Verboten: An Inferno World Novella

by A. A. Davies

  What the hell had I done?

  I’d just kissed my uncle.

  And I liked it.

  Fuck.

  Chapter Five

  BETH

  It didn’t matter whether I was walking through the halls at school or sitting in my bedroom. I could have been getting ice cream or cooking dinner. Whatever I was doing, what I’d done that night in the gym wouldn’t leave my mind.

  It was on repeat, not willing to disappear like I wished it would.

  I’d made a mistake. A huge one. One that I couldn’t take back.

  I didn’t stand at my window at night. I didn’t charge the cell I’d been given. I went back to doing what I did best: doing what my dad wanted me to and attending school. I kept to myself and tried my hardest not to think of my uncle in any way possible.

  But it was hard. Shit, now all I was thinking about was his erection. I was fucked, in more ways than one. Which was why I was still lying there, wide awake at three in the morning. It’d been a week since I last saw Uncle Jacob, and tonight like all the others, I didn’t check to see if he was outside.

  Part of me hoped that he was, but the other part wished he wasn’t.

  My door creaked open and I closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep, but the universe was out to get me, because when my dad sat on the side of the bed, my body jerked.

  “You awake, Beth?”

  I didn’t want to answer. I shouldn’t have answered, but my body’s immediate reaction was to say, “Yes.”

  There was a pause, one that held things I’d become afraid of, and then his hand reached under the comforter. “Good.” I stayed silent this time, not willing to give him anything. “Means I can get your reaction.”

  “My...reaction?” I squeaked out.

  “Yes.” His hand climbed higher, his rough palm against my soft skin causing me to shiver. I was repulsed by his touch, and so was my body. “You like that, huh?”

  “No, I—”

  “You don’t need to lie to me, Beth. I know what you like better than anyone. It’s the way our family is built.” I frowned and tried to scoot over, but his other hand gripped me tighter and held me in place. His face came closer, only half of it illuminated by the light basking into my room from the hallway. “Keep still, it’ll be easier that way.”

  “No,” I whispered. “I don’t want to—”

  “It’s okay, Bethy.” His voice was rougher now and held an edge to it I’d only heard when he and Shell were overly loud in their bedroom. “I’ve got what you need.”

  His fingers yanked my underwear aside and I didn’t have time to move away. I screeched as his finger entered me roughly. “No! Stop!” My pleas fell on deaf ears because he thrust in and out again. My insides burned, the pinching sensation too much to handle. My body was rejecting him, but he didn’t seem to care.

  I used my hands as leverage on my mattress and pushed up a little, but he didn’t move his hand, instead, he darted forward and covered my body with his.

  “Stay still, you’ll learn the right way.”

  “Please, Dad. Please, stop.”

  He shook his head and moved his face closer to bury it into my neck. “I always give my Bethy what she needs.”

  “No—” I was cut off with a combination of pain I’d never felt. He added another finger inside me, his fingernails scraping against my inner walls, at the same time he bit down on my neck. A bite so hard I could feel his sharp incisors breaking my skin.

  Tears rolled down my face and my hands scraped against his back and down his arms, my fight to have this stop not leaving me. I wouldn’t let myself be another statistic, I wouldn’t let this happen to me.

  Maybe this was my punishment for what I did with Uncle Jacob? Maybe this was what opening that door had led me to?

  He thrust his fingers in and out of me, not caring that I was still as dry as a bone. I cringed at the hot breath that wafted over my neck and finally realized that it didn’t matter how much I fought, this was inevitable. I’d known the first night I’d been awake when he came into my room. Part of my brain had told me that was just the prelude to what would happen, but I hadn’t wanted to entertain the idea.

  And now we were here. My body revolting from a man’s touch. A man who was meant to protect me at all costs, not be the one hurting me.

  “Please,” I begged, telling myself if I tried one last time, then maybe he’d stop. “Please, stop.”

