Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas

Turning, she rounds the table and heads up the stairs, my eyes
memorizing her body as I follow. When we reach the top, she veers left, and
we head down a hallway, over hardwood floors decorated with white Persian
runners and portraits on the walls in silver frames. Two blond kids on a
beach, building a sandcastle. A little boy on her dad’s shoulder as Clay and
her mom cheer next to him at a Florida State game. The two kids making
faces for the camera under the water, in a pool.
Clay stops at the first door on the right, but I’m already staring ahead at
the first door on the left, several feet farther down the hall. Dark blue,
wooden letters that read HENRY hang on the door above a tin sign warning
of “Gamer At Play—Do Not Disturb, No Girls Allowed (Except Mom)”.
She opens her door, but I tip my head toward her brother’s room. “Show
me.”
She shifts, looking uneasy, but doesn’t budge.
I study her. “When’s the last time you were in there?”
“I don’t go in there.”
I know I shouldn’t press it. What happened to Clay is devastating and
personal, but something pushes me toward her brother’s room, because I
want more between us.
“No, just…” She calls, running up to catch me. “Another time, okay?
Don’t ruin this. Don’t ruin tonight.”
“You were in my brother’s room,” I point out.
I saw the video. Everyone saw it. Macon wasn’t as livid as the rest of my
brothers, though, because Macon doesn’t look for fights with frilly teenage
girls who are just trying to get famous.
“Open the door, Clay.”
What happened to her brother had a profound impact on her. And on me,
as it would turn out. I need this piece of her.
She opens the door, probably because she knows I’ll leave if she doesn’t.
I step inside, the room dim but the curtains open and shining moonlight
on the floor. I walk into the room, keeping the lamps off and my feet gentle,
as if too hard a step will be disrespectful.
His twin bed sits made without a single wrinkle on the blue duvet cover,
the carpet beige, but everything else matches the bedspread. Light blue walls
with white trim. Blue curtains. Bookshelves, posters, a desk with art supplies,
and model cars and planes sit on shelves. A PS4 sits on a table under a
flatscreen on the wall, and a gumball machine sits on top of his dresser, still