Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas

arms.
I want her so bad, I can’t breathe.
I pull away from her, almost in pain, and step quietly through the crowd
to the doors. I leave the gym, heading to my locker, because Liv has rehearsal
and then work tonight, and I have etiquette class as well as some final prep
for the ball.
The wait to see her will be worth it, though.
I round the corner, but I spot Callum, and I stop dead. He has a junior girl
pressed into the lockers, and he holds her face, his tongue halfway down her
throat.
I tense, my eyes scanning down her knobby-knees and turquoise flats that
don’t even match our uniforms.
But her brow work is nice, I guess.
They both look over at me, a slow grin curling Callum’s mouth and a
startled look in her eyes. He leans into her ear, whispering, and she looks at
me again before ducking out and leaving us. She heads down the hall in the
opposite direction, but she needn’t have bothered. I don’t need to talk to him.
I walk, passing him, but he grabs my arm. “You know why you don’t tell
me to take a hike?” he asks as I pry myself out of his hold. “Because I’m an
investment. You know I need you.”
I narrow my eyes, and he falls into me, my back hitting the lockers as he
plants his hands on both sides of my head.
“You know that I know that I’m nothing, and you know the life I
promise,” he continues.
I tip up my chin. Is that what he thinks? That I keep him around because
I’m just too excited to assume the same role my mother has with my father?
A trophy wife to take care of the kids and represent the charities?
“I’m not like my father, Clay.” He stares down at me, and I can smell the
girl’s perfume on him. “A powerful man needs a powerful woman, not a
weak one. And you will have power.” He pushes off the locker and stands up
straight. “You’ll have your lovers in college, and I’ll have mine, and after it’s
all done, we’ll come home and build a fucking city. We’ll be quite a team.”
I want to laugh. Like I need him to do any of that.
He takes my face, and I flinch, shoving his hand away. But he comes
back in and pulls me into him just as Liv appears around the corner.
I turn to her, my heart stopping as she halts, and the look in her eyes hits
me like a ton of bricks. I go weak in Callum’s arms for only a split second,