Chapter 1: I Lose My Virginity to a Charming Stranger on Halloween Night

The wig is ridiculous — cheap black hair that keeps sticking to my lip gloss — but the lace mask gives me courage. My short crimson dress is pure sin: low-cut, tight, the kind of thing the old me would never wear. But the old me buried her mother three weeks ago. Tonight I’m done being the quiet, grieving 22-year-old. Tonight I want to feel something other than empty.

The bar is dark, pulsing with Halloween bass and costumed bodies. I order a shot, down it, and scan the room. Then I see him.

Tall. Broad shoulders...