Lahat ng Kabanata ng Forbidden Neva Tasted This GOOD: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

Aire Johnson had always known the difference between right and wrong.She just didn’t know when she stopped caring.The night air clung to her skin as she stood outside Marcus Cole’s house, keys cold in her palm, heartbeat loud enough to drown out the distant hum of traffic. The place was quiet—too quiet for a house that belonged to a man who carried power like it was stitched into his bones.She shouldn’t be here.That thought followed her everywhere lately, like a shadow she couldn’t shake.Aire inhaled once, then again, and finally pushed the door open.The scent hit her immediately—clean, expensive, unmistakably him. Woodsy cologne and something darker beneath it, something lived-in. The kind of smell that stayed with you long after you left.“Hello?” she called softly.No answer.She stepped inside, the door clicking shut behind her, sealing her in. The house felt different without Nia’s laughter bouncing off the walls. Without music playing too loud or shoes kicked off by the do

Jalen had always known when something was off.It was a skill he picked up early—growing up in a house where moods shifted like weather and silence usually meant more than yelling ever did. You learned to read the air. Learned to catch the pause before the storm.And right now?The air around Aire felt wrong.She’d been moving different since last night. Quieter. Careful. Like someone already halfway gone.Jalen sat in his car across the street from the house, engine off, phone dark in his hand. He could’ve gone inside. Should’ve gone inside. But something told him if he did, whatever balance they still had would crack wide open.He watched the front door like it might give him answers.Get it together, he told himself.Aire was his step-sister. Period. That was the line everyone else saw—clean, clear, unbreakable.But lines were funny like that.You didn’t notice them until you were standing right on top of one.He leaned his head back against the seat, jaw clenched. The image of her

I didn’t want to be right.That was the part nobody talks about—the moment when your gut finally stops whispering and starts screaming, and all you can think is please let me be wrong.I sat on my bed staring at my phone like it had personally betrayed me.The picture was innocent if you didn’t know what to look for.Aire standing in my dad’s doorway. Close enough that the space between them felt intentional. Her body angled toward him. His attention locked on her like the rest of the world had gone quiet.I’d taken it without thinking. Just a quick snap while pretending to scroll. Something about the moment had felt… off.Now I knew why.I dropped my phone onto the bed and pressed my palms to my eyes.“No,” I whispered. “No way.”My dad wouldn’t do that.Aire wouldn’t do that.Except… the signs had been there. I just didn’t want to connect them.The distance. The secrets. The way Aire started dodging my questions instead of teasing me like she always did. The way my dad went quiet wh

I didn’t expect relief to hurt this much.When Nia asked me to come over, my first thought wasn’t she knows—it was she’s done. Done with me. Done with excuses. Done with pretending nothing had shifted between us.I stood outside her door longer than I meant to, fingers curled tight around my phone, heart thudding so loud I swore she’d hear it through the walls.I knocked anyway.“Come in,” Nia called.Her voice sounded normal.That scared me more than anger ever could.She was sitting on her bed when I walked in, legs crossed, hands folded neatly in her lap like she’d rehearsed this moment. No tears. No pacing. Just calm.Too calm.“Hey,” I said quietly.“Hey,” she replied. “Sit.”I did.The silence stretched until it felt unbearable.“I talked to my dad,” she said.My breath caught. “Okay.”She studied my face like she was committing it to memory. “He told me everything.”I swallowed. “I’m sorry.”“I know,” she said. “And I believe you.”That cracked something in my chest.“I never w

Nia POVI’d never seen my parents’ living room look like a courtroom before.Everyone was seated except Aire—who stood stiff near the window, arms crossed like armor, eyes shiny but unbroken. That alone told me everything. She wasn’t ashamed.She was bracing.My mother’s disappointment hung heavy in the air, my father’s silence worse than yelling. Marcus stood off to the side, hands clasped behind his back like a man waiting for a verdict he already knew might ruin him.And Jalen?Jalen sat straight-backed, jaw tight, looking like a man convinced he’d done the right thing and was waiting for applause.I couldn’t let that stand.“This is getting unfair,” I said suddenly.Every head turned.Aire’s eyes snapped to mine—wide, shocked, almost pleading.I stood.“Aire is not a child,” I continued, voice steady despite my pulse racing. “She’s grown. She works, she pays bills, she makes her own decisions.”My mother frowned. “Nia—”“No,” I interrupted gently but firmly. “Let me finish.”I tur