Page 6 of Our Forbidden Romance 1

I need to forget about him, and I have a feeling it isn’t going to be easy.

“Areyou even listening to me, Ezra?” Bella whines. She has been moaning ever since she arrived here half an hour ago, complaining about what happened at the event last night and rambling on about pointless things.

“No! I am not listening to you. I am tired of listening to you,” I snap. I’m usually very patient with her when she acts like this, but I am not in the mood for her today. I have other things on my mind. I laugh at myself for my self-deception, all I can think about isAlana!

“Don’t talk to me like that, Ezra,” she snarls, glaring at me.

“Then stop complaining about stupid little things. God forbid if you ever have to deal with a real problem for once in your life.” Bella has never experienced hardship in her entire life, unless broken fingernails count as hardship.

I don’t want to hear anymore. Standing up, I walk past her and head to my office, not saying another word. Oh, I hear her bitching at me as I do. I slam my office door shut, and lock it to stop her from coming in. She will eventually leave when I ignore her for long enough. She will come back later, we’ll fight some more, fuck and make up, and then it will start again tomorrow.

I hear her stomping around my house while she rants, but after ten minutes I hear the front door slam. I should just break up with her, but if I do that it means my parents will be on my back again about finding a girl to settle down with and how a man my age should be married and have kids by now. I’m a grown-ass man, but a part of me has always tried to keep them happy because I feel like I owe them. If it wasn’t for them adopting me when I was nine, I can’t even imagine where I’d be right now. No one has any idea I was adopted, not even Bella or my friends. The only people who know are my parents and younger sister. I prefer it stays that way. My parents moved to LA once they adopted me, wanting to get me away from my birth parents in Chicago.

I pour myself a scotch and check my emails but realise I don’t want to look at them. I sigh, resting back in my office chair I take a sip of my drink. I slip my hand into my pocket searching for my phone. A part of me hopes Alana would have texted, but there is nothing. I’m not used to women rejecting me. I open a text to her.

Hey, kitten, are you still annoyed with me? x

I expect it not to go through thinking she probably blocked me, but it does. I am not one for putting in so much effort to claim what I want because I don’t usually have to, but something tells me I will need to bring my A game when it comes to Alana. I’m not sure how to convince her to give me a chance while I have a girlfriend. I am not looking for anything serious with Alana, only a little fun, and with any luck, her permission to cuff her to my bed and fuck her senseless. Is it too much to ask for? No one needs to know. It’s not like anyone is going to find out anyway. I know if I was seen in public with someone like Alana, I would be made to feel a lot of shame about it, especially if people find out what she does for a living—heaven forbid she has to work for a living—and has no place in the elite society. It’s bullshit, but it’s how things work in my world.

It’s a world I’ve never been entirely at ease in. Before I was adopted, I lived in a trailer park with two drug addict parents who didn’t care about anything other than getting their next hit. I used to be one of the poor souls who the Establishment looked down on and judged. As much as I hate to admit it, I have become similar to them. I hate myself for it, but I picked up on my parents’ behaviour when they raised me like that. I’m not as bad as them, like Bella, but I’m no angel either.

Glancing at my phone, I wonder if she has replied yet. I smirk when I see Alana is replying, the three little dots flashing on the screen letting me know she currently is. Hmm, I wonder what she will have to say. I prepare myself mentally, not sure what to expect after her unexpected attitude when I saw her earlier, one which, if I get my hands on her, I will fuck it right out of her. My phone beeps, signalling her reply.

Yes! I am!

I chuckle at her response because I was expecting it.

Aw, why? What can I do to make you forgive me? Dinner? Drinks? Coffee? A trip to Bali? You name it x

I am only offering her things I can make possible.

Bali? I threw you out of my apartment earlier, yet you think I’d fly to Bali with you? What is wrong with you? Were you dropped on your head as a child?!

I am only making suggestions, giving her an opportunity to expand her horizons.

There is a lot wrong with me. I could ask you the same thing because who turns down a free trip to somewhere as beautiful as Bali? x

I am sure any sane person would turn it down if someone they met once, not to mention less than twenty-four hours ago, had made the offer, but I refuse to say it to Alana.

A sane person, Ezra! I am not going anywhere with you unless you have suddenly become single since I last saw you.

No, but I can arrange it ASAP if it means you will come to see me? I think that is a fair deal, don’t you, gorgeous? x

Maybe I could, even for a short time. Who will know the difference?

Seriously? You are willing to break up with your girlfriend to have sex with someone you just met? Is loyalty not a thing these days?

I can be loyal, but only to people who deserve it.

What makes you think I only want sex? Or is that what you want? Loyalty needs to be earned and returned x

Neither of which Bella has done, but I won’t put all of this on her because I am as much to blame.

I don’t think—I know. I didn’t say I wanted anything with you. You just assumed. It is none of my business what goes on in your relationship, but I am not going to be the reason for it ending.

Alana needs to stop fighting the attraction between us. She doesn’t need to tell me she wants me. I read it in her body language and eyes when we were close last night and earlier.

How about we make a deal? You meet me for a coffee, and after, if you still want me to leave you be, I will x

---