Secrets of Us A Forbidden Love Romance (Alina)

Chapter 207

Needing You Turned Into an Obsession

I don't remember running up the stairs. My feet move on their own, slamming against the

hardwood.

I was suffocating down there. I was struggling to stand.

Zaid's words still ring in my ears. The faces of the detectives as they looked at Jake when my mother told them what he was doing. The judgment in their eyes they couldn't quite

hide.

The rage in my mother's voice was nothing new, but her disgust at Jake was scarring.

Jake, who married my mother for me.

My chest caves in around my heart, everything tightening until I can't breathe. I stumble into my room, fisting the doorknob, ready to shut out the world and scream into my pillow until I pass out from the blinding headache.

But the door doesn't close. I hear a string of words, and then a foot slams into the crack,

stopping it from shutting.

"Don't," I whisper, backing away just as the door creaks open again. I expect it to be Zaid,

but he is the last person I want to see right now.

The last person I want to see me in my shame. But it's not him.

Jake steps in, his face filled with regret. His eyes drink me in, like he's trying to assess the

damage.

"Shit, baby," he breathes, his shoulders dropping, his voice raw. "I'm sorry."

I don't hesitate. I crash into him, my body colliding with his like it's muscle memory. I bury my face into his chest and sob, ugly, shaking, breath stealing sobs.

I don't care what Zaid said. I don't care that it's wrong or twisted or that the world might never understand. I ignored the red flags because being him felt good; losing myself to him in the car that first time made me feel something.

I wanted it.

1/4

Turned

his shirt. "I didn't mean for it to get this far.

from all of it. He kisses the top of my head, lingering there like it hurts to

is on me. I

jerking back just enough to look up at him, my

don't regret

eyes flickering with something soft and sad. "The best thing I can

a little. It doesn't skip entirely. The thought of losing him isn't as painful

don't want you

how to forgive himself for this, like he doesn't know how we can

he can't help himself, he leans in, brushing his lips

like

and the room feels colder

breath, my fingers tangled in the fabric of his shirt, my

want to kiss him

feeling of him, of us, but something shifts in his eyes. The kiss stole something from him, or maybe it gave him the courage

brushing along the edge of my jaw. And

2/4

You Turned

the

my

He doesn't stop.

says with a crooked, bitter smile, "and you're eighteen. You're just starting your life, Alina. You should be worried about

who I want. But my

of feeling like everything was just gray. You reminded me that my

prickles, goosebumps everywhere. My arms. My legs. Even the back of

flicking there, like it only confirms what he's already feeling.

murmurs. "Wanting you became needing you. And needing you turned into

of my eyes. I don't know if they're

since Diana came back into town. Trying to pull this apart, trying to figure out where I crossed the line. But the truth is, I crossed it the moment

it doesn't go down