Comfort Cuddling

The day I found out I wasn't really an Adelson, Sharon—their real daughter—stormed in and stabbed me—over and over. Just like that, my shot at being a mom? Gone. Chuck Benetton, my fiancé, lost it. My parents swore they'd disown her. To "comfort" me, Chuck proposed on the spot. My parents handed me the severance letter—Sharon officially disowned—and told me to just focus on healing. Later, they said Sharon had run off and gotten trafficked in Nyamara, some hotspot for scams and lost souls. They said it served her right. And yeah... I believed them. Six years into the lie, I saw her—very much alive, baby bump and all, curled up against my husband like she owned him. "If I hadn't snapped back then, Yasmine never would've married you, " she said. "Thank God you and Mom and Dad backed me. Otherwise, that imposter would've landed me in jail. "She probably never guessed I've been right here, carrying your baby. Once I give birth, just fake an adoption. She can nanny our kid forever. "Thanks for everything, Chuck." She smiled like he was her hero. And he blushed. "Don't thank me. Marrying her was the only way to protect you. I'd do it all again." So yeah. The guy I thought loved me? He was always lying. My "parents"? They only cared about Sharon. If that's love, I want nothing to do with it.

"All men are the same, you are all stupid, selfish pigs and I vow to never love again! NEVER!" Nera's voice echoed with the sound of the rain. Nera Bradford, a young selfless girl who spent her life dedicated to loving one man until he betrayed her. No longer interested in love, she finds comfort in an old rich man named Marcus Rasshell and marries him. Unfortunately, their heaven crumbles when Marcus discovers he is impotent, he hires a man to secretly impregnate his wife, setting off a chain reaction of Desire, Greed, and Deceit. Will Deceit and Desire consume her or will she recover and get the happy ending she deserves?

To cheer up his pretty assistant, my boyfriend brought her to attend a party. I had to bail him out after he was arrested by the police. The charge? Public indecency after consuming illegal substances. When I arrived at the police station to pick him up, he was still trying to comfort his assistant, paying no heed to the possibility that I might have seen the lipstick marks on his neck. After seeing that I wasn’t saying anything, my boyfriend assumed I was upset and explained impatiently, “Winnie was in a terrible mood that day, and I was just there to keep her company. We didn’t take part in any public indecency! It was the other guests who were messing about!” What a terrible excuse. If it was any other day, I wouldn’t be this calm. This time was different. I will no longer press him for answers like a mad woman. As I walked past the police station entrance, an officer looked at my boyfriend and his assistant, who were still all over each other. With eyes full of sympathy, he asked me, “Your partner?” I glanced at my boyfriend, whose focus was entirely fixated on Winnie, and shook my head. “No, just an acquaintance.” At that moment, Winnie was leaning against him, seeking his comfort. I pulled out my phone and texted my dad silently. “I agree to marry President Lee. I’ll leave the wedding preparation to you guys.” “I’ll be back in five days.”

I had cancer. And Carl—my boyfriend of seven years—ditched me at the hospital to play fake boyfriend for his so-called best friend, just so she could dodge her parents' marriage pressure. When the results came in, I broke down. Clutching the report, I sobbed as I called him. "Carl, I... I..." My voice cracked. I didn't even know how to say it. I thought he'd comfort me. Instead, his voice came sharp through the phone. "Can you not? Mia's just a friend. What's so wrong about me helping her?—do you have to be so dramatic? I already promised to marry you this month. What more do you want?"

After the death of her mother Alice’s father found comfort in the nurse that took care of her. Everything happened so quickly and within what seemed seconds Alice was looked down upon in her family. Her father Karl drank almost every day, her stepmother Sarah treated her like a maid. Even worse, as she grew up, she started to feel a dirty gaze on her body from her stepbrother. Now she was older she was planning her escape. That was until her stepbrother found out the Alpha’s daughter is his mate. A big banquet was held and they invited many well-known alpha families. But Alice was not allowed to attend, she had to cook in the kitchen and to make things worse it was her 18 birthday. She was hoping to use the celebration as a way to sneak away and make her escape however her stepmother sent her to serve alcohol to some unexpected customers -the ruthless and barbaric Alpha Arkyn, the Alpha of Black Mountain pack. People said he turned into a cold-blood Alpha since he lost his Luna years ago. When Alice inside Alpha Arkyn’s room, she suddenly found a special scent from him. The scent is full of lust, and wonderful as heaven, it even made her dizzy. “Mate.” The ruthless Alpha growled.

