Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas

I look at her through the water in my own eyes, faltering. Leave her?
“Just like your mother left you,” she says.
Excuse me? If she thinks she knows shit about my mother…
But she just shakes her head. “Trysta, right? Trysta Jaeger and her six
kids that she left when she hung herself in her fucking bathroom.”
I exhale hard, grinding my teeth together. I am nothing like my mother.
I’m not abandoning Clay. I’ll fucking run from her.
She backs away, tossing the marker onto the table and grabs her bag, T-
shirt, and phone. “Tell Lavinia I’ll be in to pick up the dress on Tuesday.”
And she spins around, heads offstage, and disappears.
I wait until I hear the heavy back door slam shut, and then I let out a
breath.
A couple of tears spill to the floor as I glance down at my body. But
immediately look away before I can take in everything she did to me.
I pick up the sweats and pull them on as quickly as I can, followed by the
T-shirt. I look around, finding my shoes, but…
I don’t see my underwear.
Where the hell are my underwear?
I swing around left and again right, lifting up my wet clothes, but I don’t
see them anywhere.
My shoulders slump. She took them. What is she going to do with them?
Goddammit. I wipe my tears before any more can fall, take my stuff, and
leave the theater, shoes in hand.
It’s still raining outside, but I don’t run to my car. My energy is gone. I
walk.
She knows where to hit, doesn’t she? She could do or say anything. She
could have my brothers arrested with the slightest accusation.
She could have Martelle fired.
She could probably get Dartmouth to rescind my acceptance letter if she
knew about it. All it would take is putting me in the path of scandal or arrest,
and Dartmouth would wash their hands of me.
She didn’t go for those kills, though. Putting herself in my house, at my
table, in one of my brothers’ beds… Home wouldn’t even be safe for me
anymore.
I drive through town, speeding because I’m anxious, but I don’t want to
go home.
Looking over, I see the dress shop ahead, the Closed sign hanging on the