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.

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Turned Into

curling into his shirt. "I didn't mean for it to get this far. I didn't mean for the cops to

into him like he's trying to shield me from all of

says firmly. "You have nothing to apologize for. This is on

to look up at him,

don't regret you. Not us," I

and sad. "The best thing I can

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

don't want you

believe me but doesn't know how to forgive himself for this, like

he can't help himself, he leans

soft, too soft, like

leave mine, and the room feels colder

in the fabric of his

want to

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

step back, his thumb brushing along the edge of my jaw. And

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Turned Into an

know I'm in the wrong," he says

my

He doesn't stop.

"and you're eighteen. You're just starting your life,

he is who I want. But my voice gets

Like I could breathe again after years of feeling like everything was just gray. You reminded me that my life wasn't over. That there

goosebumps everywhere. My arms. My

what he's already

grow," he murmurs. "Wanting you became needing you. And needing you turned into an obsession. I watched myself lose control, and I didn't stop. I should

the back of my eyes. I don't know if

into town. Trying to pull this apart, trying to

but it doesn't go down