Page 161 of Awakened by Sin

She sighed dramatically. “A cross I have to bear.”

“Gavin’s here.”

She looked ahead and saw Gavin cutting a path through the crowd with Alice at his side. She was half running to keep up with his long strides. Gavin clearly wasn’t going to shorten his stride for her, the jerk. Alice had a clipboard in hand and wore a long, hideous jean skirt with black leggings and a sweater vest. When Gavin spotted them, he stopped in his tracks, and his eyes narrowed to slits. Alice stopped and looked to see what had captured Gavin’s attention. She spotted them, and her mouth dropped open.

Carmen gave him a broad smile. “Hey, psycho!”

Marcus snickered while Gavin bared his teeth. “What the fuck is this?”

“What’s what?” she asked, playing stupid and enjoying every moment.

Gavin’s finger drifted between them.“This.”His voice dripped with venom.

“We’re friends,” she said, sounding bewildered.

“You’re touching him,” Gavin said through clenched teeth. “You used to avoid him, and now you’re touching him, and it’s morning. What are you doing here so early?”

“Didn’t Lyla tell you we’re living together?” she asked.

Gavin looked like he was going shit a brick. “What the fuck, Marcus?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Marcus said.

“Don’t worry?” Gavin stepped up to Marcus and hissed, “You don’t know her like I do. She’ll ruin your life.”

His words speared straight to her gut. Did he mean if it hadn’t been for her, Vinny would still be here? She raised her clutch to bash him across the face, but Marcus pulled her back.

“I’ll take care of him,” Marcus promised. “I have business to discuss with him, and you have an appointment.”

She glared at Gavin over Marcus’s shoulder. “You’re going to pay for that,” she promised before she wrapped her arms around Marcus and gave him a long, deep kiss. “Thanks for last night, baby.”

She turned and found Alice staring at her with bulging eyes. She hooked her arm with Alice and announced, “We have things to discuss. She’ll be gone the rest of the day.”

“What? No, I—” Alice squeaked.

“You need to talk to me about the auction, don’t you?” She turned to Marcus and Gavin and said, “All the proceeds for my donations will go to the Pyre Foundation. Alice and I haven’t discussed the details, which we’ll do at the salon. Toodles.”

She dragged Alice toward the exit with Mickey leading the way.

“Good news, you have some time off,” she said brightly to Alice. “I cleared it with your bosses. Don’t worry.”

“Carmen, I couldn’t possibly—”

“You can and will. We do need to talk about my donation, don’t we?”

“Well, yes. I was just talking to Mr. Pyre about it before he noticed you and … Wait, you andMarcus?”

Alice’s incredulous excitement raised her spirits again. She grinned. “Yup. He’s the best fuck. I’ll tell you about it while we get our nails done.”

She ignored Alice’s scandalized gasp as they walked out of the casino and waited for their car to be brought around.

“We’re swinging by the university to pick up my sister and then we’re going to the salon. You guys can get whatever you want done,” Carmen said to Frederick and Mickey before she called Lyla. “Heya, I’m doing a girls’ day. You should come. You need to meet Maddie.”

“Gavin’s calling me, and it hasn’t even been an hour since he left,” Lyla grumbled.

“It’s about me. I just told him I’m fucking Marcus, and he said I would ruin his life.”

“Hewhat?” Lyla snapped. “Who you bang is none of his damn business!”

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