and when a Jaeger gets attached, it’s as quick as flipping a
switch, Clay. It’ll be sudden, and she won’t be able to turn it off.”
A flutter hits my heart, and I’m surprised at myself. I don’t feel that from
Liv, but the way he describes it, I really want to.
“I don’t want to hurt her,” I say.
“But you hide her.”
I frown. Everyone gets hurt by love at some point. It’s not my intention,
but who knows where the next few weeks will take us. I just want to be here.
Today. Now. With her. The future is uncertain. Why worry about it?
“We’re none of your business,” I tell him.
“If I decide it’s my business, it’s my business.” His tone is deep and
suddenly biting. “And I’m the nice one, so it would be wise to have this
conversation with me and not one of the others.”
“We’re keeping it quiet,” I explain as if he’s entitled to that. “We’re
going off to different schools in the fall, and we don’t want others distracting
us from what time we have together. Liv agreed.”
“Well, what was she supposed to say? The alternative was demanding
you out yourself, which you never would have agreed to, so she took the
scraps she could get.” He takes a drag of his cigarette. “She’s used to that.”
That’s not true. Why would he say that? When the choice was either
being with someone else—Megan or that ex at the lighthouse—she chose to
be with me, knowing I could be using her and I might end up hurting her? It
doesn’t make sense.
“Liv is very outspoken,” I point out. “She would’ve raised her concerns.
She wouldn’t have sacrificed her pride to be a booty call, if it was a
problem.”