Forbidden Desires (18+)

Little snippet

Three people voted in ten minutes. That's enough for me. 

Chapter Thirty – Olivia

I couldn't sleep. Brett came home late sometimes, but this was... It was nearly three in the morning when I heard the front door unlock. I sat upright on the sofa before I'd even realised I'd moved. The television played quietly in the background, though I couldn't remember a single thing I'd watched.

I'd just been waiting.

The hallway light spilled into the living room as the door opened. Heavy footsteps pattered across the floor.

The movements slow and tired.

And then Brett appeared.

And I forgot how to breathe.

How to speak.

His white shirt...

Wasn't white anymore.

Dark crimson stained the sleeves, soaked into the front of his shirt, and splattered across his collar. There was blood on his face, his hands, even on his shoes.

I froze.

He stopped in his tracks the second he saw me.

Neither of us spoke.

His eyes searched mine.

Waiting. Almost bracing himself for my reaction.

Instead... My eyes travelled over him again.

"Brett." My voice barely worked. "You're hurt." He looked down at himself as if he'd forgotten what he looked like.

"It's not mine." His words sounded apologetic.

"I know." His gaze snapped back to me.

"You..." he frowned ever so slightly. "...know?"

I nodded, standing from the sofa slowly. "If it was yours... you wouldn't be standing." And something in his expression cracked then. Not entirely, but enough for me to see how exhausted he really was. He looked like he'd aged years in a single night.

"You should be asleep." He was changing the conversation.

And yet he still stood there, frozen in that spot. Covered in blood – blood that wasn't his.

"I couldn't." I admitted, my mind racing with what might have happened tonight. What he'd done, what he'd seen.

"You shouldn't wait up for me." Is all he said.

"I know." I walked towards him then, slowly. The closer I got, the stronger the smell became. It wasn't just blood, it was smoke and damp and... something metallic that made my stomach twist.

Brett must have seen my expression change because he took a small step backwards. "Olivia." His voice was rough, husky, tired. "Don't." he warned, but it was so gentle, not angry.

"Don't what?" I stepped closer again.

"Come closer." His jaw clenched.

"Why?"

"I don't want this on you." I looked down at his hands then. The blood had dried around his knuckled, collecting beneath his fingernails. And without thinking, hazy with sleep and heavy with concern, I reached for one of them.

He stiffened right away. "Liv..." it was a shadow of a plea.

"It's okay," my fingers wrapped gently around his. "They're shaking." My eyes searched his face. He hadn't even noticed. 

....

Isn't even a fifth of the full chapter but... Just a snippet of something new added in. There are so many more scenes, so much more detail.