The Sinner

I let my hair fall over my face. “I don’t know. You said demons crave sex…”

He looked away, grimacing. “Oh, I see. Yes, that’s true.” His voice was low. “Goodnight, Lucy.”

And suddenly, I hated every single word that had come out of my mouth since we’d gotten home. I wanted to exchange them for thousands of others. To ask him about my dream, to tell him not to go. To stay with me…

But he was going to go. He had a handful of days left on This Side and nothing was going to change that. Our plan was his only chance of redemption.

So he left—maybe to be with another woman—and I was alone.

Thirteen

“You should have seen our girl,” Abby said at work the next day, grinning knowingly as she regaled Jana about last night’s dinner. “The glass went flying and we all freaked. Except Lu

cy. She didn’t bat an eye.”

Jana was shaking her head. “That sounds scary and dangerous. You guys shouldn’t be messing with stuff like that. Bad juju.”

Abby waved a hand. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation. Like, too much wine. But I’ve never seen Guy so rattled. And did you notice how he threw himself in front of you, Luce? To protect you? Well played.”

I froze, feeling as if our grand plan were written all over my face.

“Well played? No, I—”

“He was so sweet to our gal,” Abby said and then stifled a yawn with the back of her hand.

I cleared my throat. “Did you stay out later? After we left?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she said with a wink, and it felt as if she’d slapped me.

Oh my God, calm down. It’s not your business what she does with…anyone.

Abby gasped and grabbed my arm, jolting me out of my thoughts. “You have to let us take you out. Today after work. Before Buzz Night.”

“What for?”

“Total makeover. I’ve been dying to get my hands on you ever since you started here, and now you have all this manly attention. We need to capitalize.”

“Abby,” Jana said in a low tone. “Lucy doesn’t need a makeover.”

“Oh, nothing major. But we have got to get this hair out of your face and show off this cute figure of yours. Please? We never go out, just us girls.”

I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “Well…if you think it’s a good idea.”

“It’s a brilliant idea. We’ll have loads of fun and get you glowed up for Buzz Night.”

Jana smiled gently. “You can say no.”

That’s what I always did. I said no, and my little life never got any bigger. But I’d had dinner with Guy, and I’d volunteered to present my idea. I was on a roll. No stopping now.

“Sure. Why not?”

After work, Abby took me back to Macy’s at Herald’s Square. Jana came along for moral support. “And to make sure Abby doesn’t get carried away.”

Abby scoffed. “Oh, please. This is going to be fun.”

“Fun” wasn’t my first choice of words as Abby picked out one tight dress after another for me to try on, along with shapewear to smooth me out underneath.

“Oh my God, gorgeous,” Abby crowed as I stepped out of the dressing room in a fire-engine red dress that hugged every curve and was lower in the front than anything I owned. “See? You have the most luscious figure.”