Relentless Liberation by L.J. Fine Read Free Book Online Page A

“That’s a
girl,” he said, downing his own shot before taking the beer bottle from her and
slinging some back.
    While the potent alcohol burned a line down her throat and
into her stomach, making every corner of her body begin to feel languid and
fuzzy around the edges, she was distantly aware of the fact that she and her
uber-crush were sharing out of the same bottle. The thought of placing her
mouth where his had recently been made her giddy, like an adolescent girl.
Couple that with the tequila and it made her just this side of horny too. She
licked her lips and smiled to herself.
    “If you’re going to get her wasted, then you can give her
drunk ass a ride home,” Chloe said to Tyler as she gave Mina a wink.
    He nodded. “Don’t worry. I got her.” He rested his arm along
the back of her chair. She felt the warmth of his proximity like millions of
warm little electrical pulses along her spine.
    “You know, she is an adult and she is sitting
right here,” she grouched to cover up that tingling feeling. “I can control
myself, thank you very much.”
    “And that’s the problem right there.” Tyler frowned as he
poured more alcohol into their shot glasses. “You need to let go of some of
that control. And aren’t you lucky that me and Jose here are willing to help
you with that?” That wicked smile was back in place as he slid her another
shot.
    “ So lucky.” Her tone was laced with sarcasm but part
of her did feel lucky. She really didn’t know why or in what way but he was
genuinely interested in her.
    Deciding right then and there not to worry or overthink it
anymore, she raised her shot glass and toasted him before she downed the
contents. The burn went down easier this time but she still had to grab his
beer for a chaser.
    He slammed down his shot glass and abruptly stood, pulling
her up with him. Without uttering a single word, he grabbed her hand and
started leading her toward the dance floor. In her hazy state it took her a few
minutes to react, but when she finally could, she did so by digging her heels
in and yanking on her imprisoned hand.
    “Oh no, I don’t think so,” she said in a near panic. “I
don’t wanna dance. One drastically new thing at a time, Tyler.”
    “I think you should be loose enough to dance with me. Or do
we need to do another shot?”
    While she weighed the pros and cons, Chloe wasted no time at
all jumping to her feet and grabbing Mina’s other hand to help Tyler tug her
out onto the dance floor. “Come on, Mina. We’re gonna have fun. Just let go.”
    Taking a deep breath, she looked at them and thought what
the hell? Tonight apparently was a night of self-liberation and soon she
was out on the floor with her friends, feeling good and moving to the music.
    They were only on the floor a few seconds when Tyler was
waylaid by a group of women he obviously knew. Mina scowled the moment his hand
slipped from hers but Chloe pulled her focus back to dancing, rolling her eyes
at his groupies and making her laugh.
    As one song morphed into two and the alcohol ran its course
through Mina’s veins, a nice fluffy cloud of laughter and rhythm settled over
her. Why had she never done this before? The feeling was euphoric.
    Unbidden, she remembered that Daisy used to go to clubs all
the time. She’d always discouraged Mina from going with her, saying that she
wouldn’t fit in, and persuaded her that it wasn’t her scene. So she’d always
stayed at home reading a book while her faux best friend went out and had a
good time without her.
    Suddenly a spike of anger shot through her at the memories.
Why the hell had she taken Daisy’s words as gospel? She should have gone anyway
to find out for herself. God, she’d been such a puppet back then! What had she
been so afraid of? Now she found herself wondering anew what Daisy’s motives
had been in holding her back. Going over all of the same conversations and
events again as she had so many times before, only this time