Page 75 of Forbidden Confessions: Vol. 2
She never sees me, and I don’t touch her—no matter how much she tempts me.
But now it’s her eighteenth birthday, and I’m done pretending I can live without her. Tonight, Havana Smith will become mine—completely, irrevocably, in every way.
3
Present day
* * *
Havana
* * *
This isn’t how I envisioned spending my eighteenth birthday. After checking on the animals recovering from surgery and tending to those we’re boarding, I sit under the dim light in the otherwise dark animal clinic where I work. At least I’ve got other people’s pets for company. But I’ve done my duty here for the evening. I should go home and chill. But then I’d be completely alone.
Why didn’t he come for me today?
I push thoughts of Ransom Garrison out of my head. Him waiting for me to be legal so he could sweep me off my feet, tell me I’m the love of his life, and make me his is a ridiculous fantasy. He’s a man in every sense of the word. I’m still a girl. Technically, I’m a woman today. In my head, I’ve been an adult since my parents died three years ago in a car accident, leaving me with a flighty aunt who recently decided I was “grown enough”. More like she hated the fact her flaky boyfriends showed more interest in me.
When she tossed me out, I was almost relieved. But that forced me to grow up fast. I had to get a job to eat. I kept a roof over my head by relying on the kindness of friends and their parents who let me crash on their sofa for a night or two. The school janitor sometimes took pity on me and let me stay in the girls’ locker room overnight. But if I hadn’t left Aunt Tilly’s, it was a matter of time before one of those creeps she dated cornered me and tried to coerce me into something I never wanted.
At least I never wanted it until I laid eyes on Ransom.
The minute we met, all I could think about was sex. But my feelings quickly developed into something deeper.
I never meant to fall for him. His son, Ethan, offered me a place to crash when he found out I was between sofas. We liked some of the same movies. He also understood a dysfunctional household because his mom used to peace in and out of his life all the time, and his dad, while steady, isn’t always home. Ethan seemed cool and interesting, so when he asked, I agreed to be his girlfriend. But he always felt more like my friend than my bae. I never knew why.
Until he introduced me to his father.
Ransom and I only managed to keep our hands off one another for two short weeks. Then came that wonderful, horrible morning…
As he entered the kitchen, I saw the lust on his face before he could hide it. After a night of fantasizing about him, of trying futilely to find orgasm, seeing the dark expression that said he wanted to put his hands and mouth all over me until I begged him to ease the ache in my pussy set me off. I couldn’t take the wanting anymore. I threw myself against him and pressed my lips inexpertly to his. I worried I was crossing a line, but he merely lifted me onto the counter, spread my legs like he couldn’t wait another second either, groaned my name, and delved into my mouth as if he was on fire and only I could save him.
Then Ethan stumbled into the kitchen.
Ransom wrenched away from me, and it ripped my heart in two. When he said I should never let myself be alone with him again, I thought I would die. I was putting the man in a horrible position, one that might send him to jail. So I left. Yes, he made sure I could afford my rent. He thought he was being sly, but I knew. I simply didn’t want the scraps of his guilt. So I got my GED and found this job. It gets me a step closer to a career working with animals and it pays the bills.
My head told me that leaving Ransom’s place would end whatever we had…but my heart was too full of hope. He swore he’d be back for me the day I turned eighteen. He promised.
With only three hours left of my birthday, I don’t see that happening.
That’s depressing AF.
I always envisioned having some sort of bash on the day I became legal. It didn’t have to be a big one, but maybe some close friends, a balloon or two, and a piece of cake.
The only party I’m having now is all about pity.
Damn it, I hate this woe-is-me crap. I’m responsible for my own happiness, so I’ll stop at the twenty-four-hour diner on the way home, pick up a piece of pie, sing to myself, and start the rest of my life without Ransom.
It’s a solid plan—until I hear a volley of gunshots outside. That’s not unusual for this neighborhood, especially this half-abandoned shopping center. My boss, Dr. Robbins, keeps saying she’s going to leave since gangs have moved in recently. Drug dealers think it’s a great haven, too. I suspect one of the empty storefronts might even be a meth lab. Typically, those guys don’t bother me and I don’t bother them. But this… It’s a lot of gunfire, and I’m scared.
I call 911.
While I talk to the dispatcher, the shots continue. I consider leaving. Even my ratty rent-by-the-week apartment would be safer. But I don’t dare run out of the building during a hail of gunfire.
“Meow.”
One of the kittens who got spayed last week mewls from her cage. She has food. She has water. Is she crying because she’s afraid? Or because she wants affection?
