Taide is swiftly climbing up the ladder to coookooo land.
CHARLOTTE"So?" Taide asked, twirling a strand of my hair between his fingers. "What’s it gonna be?"I stood rooted in place, wondering if he was being serious. I studied his features, searching for a possible twitch so I could tell this was all a joke.Why on earth would he want to mark me? The con
"What ?"Taide sent me a pointed look at the door, "The coast is clear, so get going already.""R–right," I stammered, feeling my face light up. Just a couple moment in his presence and it felt like the atoms in my brain had been fried.Immediately, I dashed out of the lab, blushing even harder as h
CHARLOTTEAfter his speaks, I stared straight at him, wondering if he had said the wrong thing, or if I wasn't seeing right, and he wasn't Vance.So I Squinted my eyes, taking in his features, and I knew I wasn't mistaken.Did he hit his head or something then? Why was he offering me a ride?"Would
"Here," Vance handed me a clean towel to which I whispered a ‘thanks’ while wiping some parts of my hair which were damp.After a few seconds of repeated brushing, my hair was somewhat dry, but the towel wasn't. I was embarrassed to hand it over to him, so I clutched the towel, sitting with my back
"Jealous? Of you?" Emmalaine scoffed, "Why would anyone be jealous of you? It's not like—""Like what exactly?" Madeline's voice cut in, snapping our attention to her."Madeline!" Emmalaine called sweetly, "We were just joking with Charlotte here."Madeline gave her a nasty look, coming to stand bes
CHARLOTTEWhen I got the school the next day, the first thing I noticed was that all the pictures of me had been taken down.My eyes skimmed the halls, but I couldn't see anything.It was spotless like the incident didn't occur at all. It was curious. And I stood there, puzzled, wondering if the sch
CHARLOTTEHis fangs sank into my neck before I could blink, and a burning sensation swept through my veins.My mouth parted, but not a single sound came though, as I felt my head go blank in shock. A forceful wave of uncontrollable pleasure coursed through me, making me gasp out.My nipples tightene
Taide marked me.He fucking marked me.I bit my nails, pacing, my breathing sounding raspy.This wasn't happening, I told myself, placing my hand on my neck, but the shiver that zapped through my brain woke me up.Panic flooded in at once.He has unlimited access to my very being, and the worst part
Like we didn’t matter.My nails dug into my palms as memories slammed into me. I could still see it—the nights he reeked of alcohol, his head lolling to the side, completely oblivious to the fact that he had two daughters who needed him to pick himself up and be… more than the person he was choosing
CHARLOTTEThe car ride was too quiet.Too damn suffocating.The weight of everything that had happened in the span of a few hours pressed down on me—Madeline, the triplets, my father. My hands trembled against my lap, and I clenched them into fists for the umpteenth time, trying to force myself to f
It was only after the shock of silence that followed that I realized I’d spoken those words out loud. Dot gasped, reaching for me instantly, pulling me into an embrace. I didn’t expect it to be as comforting as it was. And so I didn’t fight her. She guided me to the steps outside the hospital, sitt
CHARLOTTE It felt like a slap to the face. The doctor’s words hit me so hard that I lost my footing. My knees wobbled, and before I could steady myself, the plastic cup in my hand slipped through my fingers and crashed onto the tiled floor. Water splashed across my shoes, soaking into the hem of m
CHARLOTTE The reality of the situation hit me with frightening clarity. Madeline was dying. I moved before I could think, panic exploding through my chest as I ran forward and fell to my knees beside her. My hands hovered uselessly, trembling as I tried to find something, anything, to hold o
Emma folded her hands across her chest, her mouth pulling up into a wicked smile, “Charlotte the Harlot.” Bitch. “Yeah, yeah,” I muttered, shouldering past her, she wasn’t worth the energy engaging with her would require. “I thought you dropped out,” She said to my retreating back, “Thought maybe
At first, she texted me every day. Then, as weeks passed, the messages became less frequent, less ecstatic. I knew she and Sean had been working through their issues, but based on some of her recent updates—the ones I still hadn’t replied to—they had hit a wall. They had broken up. Madeline thought
FOUR MONTHS LATER CHARLOTTE Running laps had never come easy to me, and today was no different. My lungs burned as I pushed through the last lap, my sneakers slapping against the pavement in a rhythm that didn’t feel natural no matter how many times I did this. My breath came in short bursts,
He hadn’t even raised his voice, yet despite the distance, his words carried like he had just whispered them in my ear. Seductive and bitter. My damnation. “But you made it too easy, Harlot. You almost ruined the fun.” Harlot. It was the first time I had heard him call me that in months. All