Page 9 of Awakened by Sin

“Bar. You need liquid courage,” Carmen said.

“For what?”

“To give you the balls you need to get what you want in life.”

“I have what I want in life,” Alice hollered over the sound of the crowd.

Carmen shamelessly used her body to make a space for them at the bar. “Two Hookups,” she ordered.

“You can order a one-night stand at the bar?” Alice sounded scandalized.

Carmen laughed, pushed Alice onto a stool, and wrapped her arms around her. Alice was definitely a marshmallow and not ready to face the carnal sins that would come her way sooner or later. Innocence wasn’t a part of her world. It had never been. She could spot a prostitute or stripper at a glance, had a breast consultation before she graduated from high school, and made out with her friends so they would be pros with their boyfriends. Nothing was out of bounds.

Alice quivered. Was she getting ready to bolt? Carmen ran her hands over the other woman in a bid to soothe and distract. Alice jerked as if she had been shot.

“What, are you a virgin?” she asked without thinking.

Alice’s red face was all the answer she needed. Carmen stared at her. “Are you sure you’re not a Mormon?” Mormon’s were notorious for staying virgins until marriage.

Alice glared at her and didn’t answer.

“Are you sure you aren’t a lesbian?”

“Yes!”

“Then why are you—?”

“I’m focusing on my career.”

Alice was clearly frazzled and reached out for the cocktail placed in front of her. She took a sip, and her eyes widened.

“This tastes good,” she said, pleased.

Carmen didn’t bother to warn her how potent it was. “Drink up.”

It would be a long night.

2

Four Months Ago

“You like that, baby?”

Carmen didn’t respond to her dance partner. She had no idea what he looked like and didn’t care. All she cared about was the relentless beat, the liquor flowing through her veins, and the bulge pressed against her ass.

Tonight was the night. She would exorcise Vinny once and for all. She couldn’t take it anymore. She needed to feel something—need, excitement, anticipation, lust—anything but sorrow. Lyla was pregnant, content in her marriage, and making plans for the future. Her mother now had such a busy social life that she barely saw her anymore. Everyone had moved on except her. The fact that the monster who called the hit on Vinny was still on the loose enraged her, but like so many other things, there was nothing she could do. For a decade, she melded herself to the love of her life, and now, he was gone. Her broken heart left an invisible trail of blood in her wake. She was wasting away, but no one noticed. She lived in a world with muted tones, as if being in love with a dead man was killing her a little bit every day. The only way she could move forward was to cut out a piece of her soul and break her wedding vows by indulging in the oldest and most potent sin—sex.

“You want to take this somewhere else?”

She turned and looked up at her companion. He had been grinding against her for a good ten minutes now. She hooked her arms around his neck and surveyed him dispassionately. Hispanic, early twenties, very white teeth, and waxed brows so he was a bit on the metrosexual side. He had a nice body and would be labeled by most women as hot. But none of that mattered to her.

“Lead the way,” she said.

He tried to play it cool, but the colored lights showed dilated pupils and hard nipples through the thin material of his shirt.

“Okay,” he said and clasped her hand before he began to lead the way through the crowd.

She briefly searched the crowd for Janice and Alice. She had met them for dinner at a Pyre Casinos restaurant to plan Lyla’s baby shower. After, she bullied them into the club and lost track of them once she started doing shots at the bar.

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