Forbidden- Our Secret Love

by Elise Quinn Larson

  I got up and stood by the railing, just as I’d once done on our balcony in Eugene on the night Trey confessed his love for me. I’d rejected his overture then, believing sex between cousins was wrong. How foolish I’d been! We were more than cousins, but our love was not wrong. It was perfect.

  Though he made no sound, I sensed his approach as I always did. My body responded with a faint humming, a slight tingling on my skin, a stirring of desire. How I love this man, I thought. One body. One heart. Joined together.

  He brushed my hair aside to kiss the nape of my neck. Just a whisper of a kiss, a feathery touch, but I felt it in my very core, in the sudden release of moisture there.

  “That feather,” I said. “Do you remember that feather, the time in Eugene when you . . .”

  His lips smiled against my neck. “Of course I remember. You enjoyed it, as I recall.”

  “Where do you suppose it went? You told me it blew away.”

  His hands slid under my tank top and around to my front, moving slowly upward until they cupped my breasts. My nipples tightened as his thumbs began a gentle, teasing caress.

  “I lied about the feather,” he confessed. “I still have it, nestled in a drawer with those silk scarves. Would you like to feel it again? I’ll be happy to get it out for you.”

  I scarcely heard him as my nipples peaked, aching for his mouth, joined by a similar craving in my private place.

  “Elise?”

  “Hmmm?”

  “The feather. Do you want it?”

  I nodded. Whatever. I just wanted him. Inside me.

  But Trey was in no hurry. Placing the feather and scarves on our bed, he slowly undressed me, suckling my breasts as he pulled the tank top over my head, then swirling his tongue around my navel as he removed my shorts and panties.

  I reached for him, wanting to strip him naked, to feel him on me, skin to skin. “Forget the feather,” I urged. “I want you now. Right now.”

  “Does milady have any other wants?” he asked.

  “Actually, yes,” I replied, divesting him of shirt, jeans and briefs until the object of my desire rose firm and proud before me. “I want to feel all of you. No condom. Just your naked flesh in mine.”

  He frowned. Ever since we’d learned about the sibling thing, we never made love without “double protection:” my IUD and his condom. He was meticulous about it.

  “We can’t risk pregnancy,” he said. “You know that.”

  “I know. But with my IUD, the chance of pregnancy is miniscule. Please, love. I want to feel you, with nothing between us. No barriers. We have too many barriers already. Just for tonight. Just tonight, before I have to leave you.”

  He yielded. “All right. Just for tonight. Take me as I am.”

  “Oh, I intend to,” I said with a smile, reaching for the scarves and the feather in sudden inspiration. “Lie down, my love. I’m feeling rather wicked. Let’s see what this feather does to you.”

  We were wicked all night, and it was wonderful. I got up at some point to let our yowling kitten into the bedroom. She immediately attacked the feather she found on the floor, delighted with her new toy. From sex toy to kitten toy, I thought. Oh, well. Feathers are easy to find.

  The alarm woke us at six after a mere two hours of sleep. Groaning, Trey pulled me to him and nibbled my ear. “Ben was right about one thing,” he said. “You like to fuck all night long.”

  “Yeah? But he was way wrong when he said you can’t stay hard for five minutes!”

  “Do you feel well loved, sweet?”

  “Oh my God, yes. I also feel very sticky.”

  “That’s what happens without a condom.”

  “I know. But I loved it naked, Trey. I love you.” I crawled on top of him, running my hands through his messy hair and kissing his whiskery face.

  “We don’t have time for this,” he reminded me. “I have an eight o’clock class, and you need to pack.”

  That instantly cooled my passion. “Pack? Today?”

  “Yes. We can’t put it off, love. We’re not safe together. You must move back to your father’s house. Today.”

  Chapter 33

  S o I packed. By the time Trey came home at noon, boxes and suitcases were stacked by the front door, ready to go.

  But I wasn’t ready. Not at all. Trey found me sitting cross-legged on the sofa with Emma on my lap and tears running down my face. I hadn’t eaten, showered, or combed my tangled hair. I was a physical and emotional wreck.

