Cutthroat Carmine (Book 1)(COMPLETE) (Wattpad Featured Novel)

29: [ik-sper-uh-muh nt] Pt. 1

"A group of us from work are going to the carnival after work today. Would you like to join us?" Sebastian asks.

Carmine glances at the clock on the wall. Her shift will be over in about 25 minutes and she's been meaning to approach Sebastian all day to try out her new glamour skills on him. 

Looks like the catch volunteered itself onto the hook without even any bait. But a carnival isn't exactly a 'quiet and secluded' location to practice glamouring, Carmine thinks to herself. 

She looks up at Sebastian skeptically. "A carnival? That's not really my thing."

"Me neither but I thought it would be a good chance to socialize with our co-workers in a fun, informal setting. After all, you'll be spending a lot of time with them, might as well become friends, right?" Sebastian gives Carmine one of his winsome, cheeky grins. 

Carmine twitches her nose. 

She went into the job for the money, not to make friends. Human friends at that. "How many people are going and who are they?"

"Just five others, plus us, so seven total," Sebastian replies. His eyeballs roll up and he stares at the ceiling, thinking hard. "I think it's George, Nyla, Melissa, Tom and Yvette."

Carmine taps her feet nervously as she rubs her sweaty palms up and down her uniform. This would be a convenient chance to practice glamour on six human subjects...But I can't really do anything to them all at once. I would need to single them out somehow in order to really get them to focus on me and my words. Carmine stutters, "Umm....I don't really know any of them that well except Nyla."

"Then it'll be the perfect opportunity to network! I didn't really want to go either but they insisted that I needed to loosen up more and that I should bring you along too." Sebastian glances at his watch. "You're off in about 20 right? I'll meet you in the lobby and drive you there."

Carmine shrugs. "Fine." I need the practice...and glamour isn't exactly something I can fool around with at work. One mistake and I could get fired. Or worse, Carmine muses. 

Carmine goes back to work and finishes serving a few more tables, all the while rehearsing commands she could issue in her little experiment. 

Thirty minutes later, after changing out of her uniform, Carmine finds Sebastian in the lobby. She is a tiny bit irked that Nyla is there as well because she is hoping to try out glamour on Sebastian while they are alone in his car. 

Nyla looks incredibly sexy. She is wearing less eye makeup than usual, which actually suits her better. Walking up to Nyla, Carmine feels like a little girl trying to vie for an older man's attention against a hotter and more mature version of herself. 

Carmine feigns a smile and says, "Nyla. I didn't see you leave When did you finish your shift?"

Nyla replies, "I left a bit earlier than you." She turns to Sebastian and smiles sweetly. "I'm so excited for this! I'm new here so I've never been to any special events before! This-"

"-I hope you don't mind," Sebastian blurts out, interrupting Nyla. "But I took the liberty of offering Nyla a ride too."

"That's fine," Carmine quips. "Let's go."

The three walk to the staff parking lot, Sebastian and Nyla up ahead and Carmine lagging behind. Carmine rubs her chin. She has half the mind to pull Nyla aside right now and glamour her into refusing Sebastian's ride. But that would be highly out of character for Nyla and Sebastian might get suspicious. 

Nyla has a crush on Sebastian. There is no doubt about it. Her eyes brighten up and flicker when he walks by...She always seems to stand a little taller around him (despite the fact that she's already model-esque in stature). And of course she turns into a bumbling idiot half the time he speaks to her.