Chapter One Luce wanted to live up to her name tonight. She’d just turned twenty-one, started her new job, moved into her own place last weekend and finally, finally had some goddamn privacy. Her life was her own and tonight she intended to start living it on her terms. No more Mom watching at the living room window and coming out to chase off a date who kissed Luce too long. No more nosy brothers and sisters getting into her stuff or listening to her phone calls and tattling to Dad. No more parking on golf courses and twisting herself into a pretzel to screw in the backseat of her Mustang. She was an adult now. She could go where she wanted, when she wanted. She could cruise the clubs every night, and bring home whatever guy she wanted and no one could say shit about it. There would be plenty of them, too. Luce needed sex, thought about it, craved it all the time. Nothing made her feel as beautiful or powerful as when she made it with a new guy. She’d planned to start the evening at Infusion, the goth club that her friends always raved about, but she couldn’t find an open parking space within five blocks of the place. With Christmas only a week away, it seemed as if everyone had come out to party early. She drove south until she found