Page 58 of Destined To Fall

“You know what I mean. It’s not that hard to get no-strings-attached sex. Women can be just as commitment-phobic as men.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Ha ha. That’s irrelevant to me.”

“Sure it is.”

“My choice of field doesn’t exactly inspire commitment.”

Jeremy chortles.“I guess you have a point.”

“Besides, it’s the last thing I need or want. And we’re not talking about me.”

“We should be.”

“No, no. I want more.”

“You’re at my disposal, remember?”

“Really? You’re playing that card?”

“You got my story. I want yours,” he says with a casual flair to his tone. But his stance says otherwise, and I watch his whole body move fractionally closer to mine like a magnet, slowly drawing nearer, his eyes sparkling with curiosity.

“You want to hear my story? How the girl with big dreams fell so far from grace she decided to sell her soul to the devil?”

“Yes. I want to hear it all, and don’t skip any of the gory details. You fascinate me.”

I scoff at that.“It’s not such a complicated story or that fascinating. It’s rather…simple, really.” I pause, and he looks at me, still waiting. I sigh and continue.“It was a few months after my nineteenth birthday—”

“You were only nineteen?” he interrupts, his pitch two octaves higher.

“Do you want to hear the story or not?”

Jeremy mimics zipping his mouth shut and sits back, waving a hand for me to continue.

“My roommate and best friend, Laura, bought me tickets to my favorite band of all time, back then at least.”

“What was the band?”

“Lethal Vein.”

“I haven’t heard of them.”

“Alternative, though a bit more mainstream now. They were indie-rock gods way back when, but they have a pretty big cult following now. Everyone knows who Marcus Vein is.”

Jeremy just shakes his head, and I laugh.

“Well, you are barely into women, so I thought you’d know one of the most eligible bachelors in Britain.”

“Is that so? Wait, he’s British?”

“Mmm hmm. Anyway, it was at one of his concerts.” Jeremy’s body tenses, and I fight a smile.“I sort of fell into the…position.” Repeatedly.

I spend most of the next half hour telling Jeremy about my Whores R Us outfit and grand plan of bedding the lead singer. The concert and the way Marcus sang to me, that in itself was like sex. How my plans were thwarted, and then I stumbled upon his manager in the alley behind the club. His need for aprofessionalon short notice, and his following proposition. I was too young and possibly a little too awestruck at the possibilityof beingtoo offended. Who am I kidding? I was totally dressed like a whore on purpose and was about to meet Marcus Vein. Or so I hoped.

“Hold up.”

I smile, guessing what’s about to come out of his mouth.

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