Forbidden Kiss (Carson Cove Scandals 1)

Taylor: Alexis? Why the hell are you texting me?

Unknown: It’s rude not to say thank you when you get such an amazing gift.

Taylor: Leave me alone…

Unknown: I thought you would be happy. Your mother will have so much time to spend with you now. Maybe she’ll keep you away from men twice your age…

“What the fuck?” I sat up in bed and turned on the light—my stomach immediately started twisting into a knot.

Taylor: You got my mom fired!?! You bitch!

Unknown: You’ll get another gift from me tomorrow. If that isn’t enough to convince you to end things with Bryant Benson, then my third gift most certainly will…

Taylor: Stay the hell away from me—and my family! I swear to god!

Unknown: I know you’re probably thinking that you can run to your sugar daddy and have him fix everything, but that will not end well for you—or your family.

Taylor: What does that mean!?

Unknown: Your sister is such a beautiful girl, isn’t she? That boyfriend of hers… Star football player, right?

Taylor: You’re a psycho!

Unknown: Goodnight, Taylor. Sweet dreams.

I was so angry that I couldn’t even think about going to sleep. Alexis Devereaux got my mother fired—and that was just the beginning of what she planned to do to me if I didn’t break up with Bryant. I thought about calling him, but I had no idea what I would say. He couldn’t make her back off—and if she found out I went to him for help, she might do something worse—I definitely couldn’t risk her doing something to Anna. It wasn’t like I could go to the police and show them the text message. I doubted Alexis was stupid enough to use her real phone. She wasn’t playing around—she was serious—and her first so-called gift was a clear indicator of that. I was definitely out of my league. I couldn’t risk my family getting hurt for a guy I should have never gotten involved with in the first place.

I’m sorry, Bryant. I’ve put this off as long as I can…

* * *

The next day

It was almost sunrise when the exhaustion finally forced me to close my eyes—and it felt like only a few minutes passed before my alarm was going off. I went downstairs and made coffee. My mother never came down. Anna asked questions, and all I could do was lie and tell her that mom had the day off. After Anna left for school, I went upstairs and checked on my mother—she wasn’t asleep, but she had no interest in getting out of bed. She insisted that I go to school, and while I wanted to stay there with her, I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice. I was going to be useless for the entire day, but I had already skipped a few of my classes after my confrontation with Alexis in the hallway—missing more would just put me behind.

My life has turned into a nightmare…

School was a blur—I managed to take a quick nap in my car during the time that I normally had lunch. I wasn’t in the mood to eat, so I slept until the phone on my alarm woke me up, and then drank more coffee so I could stay awake for the rest of the day. I had functioned on very little sleep before, but it normally didn’t come after an emotionally draining day—nor did I have to spend the whole day worrying about some random second gift from Alexis Devereaux. I made it to the last class of the day and was almost home free when my professor called me to his desk—and said that Dean Richart wanted to see me in his office after class.

I have a bad feeling about this—but I can’t ignore him…

I felt like was making a walk of shame—or taking my final steps before my execution—when I approached Dean Richart’s office. I had never been called to his office before. The only time I had interacted with him was when I was getting an award at the annual assembly. I hoped I wouldn’t have any more interactions until I was shaking his hand, the day I got my degree. It was rare for him to meet with a student personally—usually the assistant dean handled those meetings—that meant it was either really bad, or something totally out of the ordinary.

“I’m here to see Dean Richart.” I walked up to his secretary’s desk, and clutched my purse in my hands.

“Are you Taylor Abernathy?” She looked up at me with a scowl on her face.

“Yes ma’am.” I nodded quickly.

“He’s waiting for you.” She motioned to his office, and it felt like she was staring daggers at me as I walked towards it.

That’s definitely not a good sign.

“Dean Richart?” I pushed his door open and felt my stomach twisting into the tightest knot imaginable.

“Taylor Abernathy.” His voiced sounded like gravel and the look on his face was far from kind. “Have a seat.”

“Yes sir…” I walked over and sat down. “What is this about?”