Page 37 of Sin

Doesn’t he know how bad that stuff is for you? I’m not a total nerd. I spent three years going to a prep school with a bunch of guys who were rich, spoiled, and did their fair share of drugs, but the recent uptick in drugs like coke being cut with Fentanyl has made an already unhealthy habit a deadly one.

I’m about to go be the uncoolest partygoer ever and lecture Sin on the dangers of cocaine when the good-looking guy who’d been sitting next to Mercer through dinner stalks to the table and upends it, sending the cocaine and drinks flying. He thengrabs Mercer by the arm, pulls him up, and drags him into the corner where he starts berating him. Mercer fires right back at him, and they keep fighting until Mercer breaks out of the man’s grip and storms off.

“That wasn’t in the vows, you fucker.” Mercer calls back at the man. He then stomps toward Sin, who remains unfazed by the drama and is now on the dance floor, chugging a bottle of Clase Azul. Mercer grabs the bottle from him, tears open Sin’s shirt, pours the expensive tequila over his chest, and begins licking it off of him.

Forcing myself to look away, my gaze finds the giant clock in the archway of the club. It reads 12:03. I realize it’s officially my birthday.

I’m eighteen years old. Officially an adult in the eyes of the state and country. It’s a milestone. A clear marker between child and adult. It needs to be more, though. Today needs to be the day I get over Sin Brandt. The day he can’t hurt me anymore. The day I stop lo?—

Never mind. It’s too painful to go there.

I look around the club, unsure of how to go about what I need to do. Then I spot a waitress who’s circulating drinks to the crowd. I pull two off her tray and choke them down. Earlier, I’d refused Sin’s offer of a drink because I’d wanted every second of being with him to be crystal clear in my memory. Now, I just want to get the experience over with so I can move on.

The heat from the drinks burns down my throat, but gives me temporary courage. I look around at my available pool of candidates. None of them really appeals, but then again, that’s not what this is about.

I know who I want the minute I see him. He has dark hair and a strong fighter’s body. He’s totally wrong for me. At least ten years older. Tattoos covering all his visible skin, and a sexy, dangerous edge to him as he stalks through the crowd lookingfor his target. It’s not his physical attributes that attract me to him, though. Other than the fact that he looks nothing like Sin, it’s the pain in his eyes that tells me he’s the one for me. Maybe he sees the same pain reflected in my eyes because he stops in front of me and looks me up and down.

I’m the first one to speak. “Is it true that the only way to get over someone is to fuck somebody else?”

He gives me a long, assessing look and holds out his hand. “Let’s go find out.”

I look out on the dance floor to see Sin pancaked between Mercer and the ginger who’d joined them. Mercer’s hand is trailing down Sin’s stomach and begins to dip under the waist of his jeans.

I grab the guy’s hand and let him lead me out of the VIP area down the stairs to a dark, quiet corner of the club where he pushes me against the wall.

I get ready to feel his touch. To let it distract me, but he goes still and doesn’t move, just continues to keep me caged in his arms.

My conscience takes this time to scream at me.What are you doing? You don’t know even know his name.

I know his name isn’t Sin,I scream right back at it.

I feel him lean closer into me, and his lips find my ear. “What do you like?” he whispers.

I have no idea. Panic hits me like a wave. I try to stall by repeating his question. “What do I like?” I say in a high, scared voice that I can hear the tremble in. A tremble that ends up taking over my whole body.

He leans back to get a good look at me, and for the first time, I take in how scary and intimidating he really looks. He narrows his eyes at me. “How old are you?”

I feel the warmth of the blush that hits my cheeks. “Ei-ei-eighteen,” I stammer.

He curses under his breath. “We’re not doing this,” he says, releasing me.

No, he can’t walk away. I don’t know if I have the courage to try this with someone else. “Please,” I beg, tears coming to my eyes. “I really am eighteen. Tonight is my birthday.”

“Yeah, right,” he replies, clearly not believing me.

I grab my ID from my back pocket and hand it over to him. He examines it. “Maybe I seem younger because I’ve never fully kissed anyone.” I look down, gathering my courage.” Or anything else.”

The guy who, to his credit, could have walked away minutes ago, stands and listens to my breakdown. “I had this stupid idea that there was only one person I ever wanted to have kiss me or fuck me, and I’ve been waiting for him.” I’m taking a big heaving sigh. “But I realized tonight it’s never going to happen.” I desperately clutch at his shoulders. “I need someone to break the goddamned spell he has over me, once and for all.”

He looks at me, and I can tell that despite his rough, dangerous appearance, there’s a kind man beneath it and that he wants to help me. “Look, kid,” he says in a deep, gravelly voice, “I’m way too old for you, and I won’t fuck you, but one kiss? That I can do.”

He leans down, and I wait for the touch of his lips on mine, when suddenly he’s pulled away.

Sin’s face, full of rage, appears in my line of sight. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?!” he screams at the biker and punches him.

I can tell it was a brutal hit, but the biker takes the punch like a professional fighter and offers Sin a dangerous smile back.

Sin doesn’t care. He spits on him and advances on him again. “You stay the fuck away from my brother.”

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