บททั้งหมดของ Dirty and Sinful Collection: บทที่ 211 - บทที่ 220

Erotica 1. Ava. Jake told me not to be nervous right before he pressed his father’s buzzer, which, predictably, made me more nervous. I smoothed my dress like it was a brake pedal for my heart. It wasn’t. Somewhere inside, a deadbolt turned with calm authority, and footsteps came toward us with the same energy as a ticking clock.The door opened, and there he was. Daniel. Tall, broad, sleeves rolled to his forearms, expression spare. He had that quiet command some people wore like a tailored suit and you straightened without realizing you were doing it. His eyes landed on me and paused, not hostile, just assessing, like I was a line item in a report he wasn’t sure needed editing.“Dad,” Jake said, grinning as he leaned in for a quick hug. “This is Ava.”“Ava,” Daniel said. His handshake was brief and warm, more stamp than conversation. “Come in.”The apartment smelled faintly of cedar and lemon. Books lined a wall in precise rows. The kitchen looked like a set where cooking happened

3AvaI woke up before my alarm, not on purpose, just because my body decided I’d had enough sleep. The house was quiet in that lake way: water moving somewhere you couldn’t see, trees whispering, a gull making some loud opinion and leaving.Jake was facedown beside me, arm slung over my waist, breathing warm against my shoulder. I slid out carefully. He made a low sound, rolled onto his other side, and was gone again.I put on my hoodie and tied my hair up. The upstairs floorboards creaked at every step, so I tried myself to walk silently. Downstairs smelled like pine, wood, and last night’s burgers. I grabbed a towel and stepped onto the porch.The lake looked still enough to hold. I dropped my flip-flops, tossed the towel, and walked to the ladder. The water bit first, then wrapped around me. I pushed off, swimming long and steady along the shoreline, counting every third breath. By the time I looped back, my head was clear and my skin tight from the cold.Daniel was sitting on the

5AvaJake said he was going into town like it was a big announcement. He’d gotten a text from a guy at the rental place about a pickup basketball game at the marina and burgers after. He was pacing while talking about it, juggling his phone, sunglasses, and a half-closed water bottle.“Come with me,” he said, kissing my cheek and leaving sunscreen on my hairline.“I’m staying,” I told him. “Headache. And I want to read without falling asleep after three pages.”“You sure?” He squinted at me. “Might rain later.”“It won’t,” Daniel said from the doorway. He was in a plain t-shirt and the shorts he seemed to wear every day.Jake grinned. “Science?”“Observation,” Daniel said.“Okay, professor,” Jake said, then looked back at me. “Text me if you change your mind. I’ll be back for dinner.”“I’ll help with dinner,” I said, glancing at Daniel.Daniel gave the smallest smile. “It’s something you can’t mess up.”“Doubt it,” I said.Jake kissed me again and left in his usual mix of noise and hu

7Ava. Jake was already in a mood before I knew we were having one.I was chopping strawberries for pancakes, and he was tearing through cabinets like he was looking for treasure he didn’t actually want. His hand passed the cinnamon three times before he slammed the cabinet shut.“You and my dad are getting… close,” he said, too casually.I looked over my shoulder. “We live in the same house. It’s small. Close happens.”He shook his head. “Don’t do that.”“Do what?”“Make me feel like I’m crazy for noticing things.”I set the knife down. “What things?”“You stand like him now,” he said, pointing with the spatula like he was tallying up evidence. “You fold the towels his way. You look for him when you say something funny.”“That’s not a crime, Jake.”“It’s not just you,” he said, eyes cutting away. “It’s him. The way he watches you. He doesn’t watch anyone.”“He watches the pump timer,” I said, because joking was easier than dealing with where this was going.“Ava.” My name came out sh

9Ava. Jake went out with friends and the house exhaled. The quiet afterward felt like a held note; even the refrigerator seemed to hum softer, like it knew better than to interrupt. Daniel did the dishes one plate at a time, not slow enough to be suspicious but slow enough that I noticed. I dried and put things away without looking at him too much, which of course meant I was watching him without looking, tracking him by the sound of the water and where his shadow moved on the wall. We didn’t say “good night” when the last fork was put away. We just… drifted into the living room, like the night had drawn a string from both of us and was pulling.He went to his chair by the window. I sat on the couch, polite distance, hands in my lap, ankles crossed, pretending I’d come for the lamp light and not for him. Outside, the lake was a wide piece of black glass. Somewhere far off, somebody told a joke and laughed at it alone. I could smell a wood fire that wasn’t ours. The air felt thick wit