Licentious
Authors: Jen Cousineau
| Licentious |
| Jen Cousineau |
| (2014) |
Josephine:
I lost my life when I turned eighteen. Well, not technically. Technically, I'm still alive. My heart beats, and blood continues to pump through my veins. But my dreams destroyed my family, which ultimately, destroyed who I was.
Happiness. What is happiness? Helping others? Making sure I have a smile on my face, especially in the moments when all I want is to die? Then yes. I am happy.
Aléssandro:
I wanted to be a doctor. Instead, I had to fill my brother's role in the family business. And now? Now, I am a heartless, cold-blooded killer. Not every story has a happily ever-after. Mine vanished the day my brother was murdered. That day, who I was, died with him.
When Josephine and Aléssandro's paths collide, their fates try to intervene and save each other. But can they be saved? Will the secrets they keep and the betrayals they are faced with destroy what they share? Or does love truly conquer all?
LICENTIOUS
A NOVEL
JEN
COUSINEAU
Copyright © 2014 Jen
Cousineau
Licentious
By Jen Cousineau
AISN
: TBD
Formatting and Editing by
Rogena Mitchell-Jones Manuscript Services
Cover Design by
Kari
Ayasha of Cover to Cover Designs
Cover Photo Credit:
http://www.123rf.com/profile_jalephoto
All Rights Reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.
All characters and storylines are the property of the author and your support and respect is appreciated. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and editor have taken great effort in presenting a manuscript free of errors. However, editing errors are ultimately the responsibility of the author.
Contents
Bad Things by
Jace Everett
Human by Christina
Perri
Can’t Breathe by Leona Lewis
Over You by Miranda Lambert
Beam Me Up by
P!NK
Slipped Away by Avril
Lavigne
All of Me by John Legend
Kiss Me by Ed Sheeran
Hey Brother by
Avicii
Angel by Sara McLachlan
The Great Escape by P!NK
I Won’t Give Up by Jason
Mraz
Say Something by
A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera
Let Her Go by Passengers
Searchlight by Phillip Phillips
Bennie and
The Jets by Elton John
Breath
of Life by Florence and the Machines
Breathe Me by
Sia
Demons by Imagine Dragon
The Monster by Eminem & Rhianna
Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men
Lemme See by Usher & Rick Ross
Slow and Steady by Of Monsters and Men
Stay by Rhianna
God Gave Me You by Blake Shelton
Click here to listen to the Author’s Playlist for Licentious.
Licentious
līˈsenSHəs/
1. lacking legal or moral restraints;
especially
: disregarding sexual restraints
2. marked by disregard for strict rules of correctness
I never had a mother. Well, technically, I do, but in reality she’s a total bitch who couldn’t remember to take a pill regularly, and… well, here I am. Surprise!
I love my Dad
, though. He tries his hardest to make up for my mother lacking on all levels. My brother, Aedan, is seven years older than my sister Eve, and I, but he’s never treated us as ‘annoying little sisters.’ In fact, if you take my Mom out of the equation, we’re a tight-knit family who truly are best friends. Cliché? Maybe. But, fortunately, for us it’s pure truth.
I wish I could tell you my life is all rainbows and butterflies, but then I’d be giving you complete bullshit. One dream.
My
dream broke everything. It destroyed my family, my best friends. It destroyed
me
. It tore me down, causing me to defend myself the only way I knew how. I just simply stopped caring. Until I met a man who tried to change all that I felt. Until he believed
in
me, to make me see how beautiful life can be if I just let life in. I started to believe. He helped me see what I was missing, that is until I discovered who he really was. How dark and dangerous he truly was. How believing
in him
meant turning my back on everything that I believed in.
I
won’t promise you
butterflies and rainbows
. Shit, I won’t even promise you a happily ever after, simply because I don’t even know how this is going to end.
I’m Joey. Welcome to my hell.
Nine Years Earlier
“So… what’s the plan for tonight?” Eve asks me. I spare a glance at her and see her bright, cerulean blue eyes twinkling and her smile showcasing her deep dimples.
“Well…
there’s this contest…” I start to tell her. I really hope she’s game for it. It’s our eighteenth birthday today and being that it’s a Friday, we don’t have school tomorrow—works perfectly. The only downfall is if she doesn’t want to go. I mean, it’s
our
eighteenth birthday. It’d be wrong to not celebrate it together. We’re best friends, in spite of being sisters. Identical twin sisters. Maybe it’s selfish of me, but this could be it. This could be the break I need to make my dreams come true.
“Hello! Earth to Joey!” Eve is nearly yelling beside me, making me jump back to reality. I hear cars honking from behind me.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m going,” I mutter. “Sorry, I zoned,” I tell her and then going back to our conversation.
“So what contest? And why didn’t I hear about it before now?” she asks me as she takes out her file for her nails from her peach Coach purse that Daddy gave to her last night for her birthday.
“Well, it’s a songwriting competition. All participants have to be eighteen to enter, and they have to perform their own songs. Music and all,” I tell her as I start to chew on the corner of my bottom lip. A nervous habit I picked up years ago. I don’t like performing. I’m talented and gifted with a decent voice, but the idea of doing it in front of a crowd of people makes me want to vomit.
I just want to write music
.
“Tonight? Hell
, yeah, baby! This could be it, Joey! I mean, like,
it
it,” she shrieks as she starts bouncing in her seat like an excited toddler.
“Jesus, Eve, simmer down
.” I laugh. “Yes, tonight. And I know. Trust me, I know.”
