It Was Never Love To Begin With Novels & Stories

I stayed there a moment longer, my hand still warm where his lips had been, my heart aching with the weight of all we had not said. Later, as I lay awake in my narrow bed, staring at the dark beams overhead, I understood something I had not allowed myself before. This was no passing fancy. No harmless indulgence. This was the beginning of a love that would cost us both dearly. And I did not know if I would ever find the strength to turn away from it.

My toes curled, my body tensed, and I bit down on my lip as a tremor ran through me. His hands slid over my stomach and higher, his gentle touch sending waves of heat through me. When his fingers brushed me there, desire flared sharply, stealing my breath. I gasped, helplessly wanting more. "Relax, baby." Then that determined presence pressed forward again, solid and insistent. "No… don't," I begged. After the initial fullness, pain bloomed—sharp and unfamiliar. Tears spilled freely, beyond my control. "Trust me," he murmured, breath ragged. "Just hold on a little longer."

There was a caption in their story, and it read, "Sometimes love makes you forget about your duties." Everyone who left a comment told him to be brave and pursue his true love. Eighty million was enough to pay for all my treatments. I smiled bitterly, and my eyes slowly blurred. A moment later, tears fell onto my phone screen. At least, we were both free now. For nearly a whole month, Anthony did not contact me. He probably wanted to give all his time to Lily. The stories he barely posted now had new updates every single day.

Above them, faint but unmistakable, the sound of another tremor rolled through the estate, and this time it didn't come from the chamber at all. It came from somewhere much farther away, somewhere none of them could see, and somewhere all of them understood, with sinking certainty, was only the very beginning of whatever the stranger intended to do next.

My little brother got himself a girlfriend. The moment the news reached them, the whole family lit up. My sister, Serena, clapped so hard her palms cracked. "Who is she? Which lucky girl caught our handsome Tyler's eye?" Mom's face glowed like the credit was hers. "Look who raised him. It was only a matter of time before some girl noticed." Dad couldn't stop grinning. "That's my boy. Good for you, son!" The second they caught Tyler looking embarrassed, they pressed their advantage. "So it's like that, is it? Thanksgiving's almost here. Bring her home. We want to meet her." Then it was my turn, and all they managed were a couple of flat, dutiful lines. "Adrian, you're not as good-l

My best friend, Jake Lawson, caught his fiancée, Lyla Sterling, cheating right in the middle of their engagement party. Instead of apologizing, Lyla just sneered at Jake in front of the entire crowded room. "Oh, please. As if any other girl in the world would actually want you." Jake balled his hands into tight fists, his knees buckling like he was about to collapse. In a moment of pure, reckless impulse, I grabbed my own girlfriend’s hand and shoved it directly into his palm. "Who says nobody wants him?" I demanded, my voice ringing out across the hall. "Starting right now, she's his girlfriend." My girlfriend, Nora Mitchell, froze, totally stunned. A heartbeat later, she played along.

UNKNOWN: Do you still have the silver bracelet you gave me? My heart stopped. I sat down on the edge of the bed. The bracelet. I’d bought it with my first paycheck from a summer job. It wasn’t expensive. I remembered being embarrassed when I gave it to her. She’d kissed me and said it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever owned. Nobody else knew about it. Nobody. My phone vibrated again. UNKNOWN: I still wear it, Michael. I swallowed. Then another message appeared. UNKNOWN: I heard you got married. Congratulations. I stared at the screen.

From the time I was 22 until I turned 30, Brianna Everly and I had a wedding every year. The only thing we never had was a marriage certificate. She said she was afraid of marriage, terrified that we'd end up like her parents. So I gave her eight years to prepare herself—until our eighth wedding, when Brianna showed up in the wrong wedding dress. It looked just like the wedding dress she'd always worn for our ceremonies, except for one detail. The name embroidered along the neckline wasn't mine. It was my best friend, Leon Stratford's. I was about to confront Brianna when my brother, Dominic Sterling, grabbed my arm. "Harrison, it's been eight years. What's the point of digging into it no

And now she was a billion percent certain that he would never look at her the way she looked at him. The matter had become a reality. She had to accept it. What else could she do? Yes, she loved him. She loved him terribly. It was as though she couldn't see another man on this entire planet. She adored him, and she had known from the beginning that there was no hope. No hope for them. He would never look at her and wish to make her his wife, just as she wished for no one but him. To him, she was no different from his younger sisters.

NIGHT HAD JUST FADED. Daylight was slowly approaching in the form of dawn when the phone rang delivering news that would shatter me for the rest of my life. He had not disclosed the news to me but somehow I knew what it was all about. I stood there shocked, in tears and disbelief. My weakly trembling legs failed to support my body. I was struggling to breath as I tried my best to comprehend his words. They felt surreal; as if this all wasn't happening and I had just hallucinated it all. I paced back leaning on the cold counter for support. No! This can't be happening, it can't. I thought to my self. How could Destiny have played such a cruel joke on me? She was my everything, the onl