  He grunted in answer and swiped his tongue over the bite on my neck. “You’ll learn to love it.” His body jerked and he groaned. “Just like I did.”

  BETH

  They said things came in threes. The first thing was what happened with Uncle Jacob in the gym, then my dad taking things to the next level and invading part of me he shouldn’t, and now this.

  “I don’t understand,” I said to Laney, staring at my house from her front porch. “Why now?”

  “Well…” She let out a chuckle and placed her hand on my knee. I shouldn’t have jerked from such a gentle touch, but the memories of the night wouldn’t leave me. Five nights in a row, each one more invasive than the last. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not getting any younger.”

  I sighed. I may have said I didn’t understand, but I was being selfish. Her family wanted her closer to them and not three hundred miles away. Laney had two daughters and a son, all of whom didn’t live near her. She had a family out there, one that loved and needed her. But maybe I needed her more right then?

  “When’s it happening?” I asked, narrowing my eyes on my bedroom window. You could see right in it from this viewpoint, and I had no doubt when the darkness covered the night and my light shone from inside the room, that you could see just as much.

  “Ethan comes to pick me up tomorrow.” She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, Beth. I know it’s sudden but...my house sold and I have to be out of it.”

  “I get it,” I replied, my voice sad. “I’ll be leaving soon anyway, and I’ll be closer to you then.” I hitched my lips up into a fake smile. “Maybe I could visit you when I’m a college girl?”

  She smiled back at me, her white hair framing her face in a sharply cut bob. “You can visit me anytime you want, love.” She tapped her hand on my knee. “And I’m just a phone call away if you ever want to...you know...talk.” Her gaze flicked down to my neck and I wondered if the makeup I’d applied over the bite mark had done its job or slipped after being on for several hours.

  “I know.”

  “I mean it.” She stood, groaning at her creaking bones. “I know that Shell is useless, but this old lady lived through the sixties and seventies and I can give some mean advice.”

  I shook my head and stood, knowing that 4 p.m. meant it was her daily ninety-minute nap. “I have no doubt, Laney. No doubt at all.”

  I stared after her as she walked inside her house and my body deflated when she clicked the door closed behind her. She was the one person I thought would always be there, a shining beacon across the street I could escape to. But she’d be gone in a couple of days, leaving me with what felt like nothing and no one.

  JACOB

  I pulled up at the curb, the roar of my motorbike engine the only sound in the otherwise quiet neighborhood. I made this drive every night, the only difference was that I didn’t have to park a block over and walk to the house this time.

  I didn’t know why I was here, but Hal had called and asked me to join them for family dinner tonight. I usually told him no, but there was an edge to his voice, excitement mixed in with apprehension. At first, I’d wondered if Beth had told him what happened last week at the fight, but that thought had vanished almost immediately.

  I may have kissed her, but she kissed me back. She’d liked it as much as I had, which was why I needed to separate myself from her. Twice a year was more than enough, and yet, I found myself staring at their house in the daylight, about to walk in and sit in an enclosed environment with her.

  The front door opened, and Ha
l appeared, a grin spreading from ear to ear as he stared at me. He was exuding happiness, and I couldn’t remember seeing him like this, not even when I was a kid.

  I threw my leg over the bike and grabbed my jacket. “Hey,” I said as I walked up the path to his front door. His house was just like every other house on the street. Generic.

  “Little bro.” I hated when he called me that, but I didn’t have the energy to tell him, not when it felt like I was heading into a battlefield.

  Hal stepped back to let me in and shut the door behind me. “Head into the dining room, Beth has set the table.” Her name sent a jolt through me, but I did my best to cover it up. The last thing I needed was for Hal to see a change in us because all it would mean was questions I couldn’t answer.

  I walked into the living room, thankful I didn’t have to pass the kitchen to get to the dining room because I didn’t know what I would do when I saw her face again. Would I hate myself more than I already did? Or would I want to press my lips against hers all over again?

