Carmen was driving fast on the dark highway. Startling suddenly, as she had been slapped, she bent forward the dashboard and extracted a cigarette from a crumpled pack. She needed some nicotine. That wasn’t something that happened very often to her, but now was definitely the right time. She needed to cool down, to keep control and act like the mature, calm person she was… or could be. She took a long drag and exhaled slowly. Helena’s words kept on running into her mind and she was totally unable to get rid of them.

Shane is a self sabotager. She is probably… wasting away at Cherie Jaffe’s beach house. Trying to put aside her feelings for you..

Who the hell is Cherie Jaffe?, Carmen had asked, and Helena had looked down.

Maybe just a fuck-buddy, maybe something more. All I know, is that Shane always goes to her when she needs to be treated like shit… You know, it’s like she needs someone to remind her how low her lows can be. It’s like she needs Cherie to let her down, all the time. Fuck and leave. They seem to share nothing more than that.

So this is what they share, Carmen thought and took another long drag from her smoke. Her hands were itching and she felt the urge to slap Shane in the back of her head. Maybe that would have helped her to remember that she didn’t necessarily had to disappoint the only person who truly loved her. Or maybe… maybe it was all useless anyway.

The smell of the ocean hit her like a train in full-run and Carmen threw the cigarette outside the window, wincing. The sun was slowly rising behind the blue cover of the sea, the whole sky was purple and reddish but there was nothing romantic in what Carmen saw. She only felt terror, and anger, and a stressful feeling of fatigue.

Jaffe’s house wasn’t dark at all. One room was lightened and Carmen saw a silhouette standing by the glass doors, right across the wide terrace. It belonged to a blonde woman, a curvy, sexy mature woman and Carmen bit her bottom lip until she tasted blood. Fuck, she thought, parking the car and jumping off, I don’t like you very much right now, Shane.