Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas

she give him this role?
He cocks his head, studying me. “Do you really think that’s what stood in
your way?” He steps toward me slowly. “Don’t you think Lambert would’ve
given that role to say…Clay, if she’d asked?”
I unbutton the coat but keep my eyes on him as he continues to move
closer. Callum and Clay deserve each other. Both rotten human beings who
won’t realize the snake in the other as long as they distract themselves with
how beautiful they are together.
Callum continues, “I have no doubt you’ll pull yourself up out of the
swamps and truly live a life that makes you happy, Liv, because you deserve
it,” he says, stopping a few feet before me. “You do. You’re better than us,
and don’t think I don’t know that.”
I’m glad.
“But it won’t be here,” he tells me. “And it won’t be soon.”
I remain quiet, letting my eyes flit left and right to make sure he’s alone.
He always seems to travel with backup, and while he’s never tried anything,
he will.
“Why do you think Clay hates you so much?” he presses but doesn’t wait
for an answer. “Because she knows this is the last time that she’ll ever be
more than what you are.”
“She was never more or better.”
“She would’ve gotten Mercutio,” he retorts.
I clench my teeth, and I know he sees it, because his smile grows.
He’s right. They wouldn’t have said no to her, or probably anyone else at
this school.
And I can lie to myself all I want and say that I need this part to get some
experience under me before I apply as a Theater major in college, but the
truth is, I’m hungry. I want to be seen before I leave this fucking place.
By my brothers. By this school. I can’t leave Marymount or St. Carmen a
nobody.
Someday, I’m going to be a voice to others and relay how I barely had
any friends. How Clay Collins made it so I never belonged here. How her
mother renovated the fucking locker room showers three years ago so I didn’t
ogle their naked daughters.
“Do you want the role?” he asks.
I lift my eyes to his.
He tips his chin. “It’s yours.”