  He sat beside me and pulled me to him, heedless of the teary splotches I made on his dress shirt. “Would it be easier if you stay here and I go?” he asked. “I could move in with CJ for a while. He’s got plenty of room.”

  I shook my head. “No. The result would be the same. We won’t be together. I’ll go back to my old room in Daddy’s house. But not for long, Trey. I can’t do this for very long.”

  He kissed my forehead. “Go have a shower while I make lunch. Does Jim know you’re coming?”

  “No. I’ve been putting it off, hoping I wouldn’t have to do this. And what about Emma? Should I leave her with you?”

  “Does Jim like cats?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then take her. She’ll have fun exploring your big house and yard. I’ll pack her stuff. We’ll load up after lunch.”

  We used both cars, but it still took several trips to move all my things, plus Emma in her carrier. She was definitely not happy. Neither was I.

  “I could’ve left a lot of this stuff,” I grumbled, amazed at what I’d accumulated in just eight months of living with Trey. “Since I’ll be coming back soon, taking all of it seems silly.”

  But Trey insisted. Did he think our apartment might be searched for evidence of our cohabitation? That seemed way too far-fetched to me.

  Daddy was shocked when he got home from work and found us hauling boxes upstairs to my room. We settled in the family room and explained our concerns: the blood tests, the detectives, the news coverage, even that encounter with CJ’s nurse.

  “Well,” he said when we were through. “I’m glad you’re here. I never thought you should live together in the first place. Neither did Johnny. It’s far too risky in Idaho, especially now with the rape investigation and media coverage.”

  “Speaking of which,” Trey said, “wasn’t Quinn scheduled for an interview at the sheriff’s office this afternoon? I wonder how that went.”

  “It’s time for the news,” Daddy noted. “Let’s check it out.” He clicked the remote to Channel 7, where the news anchor opened with the day’s big story.

  “In a stunning development in the Quinn Larson rape case, Amelia Parker has dropped her claims against Quinn Larson. This announcement came just minutes before Larson’s scheduled interview at the Ada County Sheriff’s Office this afternoon. The interview was abruptly cancelled. Two hours later, the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that formal charges will not be filed against Quinn Larson in this matter. No reason was given for this decision. Both Amelia Parker and Quinn Larson remain unavailable for comment.”

  We stared at each other. Dropped? No charges?

  “What the hell?” Trey exclaimed. “After all this shit—the investigation, the whole insanity—she just drops everything and walks away? Quinn flies back to his team and his glory unscathed after he totally messes up our lives? I swear, Elise, this is way too much, even for Quinn. I want answers.”

  He grabbed his cell phone and called Quinn, who answered right away. “Yeah,” Trey said. “Okay. We’ll be right there.”

  Trey pulled me to my feet. “He’ll see us. Let’s go.”

  “To his hotel? How will we get through the crowds? The reporters?”

  “There’s a private entrance in back. Someone will be waiting for us.”

  We parked in a lot behind the hotel and found a rear entrance, where a man was waiting for us. We were quickly whisked via a private elevator to the foyer of Quinn’s penthouse suite.

  “Call off y
our man,” Trey growled when Quinn approached. “This is between us.”

  Quinn nodded to the man, who disappeared through the elevator doors.

  “Anyone else around?” Trey demanded.

  “Nope. Just us. C’mon in, you two. Have a look around. Think I’ll grab a beer. Care to join me?”

  Quinn moved through the ultra-modern living room to the chrome and marble kitchen, seemingly relaxed in his T-shirt and khaki shorts. But I was not fooled. I knew Quinn well enough to notice the tension in his broad shoulders and the way his big hand gripped the can of beer. Quinn was simmering with anger, as was Trey. I understood Trey’s anger, but why was Quinn so upset?

  He settled on a bar stool, took a long drink and belched. “So what’s up, bro? You were all hot to get over here and talk to me. What’s on your mind?”

  “You bastard.”

  “Now hold on there, Trey. I’m no bastard. Our parents were lawfully married. Johnny ever hears you slander our mother that way, he’ll tan your hide.”

