Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas

call, jogging out of the workroom and into the dressing room. I hand Lavinia
the container I’d forgotten minutes ago. “Here you go.”
I hand it to her, and she takes a few out, sticking them to the magnet on
her wrist. Amy stands on the riser, her debutante dress a strapless A-line with
a simple belt around the waist tied with a bow. She pulls on her long white
gloves as Lavinia walks over to grab her matching shoes.
Amy meets my eyes in the mirror, her black eye from the fight the other
night just about gone. “You can tell that bitch I always have the last word,”
she says.
I pick up a couple of discarded tiaras and the flowers Amy probably
ordered Lavinia to cut off the dress. “Too bad for you Aracely isn’t interested
in talk,” I tell her, knowing the only way Amy can win anything is because of
her daddy. And I back away. “You should also be wearing champagne. You
look like death.”
Her red hair looks horrible against the dress, and I know there’s rules
about the colors they’re allowed to wear, but progress, people. Come on.
Heading back to the workroom, my phone buzzes with a notification.
I lift it up, seeing a missed text from Clay. That’s two in the past hour. At
least she waited until I was out of rehearsal before she started blowing up my
phone to do damage control about Callum.
I turn off the screen and go to set it down, but it buzzes again.
I can’t stop myself. I glance over. I don’t want him, the text reads.
Yeah, but you’ll choose him. I toss the phone down. I’m not mad. I just
don’t want to act like it’s okay, because it’s not. While she’s mine, she’s
mine, and no one else’s and that’s it.
The phone buzzes again, and every muscle tightens. I have work to do,
Clay.
But then it vibrates again, and I can’t resist.
You don’t care, right? She challenges me. We’re both leaving? This is
just fun, right?
My eyes burn. Yeah, it’s just fun, and...
I want you to care, she types. I want you to come and get me and take