  Hal was right, the table was set for four, one at each end, and then two next to each other. Did this mean she wanted to sit by me? Is that why she set it this way? I needed to tell her straight that what happened wouldn’t be repeated. I couldn’t let myself go down that rabbit hole because I knew I’d never come out of it again.

  Shell—Hal’s too young and plastic-looking wife—swirled into the room, a martini glass hanging off her fingers that were complete with nails that appeared to be more like brightly colored claws.

  “Jacob!” She stepped toward me and smiled. “I’m so glad you came!” She tried to swing her arms around me for a hug, but I moved back. I didn’t want her to touch me, I didn’t want anyone to touch me—apart from Beth. Fuck, no. No Beth.

  “Thanks for inviting me.” My voice was rough, portraying that I didn’t mean what I said, because I didn’t. They’d invited me to many family dinners over the years, but it was a silent rule of mine that I didn’t attend, only coming twice a year. I’d made the mistake early on to try to be closer to them all and realized I couldn’t. But now I was standing here, waiting for the door to open and the girl to appear that I couldn’t have.

  This wasn’t your normal bullshit “I can’t have her because it would look bad.” This was the “I seriously can’t have her because she’s my niece.”

  I was fucked in the head, just like my older brothers. But Hal had managed to break the mold, so it gave me hope. I stared over at him and wondered how he’d managed to do it. How he’d resisted the urges that seemed to be inbred into us all. Luke hadn’t cared one bit, but Hal had.

  “I don’t know what is taking that girl so long,” Shell said, her voice like nails on a chalkboard. “Can I get you a drink in the meantime?”

  “Water,” I grunted out, because I didn’t trust her one bit to give me what I really wanted which was a whisky, neat.

  She pointed at the table, her talons showing me the jug that had been set down in the middle. “There it is.”

  “Sit down,” Hal told us both. “I’ll go and see what’s taking Beth so long.”

  Hal left the room, leaving me with his wife. A wife who had tried everything in the past to make a pass at me. She didn’t love Hal, that was obvious. Or maybe she did and they had a fucked-up relationship? Maybe that was how he got past his urges? To push them on to somebody else. Which meant I should do the same thing. If I was too engrossed with another woman, then maybe I wouldn’t be thinking about the eighteen-year-old forbidden fruit.

  Shell pulled out one of the chairs at the head of the table and I walked toward the seat closest to the other head, wanting to be as far away from her as possible.

  “Wouldn’t do that if I was you,” Shell warned, ending on a tsk. “That’s Beth’s seat.”

  I raised a brow but didn’t grace her with a reply and moved to the next seat. I hadn’t been in this dining room more than a couple of times, but it was just as stuffy as I remembered with its dark and windowless walls. I reached for the jug on the table and poured myself a glass of water, just about to take a sip when the door swung open and Hal appeared.

  “Dinner’s ready!”

  Beth followed him in, her head down, focusing on the dish she was carrying. I expected the usual greeting from her and big smile, but she didn’t look up as she walked around to her seat and sat down gently.

  I frowned at her, wondering what was going on, and then realized that she regretted it. She regretted what she did with me and it was all my fault. I was the adult in the situation—even though she was eighteen—but I hadn’t stopped it. Well, I had, but not soon enough.

  I’d fucked up. Maybe it was for the best though? If she didn’t even want to look at me, then there’d be no way for me to be so tempted to touch her.

  We all scooped food onto our plates, the room full of uncomfortable silence, and then Hal cleared his throat. “I’ll say grace.”

  Shell’s hand reached across to me and I cringed as I placed mine in hers, but it was nothing like the apprehension I felt at having to encase Beth’s with mine. I stared over at her small hand on the table and to her other one that Hal held, begging for her to look at me, but all I could see was the side of her pale face.

  I could do this. I needed to stop being such a goddamn sissy and get through this meal. I inhaled a deep breath and took her hand in mine, noting her shaking but limp fingers.