  “Leave Johnny out of this. This is between you and me.”

  “What have I done to get you so riled up, huh? Some bitch accuses me of rape. Says I got her knocked up. It was all lies, like I’ve been saying all along. Blood tests proved I’m not the father. Once that came out, her whole story crumbled. It’s over. Just a minor inconvenience, though a trifle expensive in the end.”

  Trey stepped closer to Quinn, his hands balled into fists. “A minor inconvenience? That’s all this is to you?”

  Quinn took another long swallow. “Look, bro, I can tell you’re pissed, but I’ll be damned if I know why. I’m a bit dense at times, so please enlighten me. Just spit it out.”

  Trey took a deep breath, trying to calm down. “You get slammed at a party, kicked out of the hotel, show up at our place at three a.m., throw up in our sink and pass out on our sofa. Remember any of that?”

  “Not all of it, but some. Go on.”

  “Three months later, some woman accuses you of rape, so what do you do? You tell police you spent most of the night with us. You tell them we can back you up. We don’t know a damn thing about what you did at that party, but you thought . . . hell, I don’t know what you thought. Maybe you figured we’d lie for you.”

  Trey swung around and looked at me before he turned back to Quinn. “So they show up this week. Two detectives. They question Elise while I’m at work. Then I come home and they question me. A reporter rings our bell. We make the evening news, complete with pictures of our apartment, where we two cousins are living together. Thanks to you, half the country knows we’re cohabiting.”

  Quinn crushed the beer can in his fist and tossed it across the counter, where it skittered into the sink. “No law against it,” he said. “Most folks don’t like the idea, but they generally let it slide. Hell, there was a time not too long ago when I even thought you two cousins should get married. Imagine that.”

  Quinn placed his elbows on the counter behind him, leaning back in a deceptively casual stance. But the muscles in his arms flexed as he clenched his fists. “Be honest, Trey. You’re not pissed because people know you’re living with your cousin. You’re afraid they’ll find out you’re fucking your own sister.”

  The breath I’d been holding whooshed out of my lungs. I reached for Trey but couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. He knows? Quinn knows? How? I felt Trey’s hand on my arm and saw the stunned look on his face—a mirror of my own.

  Quinn laughed harshly. “Hit the nail on the head, didn’t I? Uncovered your little secret. Found out my sweet cousin is really my sister. So who else knows, huh? Johnny, for sure—the daddy of us all. I suppose Jim knows. And CJ. Anyone else? No? Obviously, I couldn’t be trusted with your secret. Not Quinn, who might get drunk and spill the beans. But I found out, kids. So deal with it.”

  “How did you find out?” I asked.

  He gestured to the bar stools along the counter. “Sit down, Elise. You’re looking a bit peaked. You too, bro. I’ll grab some beers and tell you a tale that will amaze you.”

  Quinn opened another can and slid one across the counter to Trey, who ignored it. “Okay, then. Here’s the story. Seems Amelia Parker has a stepmother by the name of Frances Parker. The lady takes care of sick people, including our brother CJ. Anyway, Nurse Parker happened to overhear an interesting conversation yesterday while you were visiting CJ. Know what I’m referring to? Yeah. I thought so.”

  He took another long drink and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Since y’all are related to me, Nurse Parker thought Amelia might be interested in this little tidbit of information. Indeed she was.”

  Quinn stood up and began to pace, releasing some of his pent-up anger. “We almost had her, dammit! The blood test proved I wasn’t the father. Proved she was a liar. My lawyer was prepared to tear her credibility to shreds in court, had it gone that far. She was ready to give up and walk away. We came that close.”

  He glared at Trey. “Early this morning—long before I’m awake—Amelia calls my lawyer. Says she wants to settle out of court. Wants to discuss it with us. So what’s to discuss? She’s done, right? It’s over. But she insists. Says she’ll go to the press if we won’t meet with her. So Belknap wakes me up. I say sure, let’s hear her out, then throw her out. An hour later, she sits on that very stool and tells me you two are sleeping together and—surprise!—blood tests prove you are siblings!”

