All Chapters of Sinful desires.: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

I closed my eyes, unable to meet his gaze as I slowly braced myself for rejection. My heart hammered against my ribs like it wanted to escape. After the intense study session—where I’d poured everything into summarizing those two pages on post-colonial economics despite the plug tormenting me all day—I had finally earned my reward. Or so I thought. Asking him to come to the party with me felt like the bravest thing I’d ever done. Now it felt like the stupidest.“Elias…” Marcus’s voice was low, careful.“It’s okay…” I moved away from him immediately, sliding off the bed before he could pull me back. I didn’t want to hear the words. I didn’t want my heart to shatter completely when he said ‘sorry, I can’t.’ I should have known better. I was 19, still figuring out who I was. He was over ten years older, established, wealthy. Why would he want to be seen with a young guy like me in public? Especially his ex-wife’s kid. The thought alone made my stomach twist with humiliation.“I under

“I didn’t think you’d actually come…” Lena said, barely able to hide the excitement in her voice as we stood side by side in the overcrowded club. Yes, a fucking club. Bass thumped through the floor and up my legs, the air thick with sweat, cheap cologne, and whatever sugary cocktail the people around us were spilling. Colored lights cut through the haze, flashing over bodies that pressed too close.“Well, I wasn’t sure either,” I answered, already bored out of my mind. Marcus had forced me into this. He thought the only reason I hadn’t wanted to come was because of him—because of the rejection, the way he’d shut down the idea of showing up with me. He didn’t know the truth. I only ever wanted to go if he was coming with me. Without him, what was the point?It wasn’t like anyone else here was going to catch my attention. I’d tried. For the last forty minutes I’d let my eyes wander, forcing myself to look at the guys on the dance floor, at the ones leaning against the bar, at anyone

Marcus pov.I stayed under the shower long after the water had gone lukewarm, forehead pressed against the cold tile, trying to calm the violent storm still raging under my skin. It wasn’t working. Every time I closed my eyes I saw Elias—shivering, tears streaking down his face, small fists hitting my chest as he snapped at me in that bathroom hallway. The raw fear and hurt in his voice. The way he’d looked at me like I’d failed him.Because I had.“Fuck!” The word tore out of me, loud enough to echo off the glass. I slammed my palm against the wall hard enough to sting. Fuck. I had wanted to go with him. God knows how badly I’d wanted to. The second he asked, every part of me had screamed yes. But the divorce with Gloria was still hanging by a thread. One public sighting of me with her son—her nineteen-year-old son—and the entire thing could explode into something uglier than it already was. Lawyers. Leaks. Custody theatrics she didn’t even have the right to pull. I couldn’t risk i

Elias POV.The excitement that had carried me all the way home—paper clutched in my fist, a stupid grin splitting my face—evaporated the second I pushed through the front door.There they were.My mother, Gloria, stark naked in the middle of the living room, her manicured fingers wrapped tight around Marcus’s cock where it strained against the white towel knotted low on his hips. His chest heaved; her breasts pressed shamelessly against his side. The air smelled like her jasmine perfume.I bit the inside of my cheek until copper flooded my tongue. Don’t cry. Don’t you fucking cry.That was her husband. Legally. Morally, in the eyes of everyone who didn’t know the truth. She had every right to touch him, to try to reclaim him. I was the interloper here—the guilty son who’d spread his legs for her man, who’d moaned “Daddy” while Marcus fucked the guilt right out of me on the guest-room floor. I had no claim.The test paper slipped from my numb fingers and fluttered to the hardwood. Mar

Elias POV“Nah, I think I’ll spend the holiday with my stepdad,” I told Lena, keeping my voice casual.She blinked, eyebrows shooting up. “Wait—I thought you said your mom was getting a divorce? Why are you still staying with her husband?”“She is. But she asked me to stay here.” I shrugged like it was no big deal. “She’s too ashamed to introduce me to her new boyfriend yet. Doesn’t want him knowing she has a kid.”Lena made a sympathetic face, but I was already half-gone, pulse kicking with something far darker and sweeter. Gloria had set the perfect trap herself. Marcus and I could finally breathe—still just stepfather and stepson in public, for now. But once the papers were signed… things could change. Marcus had already started talking about selling the house, moving somewhere else. I’d agreed so fast my head spun.I barely said goodbye to my friends before I bolted. The whole day had been torture—every lecture, every group chat, every passing minute filled with the same filthy fa