Hell,I may need to just build him a new club now.
That girl was mine.
Our story had just begun.
EPILOGUE
PHOEBE
Days passed.
I felt like an absolute idiot for doing it, but I hardly left my house in fear of seeing Aureo, even to go down the street to the local convenience store.
I had my tubs of ice creamdelivered.
That's desperation.
The self-isolation was on a new level, and I knew Echo or my dad were going to beheadme if I didn’t speak to them soon, but it was worth it for the time being.
I still didn’t know what to think or feel after the night Aureo and I shared at the Crow Cavern. Wallowing in self-induced pity was better than nothing.
I had spent the past week in nothing but a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt I had owned since I was in high school, burying myself in comfort TV shows likePretty Little Liars, and consuming far too much ice cream.
In some circumstances, this would be considered self-care, but I knew myself more than that. I knew I was avoiding the reality of my situation.
I was pathetic.
Being with Aureo was the best sex of my life.
Hell, it was the best birthday of my life.
Yet, when I woke up the next morning still wrapped up in his arms on my dad’s couch, I still felt that ownership in a way that made my knees weak and my heart palpitate wildly. And I didn’t know if I was even allowed to feel that way.
We had agreed on one thing. Just for that night.
Then life would go back to normal.
Somehow, my wildest dreams and fantasies had come true all in the matter of a single night, and Iended up wanting to take them back because I wasn’t allowed to feel the happiness I craved the morning after again. Especially because I was the one who told him to fuck off most of the time.
It was a night with a man who was twenty years my senior. And it was with a man who had known me since I was a fragile teenager who begged for attention every day of my life. Why did I want him more than ever now?
What kind of person did that make me? What kind of person did that make us, if there evenwasan us? Sure, Aureo and I had said some heated things in the moment, but did that make it a reality? Everyone loved dirty talk.
I didn’t even know what being owned felt like. I didn’t even know what genuine romantic love felt like.
I had never allowed anyone close enough.
And there I was, wishing Aureo would do it anyway.
I sighed, scrubbing my forehead in frustration.
Everything was so confusing. I should have just stayed celibate. I was far past the limitation of becoming a nun, but I could have celebrated my birthday with a tattoo and a sprinkle of holy water, right?
A deep huff left me next as I staredat my TV screen. Of course, it was a scene where one of the girls began kissing their teacher, highlighting all the forbidden nature that surrounded me and my current predicament.
Even with those facts, I didn’treallycare. It wasn’t like we did anything wrong. We were both more than legal, age-gap relationships were perfectly normalized in our day and age, and kink is only an up-hill conversation.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with what we did.
