Her warm breath hits my neck. “Your skin looks like it’s on fire,” she whispers, and I swear I can feel her tongue.
Fuck. I groan, my stomach shaking, because she says it like she’s in pain.
“Olivia,” she pleads.
And my clit throbs, my hand trembles, and the knife slips, slicing right into the side of my middle finger.
Shit! Pain shoots through my hand, I drop the knife, and pull away, gritting my teeth.
Goddammit, Clay.
Laughter erupts at the table, and I turn back, seeing her slide onto Callum’s lap, a self-satisfied smile on her stupid face.
I suck the blood off my finger, looking for any on hers, but it doesn’t look like she was cut at all.
“She does have that effect on me, too,” Callum says, pulling Clay back into his body by her throat and kissing her cheek.
I glare down at her. “You did that on purpose.”
She leans forward, out of his hold, but his hands remain on her, roaming her back like she’s his.
Clay plucks a fry out of the basket, Krisjen’s all smiles as she relishes her bestie’s suave skill with the dyke.
“So what do we get now that we won?” Clay asks me, eating the fry.
“You get to stay,” Trace replies behind me.
“We could stay anyway.”
I pick up my blade, sheathing it and sticking it into my pocket.
“You know,” Clay continues, “I will actually be sorry when my father levels this place. Just think…” She looks over her shoulder at Callum. “We’re sitting right about the ninth hole, right? You’ve seen the blueprints?”
He nods, and Dallas steps forward, but I hold up my arm, keeping him back.
“Such a waste of good key lime pie,” Milo offers.
“Well, the new community needs restaurants,” Clay tells her. “We’ll give Mariette a job.”
And then she pins me with a look, and no matter what we do, they know they’ll win. Not today, but eventually.
“A key lime pie!” Callum calls out to the server. “To go!”
They all start to get up, but I stop them. “Cancel that!” I tell Mariette. And I look at Clay. “Night Tide. You can cross the tracks.”
This isn’t her against me. It’s Saints versus Swamp. Let’s have some fun before everything is gone.
Clay hesitates. “The administration doesn’t allow that. We have to stay in St. Carmen.”
Night Tide is a senior tradition. A scavenger hunt around town. All night. There’s usually unsanctioned drinking and a secret scavenger hunt that is also not allowed by the administration.
I give her a loaded look. “We won’t tell.”
Callum listens close as Clay ponders, her friends letting her make the call.
“All of us,” she says.
I nod.
“All night.”
I nod again.
“And we can go anywhere.”
“You can try,” I say.
I won’t lose again.
“Deal,” she says.
They rise from their seats, Callum dropping some money on the table as they filter past us, toward the door.
But Clay stops at my side, speaking low and close again. “And you owe me a new dress,” she says.
She leaves, and I smile to myself. Yeah, good luck with that.
“What are you doing?” Dallas yanks me around. “Macon won’t agree to that.”
I ignore him and leave the restaurant, passing Army, Iron, and Aracely without a word. I make the short trek down the road to my house, walking past the open workshop. Macon works on a motorcycle while a few of the local boys watch him with beers in their hands.
Safe in my room, I lock the door, plug my phone into the charger, and fall to my bed, keeping the room dark.
I stare above me, the streetlight outside glowing across the ceiling as some Kansas song vibrates through the walls from the garage. My white Christmas lights decorate my wrought-iron headboard and border the window frame, reminding me of spotlights in the dark of a stage.
I’m an actress, inside and out. For years, I played my part well, as if everything was according to script and I knew what was coming. No surprises.
But tonight, the snake inside uncoiled, and it felt good. My venom wasn’t like hers, so I never thought it was deadly. I’d given Clay too much power the last four years.
I smile in the dark. I’m poison. I can be poison, too.
I take my pillow underneath my head and hug it to my chest, squeezing the fabric in my fists and burying my nose in it.
My desire for her earlier was nothing. Just confusion.
Maybe I’m still attracted to her like I was years ago, before I realized how hideous she was.
Or maybe I just hate her so much that I want her to see my power. A kiss that turns into a bite. A fight that turns into a fuck.
Any way I slice it, it isn’t good. I’ve never been a violent person, and I don’t want to hurt people.
I just…I don’t know. She’s changing me. I want to affect her.