Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas

her, my gaze catching the dimple on her cheek as she smirks, “who pass
judgments like all the other constipated Captain Americas on social media
who act like they really know anything when they’re just angry their life
sucks donkey nuts.”
The dimple grows deeper, her matte red lips pursing to keep her
amusement at bay. My heart thumps, and for a moment, I can’t look away.
Sometimes I get lost, looking at her. The shape of her nose that I’m kind of
jealous of. How soft the lobe of her ear looks. The way she chews the corner
of her mouth sometimes.
“Is everything okay?” someone says, snapping me out of it.
I turn my head, seeing Megan Martelle standing over us, holding a stack
of collection baskets. Her blue eyes flit between Liv and me, knowing very
well that this isn’t a friendly conversation, but lucky for her, this isn’t any of
her damn business.
“Fine, thanks,” I reply, my tone a big enough hint she’d have to be blind
to miss.
But she looks to Liv instead. “Liv?”
Excuse me? It’s not the name. It’s how she says it. Like they know each
other.
Liv must give her some gesture or something, because Martelle gives me
one last look and then slowly leaves, continuing down the aisle toward the
back of the church without another word.
What the hell is she thinking? Does she want to become my next hobby
or something?
I reach down and pull my backpack closer before turning my eyes back to
Liv to see if she’s watching her leave.
But she’s staring at me instead, amusement in her eyes.
“What the hell are you smiling at?” I demand.
She never loses her cool, and it pisses me off.
But she just replies, “You have a tattoo.”
Her gaze drifts to my hand, and I squeeze my fingers together, covering
it. All over again, I feel the needle carve into the inside of my middle finger
on my left hand.
Fair enough. I’d mocked tattooed feminazis, an umbrella term I tossed her
under, when, in fact, she doesn’t actually have any tattoos. Not even the one
of her family’s little Sanoa Bay gang—the snake and hourglass that she
wears on a bracelet around her wrist. Her brothers all seem to have it inked