MasukKOURTNEY At twenty-two, I wasn't asking for a million dollars to be miraculously sitting pretty in my account. I wasn't even hoping to find a genuine love that'd be safe and unconditional. I just wanted my sanity intact. I wanted to wake up without the sound of glass shattering or my parents screaming about who would be keeping the house and who was responsible for twenty three years of misery. Their divorce wasn't just a legal procedure; it was a battle of the fiercest, and of course, I was just the collateral damage standing in the middle of the battlefield. I couldn't take it anymore. I felt if I spent any more day in Colorado, I'd totally lost the last bit of sanity I was desperately holding on to. I packed my entire life—the things that mattered, some clothes, few books, and my laptop—into a single, battered suitcase. I didn't inform them, didn't even bother leaving a note. I just caught the first bus heading east toward Nebraska. At least I still had a friend. Tessa di
CARMENAndy's lips parted but he didn't speak. He was still far too dazed by what he'd just watched. But I wasn't done. The adrenaline from the tequila I'd consumed and the look on Derek’s face had simply turned me into a bitch in heat. I stood there, the tingling sensation in my lower belly and the ache in-between my legs still perfectly in place. "What?" I shrugged nonchalantly as I looked round the room. “It's just a fucking game. Get over it.”Andy blinked, finally snapping out of the trance I’d put him in. He cleared his throat, looking down at the empty cups on the table. "Uh, actually, Carmen, we’re going clockwise. It’s Matt’s turn to pick, then it goes to—""You never mentioned that in the beginning, Andy," I interrupted, my eyes flashing with pure mischief. "I’m taking my turn. Unless anyone here has a problem with it?"Rhea let out a long, weary sigh, her head falling back against the sofa cushions. "Carmen, seriously? You just... you just did that. Can we please just do
CARMEN The room didn't just erupt; it broke into chaos. I watched excitedly as Rhea’s jaw practically hit the floor with a loud thud. Matt literally choked on his bourbon, coughing into his hand. Laura was screaming into a pillow. Derek froze, his eyes widening as he looked from Andy to me.I felt a jolt of adrenaline hit my nervous system. My heart was picking up a wild pace, my skin prickling under the smooth fabric of my dress. I looked at Derek. Yes, he was actually attractive in a rugged, law student who never sleeps kind of way. Strong jaw, dark eyes, and an awfully loud personality that I’d always thought was vibrant and stimulating. "A dare is a dare," I said in a raspy tone.I didn't give myself time to overthink it. I reached for a shot of tequila sitting on the table, slammed the glass against my mouth, and felt the fire burn its way all the way down to my stomach. I stood up, the red silk of my dress hugging my curves in all of the right places. The room went silent,
CARMEN “It's going to be a long night,” Rhea, my best friend since our first year of college, murmured as we walked into the living room. “Oh, I love long nights,” I retorted and she gave me an eye roll. The air was filled with the scent of bourbon, tequila, and the kind of desperation that only comes after three years of experiential learning in the most prestigious Yale law school. We had finally finished the bar exam. The weight of the world—or at least the weight of the civil procedure and torts—had been lifted off our shoulders, and we were currently trying to have a night of fun. The group was small but loud. There was Laura, who was already three sheets to the wind; Matt, Derek, and of course, the orchestrator— Andy. We were all soon to be called to the bar, but tonight, we were just a pack of twenty-something year olds looking forward to enjoying our evening. And with the mood in the air, it was guaranteed I'd be having a good evening. I sat down on a sofa, feeling my d
SERENITY The morning light was like a sharp blade cutting through the curtains of the room. I blinked, my eyelids feeling like they were glued shut with sleep and something heavier—exhaustion. My head throbbed with a dull, heavy ache that timed itself to the pulsing between my thighs. I shifted, and a sharp sting of soreness shot out from my hips. It all came rushing back in a violent flood. Last night. Mark. The last thing I remembered was the ceiling of that club room spinning as Mark arched over me, his face a mask of dark triumph as he emptied himself inside me. I must have blacked out. The intensity of it, the emotional and physical wreckage of having my ex-husband reclaim me like an unpaid debt, had simply flicked the switch in my brain. I realized with a start that I wasn't in the club. I was in my own bed, under my own duvet. I instinctively snatched the covers back, my heart hammering against my ribs in panic. I wasn't naked. Someone had dressed me in my lacy bla
SERENITY The steam was still clinging to my skin, thick and smelling of lavender, as I stepped out of the walk-in shower. I wrapped a towel around my hair and another around my body, shivering slightly as the chill of my Upper West Side apartment hit me. I reached for my phone on the vanity. The screen lit up with a notification from Dirty Linens—the high-end escort app I’d been using to pay for this lifestyle since the divorce papers were finalized a year ago. New Booking: 10:00 PM. Location: The Obsidian, Vault Room 4. I sighed, leaning against the cold marble of the sink. 10:00 PM gave me exactly two hours. Most people in Manhattan were winding down at that hour, but for a girl like me, the workday was just beginning. I looked at my reflection, tracing the sharp line of my collarbone. A year ago, I was a housewife, waiting for a husband who was always halfway across the world in London or Tokyo. Now, I was a five-star rated fantasy, a ghost in the underground of the city.
ALEXAThat earned a smirk from him, a dangerous curve of the lips, letting me aware his intentions for me were nothing pure. I laid there, my legs spread wide open, my breath coming in uneven, desperate hitches. “You’d really like that, right?” Matt asked again, smiling coyly at me. He was defin
ESME I swallowed nervously, eyes looking down at the huge monster, breath coming out in short, panicked bursts that felt like they were scraping my throat. My legs were still shaking from the way his tongue had just dismantled my entire nervous system, but seeing him now—actually seeing him—was
ESMEThe roar of the outboard motor was the only thing filling the silence between us, and frankly, I preferred the mechanical scream to the pictures my messed up mind was relentlessly trying to bring up. The salt air was whipping my hair into a chaotic bird’s nest, and the sun was beating down on
ESMEThe beach sand was shifting under my feet, fine and white like powdered sugar, but I felt like I was walking through wet cement as a result of the tension boiling within me.I marched over to where Logan was wrestling with a massive navy-blue beach umbrella, my temper flaring higher with every







