Romans & histoires Shelf Indulgence

I downed the rest of my drink, took my seat, and went back to cutting my steak. Juliana’s glass was stuck mid-air. This time around, I was done making concessions for anyone.

Early the next morning, Ethan appeared at the entrance of the healing sanctuary with freshly hunted venison. His hair was disheveled, and there were dark circles beneath his eyes. It was as though he hadn't slept all night. "Selena, Chloe recorded that video without anyone knowing. She claimed she only wanted to document it. I've already made her delete it," he said as he held out the venison. He added, "She was badly shaken yesterday. She's not in a stable state of mind."

“Shut up, Alec. Stop milking my desperation.” His expression shifted, amusement fading into something colder. “You can walk out of here and pretend yesterday never happened,” he said. “But you’ll still wake up tomorrow as the woman who got replaced by her best friend. Or…” His gaze darkened. “You can stay, and rewrite your story…with me.” I hesitated, and my heart raced, torn between fear and temptation. But when I realized I had nothing left to lose, and everything to gain, I breathed out, “Fuck it.”

“By the way, you’re telling me about a party?” “Yes, there’s a party coming up on the weekend. This is a more intimate party. I heard it’s one of the unbecoming, a new couple is joining our little cult. It’ll be our perfect timing to switch the hard drive and I’ll be long gone before you know it.” “The unbecoming?” My muscles tightened up hearing the kind of party that is going to be held. “Yeah, it’s a way of introducing new members to our family. But I really think it was just for the masochistic purpose, all the sexual innuendoes and the—”

She never took a single gram. The bathroom scale was always kind to her. As slender as a model, she had countless 6 size jeans in her closet. In her teens, she joined a competition organized by the local bakery. She had swallowed heaps of candies until she dropped, but the numerous devoured were not enough to win her victory. A young boy whose corpulence showed high gluttony had won without too much trouble. Judith had nicknamed him Charlie. He loved devouring chocolate by handfuls. Ranked at the second position, she had greeted a bit of frustration when she saw the already chubby kid take off proudly with his weight in chocolate.