"The damage was done the moment our eyes collided."
~Xavier De Luca
***
One life-altering night ignites a soul-scorching passion between a gangster and a good girl...One that could burn everyone they know and love to ashes.
Loyalties and legacies...
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"What suits me better?" Laoise held up her forearm covered in random color swatches. Under the low buzz of the store's fluorescent lights, it looked like glossy slashes of warpaint. "Multiple O-Face? Not Safe for Work? Or, Dominatrix Latex?"
"Are we still talking about lipstick?" I asked, slightly mystified.
Laoise giggled, waggling three glossy tubes in front of my shocked face. Growing up we weren't allowed to wear any sort of lipstick (not in high school, at church, or at home) but that didn't stop Laoise. She'd been obsessed with makeup since she was old enough to get into her big sister's beauty stashes.
In fact, she ran a pretty successful YouTube channel as her full-time job. According to Laoise, drugstore dupe videos were top-performers (whatever that meant). All I knew, it made her the perfect person to ask out for an afternoon of shopping at our local pharmacy.
I'd told Laoise I needed to pick up a prescription for my heartbroken mamo and I wanted her help finding a new waterproof mascara.
Then, I told my uncle and Cillian that I was out of feminine products, and because the men in my family shrivel at the mention of feminine-anything, I was allowed to call Laoise for a ride.
I'd become quite the little liar lately. Then again, needs must.
There was a very small window of time to secure emergency birth control, and according to the information available online I was already flirting with 'product failure.'
The idea of an unplanned pregnancy was terrifying enough. Having Xavier DeLuca as my baby-daddy would add fuel to a dumpster fire of drama I didn't need.
Not to mention, I hadn't heard from him at all.
We never exchanged numbers, or promises, for that matter, but something told me that Xavier was the kind of man to seek someone out if he wanted to. The same way he'd sought me out at church.
I was starting to worry that my uncle was right, which only confirmed my worst fear. I didn't belong in Xavier's world.
Also, my Louboutin was missing (again!) after I'd left it behind during our hasty exit.
"Did you even hear me?" Laoise giggled and flicked a hunk of her auburn curls over her shoulder.
I stretched my mouth into a fake-goofy smile.
"No, I don't think I could pull off a vampy lip stain," I answered a question she asked on our way to the store (twenty or so minutes ago).
"Um, that's not what I said," Laoise cocked her heart-shaped face as her brow puckered in thought. "Though, yes, with your naturally full lips, you totally could. Women pay a lot of money to have things injected in their face just to recreate what the good Lord gave you, you know."