“Oh, Joey, don’t be nervous. You’re incredibly t
alented! Your music is amazing, and you may not believe it, but you really do have a beautiful, soulful voice,” she tells me as she pets my head as if I’m a dog.
I roll my eyes at her as I swat her hand away from me. “Thanks,” I mutter
and then turn left down our road leading home.
“So where’s it at?”
She beams. “Can we drink?”
“You can since we have a fake ID, but if I’m registering for the contest, I want it all to be legit. So… I’ll be just your average eighteen
-year-old underage in the club,” I roll my eyes regretfully. “It’s at Monsoon.”
“Well
, being that you’ll be eighteen, and we’re identical and all, I doubt they’ll buy the fake.” She pouts and crosses her arms over her chest and slumps down in her seat.
Now I feel bad. I knew this would be a deal breaker for her, but can I really pass up this opportunity? I mean, this could be
it
.
I pull into the driveway and turn the key to shut off the engine. Unbuckling my seat belt, I turn toward her and wrap her hands in mine.
“Eve. The winner of this contest wins three guaranteed meetings with the top three music labels in the industry, $10,000,
and
the song they perform will be bought by the top leading label. Bought, Eve! Please, Eve.” I start to beg, “Please don’t make me pass this up. I promise, as soon as the contest is over, we’ll take our fakes and go party somewhere else that we can use them. You can call the shots for the rest of the night. Please, Eve.”
A huge grin spreads across her face
. “Deal!” She giggles before flying out of the car and practically running inside. Following her lead, I sigh and get out of the car. As soon as I walk through the door, I stop in my tracks as I take in the current reprimand that’s happening now. Never fails. I shut the door behind me and make my way to the middle of the living room to stand beside my sister.
“So nice of you to join us
, Josephine,” my mother snarls. “As I was telling Evelyn, there is a list of chores for the both of you to accomplish. We are having friends over for a barbeque tomorrow. I expect the list to be completed by tonight and for both of you to be present and well rested tomorrow.”
“Um, you do realize that it’s our birthday, right?” Eve snaps with disgust clouding her face.
“And? You live in this house,
my house
,” she starts to yell, “you each have responsibilities for being in
this
family.
“It’s our eighteenth birthday! We don’t have to listen to you anymore,” Eve fires back. Anger
flushes her cheeks.
“If you don’t like it, then pack your bags and leave.
But
,” she hisses as she stands from her seat on the ugly 70’s style paisley sofa, “if you decide to stay, you will abide by my rules.”
“Then
why doesn’t Aedan ever have to?” I cut in, forcing my anger down and my keeping voice soft and steady.
“Because Aedan is a grown man with a full-time
career with the police department, who basically only sleeps here, she replies sternly, but sadness clouds her coffee colored eyes.
“Whatever,” Eve sighs as she rips the list from our Mother’s hands. “But you know
, Mom, a ‘happy birthday’ would be nice to hear. At least once!” she says as she turns for the stairs that meet the front entryway.
I turn to follow
just as Mom stops us as bitterness laces her voice.
“And what? I suppose you’d want a birthday cake, too? You girls have enough trouble keeping your figures. If it were up to me, you’d never be allowed sweets of any kind. And your father definitely wouldn’t be taking you out every year the night before your birthday for dinner.
Empty calories are all that is. The one hour of daily exercise I require of you both definitely is
not
enough,” she rolls her eyes. “You’re dismissed.” She purses her lips and waves her hand as if we are trash.
Bitch
. I roll my eyes and lightly shove Eve to make her move up the stairs leading to our room. My Mom has always been like this. As far as I know, she’s hated Eve and I since she found out she wasn’t carrying boys. Our bodies are never good enough. Our talents are worthless to her. Our grades are never good enough, even if we have straight A’s. We aren’t pretty enough. Basically,
we
aren’t good enough. I don’t know what we ever did for her to hate us, but it royally pisses me off.
My father
, on the other hand, I love dearly. He tends to be bitched at by Mom a lot when it comes to us. Sometimes he cowers and gives in, and other times, he stands up for us to her. Eve and I are both total daddy’s girls. Always will be.
“God, she’s such a bitch!” Eve vents as she throws her backpack on her bed before flopping down beside it.
We live in a remodeled cape-cod home with four bedrooms and four baths if you include the remodeled basement. Eve and I share the upstairs as our own little sanctuary. We could revamp the floor to give us each our ‘own’ space, but what for? We are together all the time anyway.
“And you’re just realizing this now? Really, Eve?” I ask
her as I make my way over to set my bag next to the foot of the bed. I take off my shoes and start to strip my clothes to change into my workout gear.
“What the fuck are you doing, Joey?” she asks me in disgust.
“Um… we have an hour workout to complete and that stupid Cinderella chore list. I can’t miss tonight, Eve. So get up, let’s do this.” I spin toward her, place my hands on my hips, and shoot her my most determined look I can muster up.
“Joey. We. Are. Eighteen. That means we don’t
have
to work out,” she reminds me.
“Yes. I know
technically
we don’t have to, but do you have a place for us to stay when she decides to kick us out?”
“No. And we don’t need to. You know Dad won’t allow her to kick us out,” she says
without doubt.
“I hope not,” I mutter.
“Let’s get ready for tonight. We’ll talk to Dad when he gets home, okay?” she asks as she places her hands on my shoulders. “Okay?”
“Yeah, yeah.
All right.” I sigh.