❝we all have secrets that we keep, hidden away from the world❞She had always being a loner, content with the little bubble she created around herself, finding comfort between ink and pages until she met him. He shut off the whole world and buried himself with work after an event that changed his life until he met her. Love they say finds us in the most bizarre situations but could these two find theirs or will their issues come between them?

My husband's first love jumped to her death due to depression and landed right on me as I was passing by. I was rendered unconscious on the spot and subsequently rushed to the ICU. However, my orthopedic surgeon husband stayed by his first love's side to comfort her over her minor scratches. He even refused to sign my Critical Care Notification. "Whoever joined her charade can get lost along with her! Come to me when she's really dead!" he said. It wasn't until he received a death certificate that he realized in horror—the deceased's information was identical to mine.

My body hurt—badly. The bruises from Logan’s fists were fresh, my ankle throbbed from where he kicked me, and one of my eyes was nearly swollen shut. But I still limped down the hallway with a cold pack in hand, desperate for something… maybe comfort, maybe just his attention. I didn’t know. Then I heard it—low groans, heavy breathing, the unmistakable sound of skin against skin. Sweaty. Lustful. Raw. I opened the door and my heart shattered. There he was—Logan Hart. My husband. The man I loved more than myself. And with him? Tessa Black—his girlfriend, his mistress, the perfect model everyone adored. They were tangled in the sheets, bodies slick, eyes wild, too lost in each other to even care that I stood there. I couldn’t breathe. I screamed. And Logan… he didn’t even flinch. He didn’t apologize. Didn’t care. “Get out,” he said coldly. “I’m in the middle of something.” That was it. That was the moment I broke. I ran. Limping, shaking, crying—I ran and didn’t look back. What I didn’t know was… that heartbreak would be the beginning of everything.

I was five months pregnant when my husband, James Fletcher, allowed his mistress to invade our lives—on the very night of our wedding anniversary. But she didn’t just come to flaunt her presence. She came to take my life. Pregnant and vulnerable, I confronted her, desperately clinging to my dignity. But the fight ended with me tumbling down the staircase, my swollen belly crashing against the cold, hard ground. Blood seeped across the floor, vivid and unrelenting. James only arrived after hearing about his precious mistress’ ordeal. He stood there, staring at the pool of blood, at my broken body. But instead of helping me, he rushed to her side. She had nothing but a few superficial scratches, yet he swept her off to the hospital like she was the one dying. By the time he returned, my child was gone. The doctors barely managed to save me. And what did James do? He struck me in front of everyone, his words sharper than the sting of his hand. "Lisa only wanted to bring you a Christmas gift, and you attacked her out of nowhere! You shameless witch!" “She didn’t force her way in! What nonsense! I gave her the house key ages ago. You just can’t stand that she’s prettier and kinder than you!" “You didn’t just hurt her. You killed my child! You vile, despicable woman. Why couldn’t it have been you instead?” Lisa stood beside him, pretending to comfort him while flashing me a smug, victorious smirk. James’s vicious tirade didn’t stop there. He dragged my name onto the internet, painting me as a monster.

There are monsters in this world. And they used to be us. Now it's time to euthanize to survive in a hospice where Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother possible. Post-infection Chicago. Christmas. Inside The Hospice, Emily and her fellow nurses do their rounds. Here, men and women live out their final days in comfort, segregated from society, and are then humanely terminated before fate turns them into marrow-craving monsters known as ‘Smilers.’ Outside these imposing walls, rabid protesters swarm with signs, caught up in the heat of their hatred. Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother possible. But in a world where mortality means nothing, where guns are drawn in fear and nobody seems safe anymore – at what cost will this pursuit come? And through it all, the soon to be dead remain silent, ever smiling. Such is their curse. It won't be long before that snow-speckled ground will be salted by blood. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing