Page 108 of Sinful Desires

Now I understand Eeyore.

Vulnerability was a newer feeling. The urge to break down and cry while having someone comfort me, hug me. That was new. I always had my own back and never needed anyone else. Never wanted anyone else—except for Avery.

After taking a much-needed nap, I felt somewhat better. The feeling of worthlessness and hopelessness was still there. It would go away eventually; I always bounced back. Unfortunately, knowing that brought me no reprieve.

“Are you going to get ready?” Raven questioned, curling her hair to perfection as we stood in front of the bathroom mirror.

Raven and Gia knew something was wrong. Something much deeper than me allegedly being sick. They saw the bruises, heard my voice, saw the dark circles. I think they were too scared to ask me what was wrong.

We’ve already been here for at least thirty minutes and all I’d managed to do was kick one shoe off. My eyes were dull as they stared back at me through the glass and my skin was grossly pale. I didn’t even recognize myself anymore.

Gia stood on my opposite side, straightening her hair. She was already dressed in her costume, looking as beautiful and seductive as ever. Her costume consisted of a leather body suit that she’d paired with a matching skirt and fishnets. I wasn’t sure how she managed it, but somehow, she’d painted spiderwebs around her eyes with black eyeliner and made it work.

Suddenly remembering Raven’s question, I kicked off my other shoe and started undressing. We weren’t the only ones in here, but I didn’t care. My costume was similar to Gia’s. The top had a plunging neckline that stopped just around my sternum and left little to the imagination when it came to my breasts being on display. My outfit was leather too, but the style of the skirt and top were completely different than what Gia wore. My stomach was also on display—just a smidge.

“I’m curious…” I trailed off, keeping my tone low so that no one could hear what I was about to say. The bathroom was so loud that whispering wasn’t even necessary, but I did it as a precaution. “How did you two get thrown in here?”

Raven shrugged, applying another layer of pink lip gloss and rolled her lips together. “My mom was really messed up,” she began. “She would pimp me out to these drug dealers just so she wouldn’t have to pay them in cash.”

My head snapped over in her direction, my eyes wide and lips parted. “That’s fucking horrible,” I murmured. Suddenly, I was feeling pretty good about being an orphan.

“It’s just the world we live in,” she replied casually, like this was normal. “When I got older, I started defending myself against these creeps. Some of them got off on it and would force me regardless, while others got pissed off at my mom and put a mark out on her. Either way, this didn’t bode well for her. At this point, she’d already burned every hand that fed her. She couldn’t ask anyone for handouts anymore—she had no one.” Screwing the cap back on her gloss, she set it off to the side and got to work on her eyeliner. “It didn’t take long for us to get evicted, and we were thrown out. One day, we were sleeping beneath a bridge near the interstate when a couple of squad cars pulled up. They took one look at my malnourished body and my mom’s dilated pupils. She ended up in prison while I ended up here.”

My chest felt tight as I listened to her story, hanging on to every word. She had only been a child when these things happened to her. No wonder she viewed relationships and sex as…nothing. I suppose I did too, but for different reasons.

“Well, I’m glad you’re out of there now,” I tried, sucking at this whole ‘friend’ thing.

A breath of laughter escaped her, and she nodded. “Girl, same.”

My gaze bounced over to Gia, her lip tucked between her lips as she nervously chewed on it. I was about to tell her that she didn’t have to tell me anything she didn’t want to, but her mouth was moving before I could get the words out.

“I had this uncle,” she started. “We were really close. He was always mooching off my parents because he constantly owed people money and couldn’t hold down a job.” She ran her fingers through her dark, shiny hair, my eyes following the movement. “Every week, my father would take me to the park and then to get ice cream after. But one week, my uncle offered to take me instead. “He didn’t take me where he said he was going to. Instead, the bastard sold me.”

Horror flooded through me. I wasn’t sure which of them had the worst story. Maybe they were both equal, both just as fucked up in their own right.

“Sold you?” I repeated, making sure I’d heard her correctly.

She nodded. “There was this new sex trafficking business trying to take off, they just needed more girls, and the payout was insane. So, of course, my bum ass uncle, jumped at the chance to free himself from the debt that was drowning him. I was in there for maybe a month before the place got raided and it got shut down.”

My forehead creased as I processed this. “Why didn’t you go home?”

“I did. But I wasn’t the same person. My parents didn’t know how to take care of me anymore. They waited it out for a few years, but I just kept getting worse. Eventually, I wound up here.”

I didn’t know how to reply, so instead, I said nothing. We finished getting ready in silence, the mood soured by my curiosity. My heart ached for both of them, even through the numbness.

Straightening my hair wasn’t necessary since it was already straight. I did run a brush through it a few times and painted on a cat eye along with some dark purple lipstick. I tied a black, velvet choker around my neck and added cat ears to my head.

“You look amazing,” Raven beamed. “Both of you.”

“So do you,” I replied. It wasn’t a lie. Raven was dressed as Poison Ivy. The green dress hugged all her curves in the right ways, and the green eyeshadow really brought out her eyes.

“Don’t make me blush,” she teased, forcing a small laugh to tumble from my lips unexpectedly.

I’d almost forgotten what that felt like. To smile, to laugh, to feel light inside. Maybe that was why we were friends. It happened effortlessly. I was still getting to know Gia, but I had a feeling our friendship would just keep growing from here.

We gathered our things and headed back to our room, where we deposited all of the makeup and clothes we changed out of on our beds.

Afterwards, we started for the main building that just so happened to contain a fucking ball room. They mostly used it as another gym throughout the year—not that we needed another one.

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