Free Flesh: Part Sixteen (The Flesh Series Book 16) by Sky Corgan Page A

parents. And things at work are shaky at best.
    I know I won't feel well enough to go in to work tomorrow. Hopefully, it won't matter. It's not like there's going to be anything for me to do anyway. Tyra will likely still be upset about Lucian ending his interior design contract, but I don't know if that will make it better or worse that I don't show. I'm not sure it really matters right now. I doubt I'll get fired, so I'll deal with whatever consequences calling in causes when the time comes. There's no point in me going to work if I'm just going to be a sniffling, blubbering mess all day. And I definitely would be. Lucian has officially filled his 'make Amy cry quota' for the week, as Derrick would call it. He's filled it for the last time. Topped it off to the max by fucking around with Janice. Good God, I hate them both.
    My mother greets me at the door with an embrace. I cry and cry and cry. Even though she keeps asking what's wrong, I can't respond. I'm too tired to talk about it right now.
    “Not tonight,” I say weakly as I pull away from her. “I just want to go to bed and forget about today.”
    Thankfully, she doesn't pry. My mother is good like that, knowing when not to push me. Besides, it's getting late. My father has already gone to bed. This isn't something worth having a family discussion over.
    She follows me to my old bedroom—which was converted into a guest bedroom after I first moved out—kisses me on the forehead, and leaves me alone with my demons. For a few seconds, I just stand in the doorway, looking around, wondering how things went so wrong. It's Lucian fault, of course. Or maybe it's Janice's. If I never met Lucian, none of this would have happened. But if Janice hadn't gotten me into the lifestyle, I never would have met him in the first place.
    They definitely belong together, I think with a heavy sigh before closing the door behind me, setting my suitcase down, kicking off my flip flops and crawling into bed. The scent of the sheets is comforting. It smells like home. But nothing will soothe the aching in my heart. Perhaps now I'm just as damaged as Lucian is, never to be healed again. It's a disconcerting thought and one that makes me cry late into the night.
    The next morning, I wake up and call in to work. Both of my parents have jobs, so I have the house all to myself. I sit in front of the television, eating a brand of cereal that's practically tasteless, and I stew. Somehow, during the night, my sorrow turned into resentment. Well, to be truthful, I resented Janice and Lucian the moment I found out they had been together. But I feel like they're both getting off easy. Lucian more so than Janice.
    The sense of injustice is overwhelming. He messed up my friendships, threatened my job, and broke my heart. Calmly disappearing and letting him get away with all of it just seems wrong. That thought is amplified by watching a whole lot of Lifetime Movie Network. I'll never understand why a channel for women has a whole bunch of shows with women getting cheated on, beaten, murdered, and raped. Where's the justice in the world? How can men get away with so much, yet women can't even seem to grow a backbone most of the time without facing some type of backlash because of it? The thought makes me seethe. Even worse, it makes me plot.
    Lucian is at work right now. It would be the perfect time to...what? Break into his house and destroy his precious dungeon. That sounds absolutely lovely. I know he has thousands of dollars worth of equipment in there. But this isn't worth going to jail over. And I know his home has a security system. All I'd probably have to do is tap on one of the windows and cops would be at his door in less than fifteen minutes. It's always a big deal when someone breaks into a rich guy's house.
    Mark that thought off of my list of possibilities for vengeance.
    Lucian said he drives himself to work most days. I could go to his practice, find the nicest car in the parking lot,