  He crushed the second can and threw it across the living room, hitting the floor-to-ceiling window. “I laughed at her,” he said. “I did. I told her to get the fuck out. But after she left and I calmed down, I thought about the blood tests we all took for CJ. I thought what the hell, check it out and prove she’s lying again.”

  “How?” I asked. “Those tests are confidential.”

  “Think so? Don’t be naïve, Elise. There’s nothing and no one in this world that can’t be bought. Belknap went down to that lab, flashed his lawyer card and fed the tech some story about needing your tests for a court case. Snowed her with a bunch of legal bullshit. Then he topped it off with a small reward for her trouble. The chick probably earns less than twenty bucks an hour, so she jumped at the chance to make a cool grand for ten minutes of her time. Belknap was back here with your blood tests before noon.”

  Quinn pulled three documents from a kitchen drawer and tossed them to Trey. “There they are, bro. Proof positive that we all have the same father—the noble and virtuous Johnny Larson. The man who claims he hasn’t touched a woman since Elise’s death, but he was screwing Lisa before our mother was cold in her grave.”

  I shook my head. “No. It wasn’t like that. They used artificial insemination. Johnny never had sex with my mother.”

  Quinn snorted. “That’s the story they fed you? Fine. Believe what you like. However it was done, the result is the same. You are my sister. And CJ’s. And that guy sitting beside you who’s known about this for how long? How long, Trey? Months? Years?”

  Trey didn’t reply as he pushed the documents aside. Quinn snatched them up, along with Trey’s unopened beer. Shoving the tests in the drawer, he opened the can and sat down.

  “Anyway, to continue my story, Belknap called Amelia Parker and got her up here for another little discussion. Figured we needed to settle things before she went to the press with her shocking tale. It didn’t take long. She agreed to keep her mouth shut in exchange for a rather generous reward. So in the end, she got what she wanted from the beginning. Money. Lots of my money.”

  “She blackmailed you,” I said.

  “You could call it that.”

  “What if she asks for more money? Or her stepmother does?”

  He took another long swallow. “Won’t happen. One word from either of them and she’ll be prosecuted for blackmail. Belknap made that crystal clear, and she knows he’s not kidding. Then he had her sign some form where she dropped her claims against me, just in time to cancel my interview with the cops. End of story. Any questions?”

 
“Yeah,” Trey said. “Why’d you pay her off? What’s it to you?”

  “Think about it, bro. Think about my career. I might be the NFL’s biggest star, but enough negative publicity could destroy me. Her rape charges were bad, but I knew we could beat that with no problem. It was just her word against mine. But incest—documented, provable incest—is a whole different ballgame. Folks cringe at the thought of it, Trey. They do. It’s the last big sexual taboo in our society. That’s why it’s illegal. Criminal. You think I’d risk being connected with something like that?”

  “So you did it to protect yourself.”

  “Damn straight.” Quinn tipped the can to get the last dregs before he looked at Trey. “Now I have some questions for you, professor. How can you be so brilliant and do something so pathetically stupid, huh? Tell me that. How can you be dumb enough to screw your own sister? In Idaho, no less, where they can lock you up for life!”

  “You don’t understand.”

  Quinn crushed the empty can and dropped it on the floor. “You bet I don’t. I don’t understand how you could endanger Elise this way. You wouldn’t be the only one going to prison, you know. Can you picture Elise locked in a cell for God knows how many years?”

  I’d had enough. “Stop it, Quinn! You don’t understand, like Trey said. You’ll never understand, which is why we’ve kept it from you. We love each other in every possible meaning of that word. We didn’t know we were siblings when our love began, but once we knew, it didn’t change anything. I’m sorry you don’t approve. I’m sorry you had to pay to keep our secret. But I’ll never be sorry for loving Trey. Go back to your team, your fans and your glorious life. Leave us alone.”

  Trey stood up. “You planning to destroy those blood tests?”

  “Think I should?”

  “Yeah. You should.”

  “I just might. And here’s what you should do, bro. Leave Elise alone. Leave her alone to keep her safe. No matter how much it hurts.”