  This wasn’t the Beth I’d come to know, this was a shell of her, and it was all my fault.

  Hal said grace and then we all got to eating, the silence still surrounding us. It reminded me so much of being at home, the dinner table being the one place we couldn’t say anything, and I realized with clarity that Hal had brought a lot of his upbringing into his own house.

  Once everyone’s plates were finished, Beth stood, and for the first time, she actually looked at me. Her green eyes were darker than usual, a sadness emanating from them that was overemphasized by the straight line of her plump lips.

  “Thank you,” I murmured.

  “You’re welcome,” she whispered back and scurried over to pick up Hal’s plate.

  “That was delicious, Bethy.” His hand came out to touch her back and she revolted from it. The plates clattered in her hands and nearly slipped from her fingers. Her eyes widened as she realized what she’d just done.

  What the fuck?

  “Thank you,” she replied to him, her voice way different from the way she’d just spoken those two words to me.

  She put her head down and moved out of the room, Shell’s chuckles following in her wake. The atmosphere dipped, and a feeling settled in my stomach. I always listened to my gut because my instincts were never off. And right then, it was telling me there were more things happening inside these four walls than I’d first thought.

  I’d come here thinking I was the predator, but maybe I’d gotten it twisted? Maybe I was here for a reason, whether my intentions were good or not.

  Chapter Six

  JACOB

  It wasn’t often I went to a bar, in fact, I could count on one hand the amount of times I’d been in my entire life. But after the dinner at Hal’s house, I needed a drink and the noise to drown out my thoughts.

  The music blasted through the speakers inside the hole-in-the-wall I’d walked into an hour ago, and the makeshift dance floor was full with couples and a few lone women. Women that weren’t related to me. Women I could use to get my mind off Beth.

  I knocked back my whisky and stood from the bar stool. I wasn’t going to dance, but I knew I’d only need to give the redhead that had been eyeing me since I walked in one look and she’d come to me willingly.

  I caught her gaze, winked, and carried on walking down the back hallway where the restrooms were. A quick glance over my shoulder told me she was following me, so when I got to the men’s room, I pushed the door open and waited for her.

  She was the complete opposite to Beth in every way. Her slender figure resembled more of a bea
n pole, and she came up to my chin. She halted in front of me and placed her hand on my chest. I blinked down at her, noting the caked-on makeup on her face.

  Beth would’ve never worn anything like that, which meant this redhead was perfect to eradicate her from my mind.

  “Not gonna even buy me a drink first?” she cooed, her sickly-sweet voice making me wish she hadn’t spoken. I didn’t need words from her, just a hole to stick my dick and make me forget, even if it was only for a few minutes.

  “You wanna do this or not?” I asked, my rough voice telling her that I could go out there and choose someone else if I wanted to. I didn’t need any goddamn conversations.

  She raised a brow and lifted her lips on one side. “Let’s do this.” She let her hand trail over my chest as she stepped into the men’s room and headed into one of the stalls. I had no doubt this wasn’t the first time she’d done this, but it didn’t matter to me.

  I closed the stall door behind me, stepped closer to her, and gripped her hips over her thin, short dress. It’d been way too long since I’d fucked a woman, that was the only excuse I could come up with as to why my pulse didn’t race at touching her.

  She lifted up, bringing her face closer to mine, but I jerked to the side. “No kissing.” I gripped her harder and spun her around. “Bend over.”

  She groaned at my words and I held in my eye roll. These women were all the same, moaning at things because they thought it turned the man on. Maybe it worked on the usual men she picked up, but all it made me want to do was rip her voice box out. I panted out my breaths at the image it caused in my head. The violent side of me was buried and contained by my training and fighting, but that didn’t mean it didn’t make an appearance every now and again.

  I shook my head, trying to expel my thoughts, and lifted the back of her dress up. She pushed out her pert ass and I ran my hand gently over it then gave it a resounded smack. She jumped at the force of it and looked at me over her shoulder.