For a brief moment Danielle was overcome with a series of emotions that robbed her clarity. Anger, embarrassment, bewilderment, all these emotions and more flooded her mind before she felt a nervous energy settle in her stomach and her loins begin to ache. She looked at the pack of cigarettes in her hand and then back at her daughter, sucking off Gerald right in front of her. She flipped open the top of the pack, revealing two rows of orange-filtered cigarettes and felt her fingers tremble as she plucked one of them out and placed it between her lips.

She felt like some invisible force was operating through her as...