Bryant: Very much… Come on. I may have to wait an entire week to see you!
Taylor: Fine…
I took the best picture I could, but I wasn’t very happy with it, so I snapped a few more to try and get a better shot. None of them were perfect, but I finally found one that I considered acceptable to send. I still ran it through a few filters to adjust the color, hide some of the background, and smooth over a few of the blemishes I hated. I always criticized the people who didn’t post anything on Facebook unless it had been heavily filtered, but there I was—doing the exact same thing, like some kind of hypocrite. I hit the button and sent it to Bryant once it was as perfect as it was ever going to be.
Taylor: Here you go…
Bryant: Wow, beautiful!
Taylor: Do I get one of you?
Bryant: I guess that’s fair.
It didn’t take long for Bryant to send a response, and he didn’t use a single filter—he didn’t need them. It was a casual picture of him on the couch with the top few buttons of his shirt unbuttoned. It should have been a crime to look that hot without trying—just seeing a picture of him was enough to make my body tingle. There was something about Bryant that made me temporarily lose my connection with rational thought—I knew it was forbidden, dangerous, and even exchanging text messages with him was a risk if one of his kids looked at his phone. Every time I convinced myself I was going to pull away before it was too late, I found myself thinking about having his lips against mine—feeling them on my skin—and being in his arms.
Taylor: I wish I was there with you right now.
Bryant: I would do so many things to you if you were…
Taylor: Dirty things? :)
Bryant: You know the answer already. I would finish what we started earlier today.
The conversation started to get quite flirty—with a hint of dirty—and Bryant asked for another picture. I decided to send him one that was a little more risqué than the first one I sent. I unbuttoned my pajama top, leaned forward, and took one that showed my breasts without revealing my nipples. That got me one of him without a shirt, and I’m surprised my cell phone didn’t melt in my hand—it was so hot that my hand trembled, and my mouth fell open. I really wanted to be there with him—I wanted to feel the same pleasure he showed me when he took my innocence. He made me feel carefree—despite the danger—and for the first time in my life, I felt sexy. I snapped a few more pictures, sent them to him, and was tempted to take one that showed more skin—but my phone lit up while I was trying to figure out the angle. It wasn’t a message from Bryant—it was from Victoria.
Oh god…
Victoria: Hey girl! Long time! How are you doing?
Panic immediately swept through me—there was no way for her to know I was literally exchanging dirty messages and pictures with her father—or had some strange daughterly intuition made her message me out of the blue? I quickly fired off a message to Bryant to let him know that I had something come up. He was disappointed that I was bringing the conversation to an abrupt end, but I couldn’t sit there and continue it while I exchanged messages with Victoria. Just staring at her message made me sick to my stomach—it brought every bad thing we were doing back into perspective immediately and left me with a sense of dread. I had no choice but to reply—even if it made me want to just crawl in a hole instead.
Taylor: Hey! I’m good… I’m spending Saturday night on the couch watching Netflix, how about you?
Victoria: Girl, same! I was behind on a few assignments, so I spent the day working. Now it’s time to relax…
Victoria sent me a picture of herself holding a glass of wine and angled it so I could see that she had a movie going in the background. That meant she wanted a message from me—and my wine glass was empty. I quickly ran to the kitchen, refilled it, and put my pajamas back on before starting my movie back up. I took a similar picture and sent it to her, once I applied a few filters to hide the fact that my makeup was long gone—not that Victoria cared, but she had surprised me once by posting a picture I sent her on social media. Once again—I was being a hypocrite—in more ways than one considering the fact that I was literally sending pictures to her father before she messaged me.
Victoria: I watched that movie! It was good!
Taylor: Yeah, it’s really funny!
Victoria: How are things going in Carson Cove?
Taylor: Same as always, I guess.
Victoria: Have you heard any rumors? :)
Taylor: What kind of rumors?
Victoria: About my dad…
Oh god. She knows something. Fuck!
Taylor: I don’t think so… We don’t exactly run in the same circles. Why?
“Should I tell her the truth? This is my opportunity… I could tell her about the art show—I don’t have to tell her everything.” I started muttering to myself.
Victoria: One of my sister’s friends messaged me—she was trying to get in touch with her and asked if I knew where she was. She also mentioned that my dad was seen with some mystery woman…