Page 14 of Insatiable

“To old times, eh Jules?” He holds up his empty glass. Reluctantly, I clink his glass with my own but draw the line at pretending to drink from my glass like he does. He always was the pretender. Orlin stares into space as usual. I’m not even sure he knows we’re here. Or he’s here. His t-shirt reads ‘Been to Hell and back—all I got was this lousy t-shirt!’ It’s surprisingly amusing for Orlin and reminds me of Maggie and Colin. They didn’t make it through to this circle either, but something tellsme that they’ll be alright together. At least in Lust they can fuck like bunnies…and eat! I let out a sigh. I should have stayed there.

“Orlin, my man.” Tomas starts, “What brings you to Hell?”

He’s surely in here for chronic boringness, but I keep my mouth shut. Orlin is a man of few words, and I’m genuinely curious if he can articulate anything beyond his normal proclamations that we are all sinners. He doesn’t get the chance to answer, because just then, one of the new girls… what’s her name… Tate slides into the booth beside Tomas.

“Hi everyone. I hope you don’t mind me joining you.”

Tomas immediately turns on his charm despite the fact the girl must be half his age at least. “Of course not, Plenty of room.”

Tate is exactly Tomas’s type. All boobs and butt and skinny waist. Once upon a time I used to look just like her except without the white blonde hair. As soon as she sits, a sharp feeling of loathing overcomes me before I mentally check myself. I have nothing to be jealous of now. Tomas and I were over eons ago. He can fuck who he likes… and quite often does… or did. Judging by the way she sidles up to him and almost plants herself on his knee, they’re probably already intimately acquainted with each other. She’s young enough to be his daughter I think before I hear Rowena’s voice mentally accusing me of being a hypocrite. It didn’t count when I fucked younger men. I felt younger. I looked younger. I still look twenty four years old. Tomas doesn’t. He might not have the sad ancient wrinkliness that Orlin possesses, but he looks like the middle aged man he was when he died. I guess Lust doesn’t afford the youth that Purgatory did.

She gives me a wink then turns her attention to Tomas. “Hey Gorgeous,” she purrs, just loud enough for me to hear.

“If you’ll excuse me,” I say, sliding away from Orlin before he gets any ideas. “I think I may have to go vomit.”

I’m out the door and halfway to the elevators before Tomas catches up with me.

“Jules, come on. It wasn’t what it looked like,” he pleads, his voice full of desperation.

I stop and turn to face him, taking in his familiar features. A thousand painful memories crash down on me, suffocating me. The endless lies he’s fed me over the years flood my mind. The man can’t open his mouth without either lying or a woman’s tongue going in.

“It looked like she was about to stick her tongue in your ear,” I say, my voice icy.

“I don’t even know her!” he protests, his eyes wide with feigned innocence. “I swear to god, I have no idea what that was about. She said she was a hooker. Maybe she’s just soliciting business?”

“She called you gorgeous,” I retort, incredulous. When he doesn’t answer, I carry on. “Well, she came to the right place with you, didn’t she? How much of our money did you throw away on hookers over the years so we couldn’t afford to send the kids to university? You’re a cheat, Tomas Perez.” I say, prodding him in the chest. “You always were, and you always will be.”

I turn on my heels and march toward the elevators, slamming my palm on the call button.

“I swear I don’t know her,” he calls out after me as I step into the elevator and pray for the doors to close quickly so he can’t see the tears forming in my eyes. Tomas Perez is the only man that’s ever made me cry, and he’s had way too many of my tears in the past. Finally, the doors close. I wipe my eyes on the back of my hand and pull myself up straight. I will not let that man hurt me ever again.

8

THE FIRST TRIAL

ROWENA

Every morning this week, I’ve found two cookies carefully placed by my back door. Today, the morning of the first trial, however, I’m met with an entire box of them. I scoop it up, quickly shutting the door behind me, my heart racing with a mix of guilt and excitement. My curiosity gets the better of me, and I resist the urge to peek outside to see who’s been leaving these unexpected gifts.

The first time I discovered the cookies, I accidentally stepped on one with my bare foot, crushing it into crumbs. But as I examined the second cookie more closely, I couldn’t shake the thought—could these be from a mystery benefactor or a potential enemy trying to harm me? After extensive sniffing (which eventually turned into licking) and a hesitant bite, I concluded they were simply what they appeared to be—plain sugar cookies. Despite their lackluster taste, they provided some much-needed relief from my relentless morning sickness. Even as I devour a cookie from the box, my mind keeps wandering, pondering who could be behind this curious gesture. I know for a fact it’s not Juliette, because every time I’ve seen her, she’s complained about how hungry she is. Though I love her morethan life itself and know that she loves me, I think she’d sell my soul to Satan himself for just one of these cookies. Quinn could have left them, but she hasn’t mentioned it and hasn’t managed to convince Dade to take her down to the lower levels yet. My mind wanders to Twila, who, in theory, could get us secret stashes of food, but I haven’t seen her or Hades since the very first day. The thought twists in my gut that it’s Felix doing this, but I throw the thought away. He’s done everything he can to avoid me all week, which is fine by me. The few times I have seen him, he’s been with Anthura and I’ve had to deal with the pair of them sniggering over some joke, no doubt to do with me. I honestly thought that Felix had the capacity to change, but as soon as his face healed, which it magically did at some point in the night between Lust and Gluttony, he’s gone back to being the totally beautiful asshole he always was.

I sit on my bed and open the box, feeling guilty. I should be sharing these with my friends. Hell, I should have been sharing them with Juliette and Quinn right from the first morning they started appearing on my doorstep. If it wasn’t for the baby, I would have shared them without a second thought, but the sheer terror of losing my only chance to be a mother has me putting my hand into the box and pulling out a handful of cookies. With them falls a folded piece of paper. I open it. There are five words in uppercase:

EAT ALL BEFORE FIRST TRIAL

It’s written so perfectly that I have no hope of figuring out whose writing it is. I empty the box on the bed. There’s no other note, but I count thirty-five cookies. I’m starving, but eating thirty-five cookies will have me spending the rest of the day with my head down the toilet. I pick one up and chew on it while doing what I should have done a week ago. I text Juliette and Quinn and tell them to get their asses to my room ASAP.

Less than a minute later, there’s a knock at my door. I rush to open the door, finding Juliette and Quinn standing outside. Without uttering a word, I gesture for them to come in, closing the door behind them.

Juliette’s eyes go immediately to the pile of cookies on my bed. She races over and grabs one. “Holy fuck. Where did you get these? No, don’t tell me. Are they poisonous?” She takes a sniff and her eyes close. “Please tell me I can eat these.”

“There are thirty-four. I counted. Twelve each for you. Ten for me. I already ate two.”

Juliette looks as though she’s just died and gone to heaven, which is ironic considering where we are. “They aren’t poisonous. Go ahead.”

With a whoop, she dives on the bed and starts shoveling cookies into her mouth three at a time.

“Rowena, what’s going on?” Quinn asks hesitantly, her hand subconsciously resting on her stomach, most likely due to not having had anything in it for a week.

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