Page 47 of I Am Sin

If I’m being honest with myself, I’m feeling something more than just responsibility because of Brianna and Jesse.

And I don’t like it.

I don’t like it one bit.

So I’m going back to the party.

I’m going to have a drink. Maybe even two drinks.

And if I find a nice warm body to cuddle up with for the night? All the better.

I haven’t had sex in nearly a year, and I think it’s time.

I have to pound hard on the door for Teddy to let me in. The party is raging strong—the number of people here has tripled—and the smell of pot is more pungent than ever.

I’m not a beer drinker, so I head to the kitchen and pour myself a glass of whatever red they’re pouring.

Then I shake my head.

It’s the Colorado Pike red blend, made by my brother-in-law’s family.

They won’t have any wine releases for the next few years since a fire destroyed their winery and vineyards a year ago.

The Pikes make table wines. Easily drinkable wines that don’t cost an arm and a leg, unlike my uncle Ryan and my brother Dale. They make top-of-the-line wines.

I take a sip.

It’s good.

I don’t know much about wine—my brother has tried to educate me, but I’m a lost cause because I’m just not really into alcohol—but this is quite delicious. It’s easy to drink. It tastes of red fruit with just a touch of vanilla.

But other than that? It just tastes nice. It’s easy on my tongue, goes down my throat smoothly.

It would be good with food. With pizza, actually.

We don’t have any pizza here, but I can remedy that in a moment. Normally I wouldn’t be so presumptuous, but I know Teddy won’t mind.

I pull up my food delivery app—unconsciously checking to see if Dragon has texted; he hasn’t—take a look around the room to assess the number of pizzas I need, and then order six large pizzas—three pepperoni, three cheese—to be delivered to Teddy’s place.

It’s Saturday night, so I pay the extra fee for rush delivery.

Excellent. Twenty minutes and they’ll be here. I sip the wine slowly so I’ll still have a nearly full glass when the pizza gets here.

In the meantime, I take a look around. The two friends of Teddy’s who are in town—Tracy and Bud—are deep in conversation with two young women.

Teddy is talking to a handsome young man, and there are a couple of other groups of women and men chatting about, and then I see him…

A man by himself in the corner checking his phone.

He’s tall with light-brown hair, and he’s wearing faded jeans and a plaid flannel shirt. So not my type.

Which is why I take another sip of my wine and walk toward him.

He looks up at me as I draw near.

“Am I interrupting you?” I ask.

“No. I was just returning a text.” He holds out his hand. “I’m Antonio, by the way.”

---