Twice Inflamed: FORBIDDEN, #3

By Z. S. STORM

Synopsis for 'Twice Inflamed', a novel by Z. S. STORM.

***

Two years have passed since the events of 'Once A Cheater'.

Lives have changed. People have moved on.
Or so we think.

Sometimes, we lose ourselves in routine and obsessions just to avoid dwelling on what directions our lives are headed in. Sometimes, we even convince ourselves that we're happy, that our mistakes have been erased over the years and time has healed our wounds.

But most of the time, we fill up that gaping hole in our chest with things and people we don't really need, thinking that one day, we'd become whole again. One day, we'd be able to reflect ruefully on our losses but still look hopefully towards the future.

Nothing works though. Nothing takes away the pain. Nothing we do is enough. All life does now is keep reminding us at every turn that...

Letting go isn't always that easy.

***

*Mature themes meant for 18+ readers only.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Storm Publications
• Release date: Mar 26, 2024
• ISBN: 9781393283263

Z. S. STORM

Z. S. STORM writes mostly love stories which are of the dark and disturbed variety. Follow him on Instagram @z.s.storm

Book preview

Blurb

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Two years have passed since the events of 'Once A Cheater'.

Lives have changed. People have moved on.

Or so we think.

Sometimes, we lose ourselves in routine and obsessions just to avoid dwelling on what directions our lives are headed in. Sometimes, we even convince ourselves that we're happy, that our mistakes have been erased over the years and time has healed our wounds.

But most of the time, we fill up that gaping hole in our chest with things and people we don't really need, thinking that one day, we'd become whole again. One day, we'd be able to reflect ruefully on our losses but still look hopefully towards the future.

Nothing works though. Nothing takes away the pain. Nothing we do is enough. All life does now is keep reminding us at every turn that...

Letting go isn't always that easy.

***

*Mature themes meant for 18+ readers only.

A man’s worth is not measured by his mistakes.

-Z. S. STORM

Playlist

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* Ava Max: Not Your Barbie Girl 

* James Arthur: Naked 

* Daya: Insomnia 

*Cold Play: Fix You 

*Jordin Sparks: Battlefield 

*Fort Minor: Where'd You Go? 

*One Republic: Apologise. 

*Justin Timberlake: Cry Me a River 

*Dua Lipa: Don't Start Now 

*Charlie Puth: Attention 

*David Guetta ft Sia: Titanium 

*Sia: Elastic Heart 

*Shontelle: Impossible 

*X Ambassadors: Unsteady 

*Sam Smith: Fire on Fire 

*Ed Sheeran ft. Paulo Londra&David: Nothing On You 

*Zayn ft. Gigi Hadid: Dusk Till Dawn 

*Laurel: Blue Blood (Epilogue)

*****

Note: Full Playlist available on my YouTube channel: Z. S. STORM

Dedication

To all the Jasmines of this world. It’s never too late to turn back.

Table of Contents

Blurb

Playlist

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Epilogue

The FORBIDDEN series journey continues in ‘Taming Wells’, the novella...

Other Books by Z. S. STORM

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Chapter One

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Jasmine Khan

I can't wait to be inside you, the guy whose name I didn't remember whispered in my ear once we had walked up the small pathway leading to my cottage door.

It was one of those drunken nights which I had spent in pubs in the nearby Irish village of Baltimore, West Cork. Irish men were seriously hot. And that accent was a bonus. It had been two years since I had moved here and I was beyond ready to leave. A lot of times I had thought of going back to civilization, had been sorely tempted when I travelled for my book tours mostly in England and the rest of Europe but...I'd stayed for Jasper.

If left alone indefinitely, he would most probably drink himself into an early grave. All my efforts to convince him to return to a more metropolitan location fell on deaf ears. But he was all I had. The only person who gave a damn about the disaster that was Jasmine Khan. I couldn't just abandon him.

The nameless guy's hands crept under my dress to palm my ass while I was opening the door and I paused.

Okay, first things first, I said to him firmly. You don't touch me until I ask you to. You don't make a move without my permission. If I tell you to stop, you stop. Even if it's the last thing on earth you want to do. Is that clear?

Yes ma'am, he answered in a delighted tone. It satisfied me that he was playing along, not making demands on me and acting offended. I'd picked a good one for tonight. Some men...they hated being told what to do. I got tired of sleeping with those.

One such man was sitting right there in my living room when I entered, my hook-up for the evening following close behind me. I froze when Jasper looked up at me from where he was seated on the couch, holding a sandwich and a glass of water while watching a movie on his laptop.

We frowned at each other before I instructed the other guy to go wait for me in the bedroom. He obeyed like a good boy, making me smile a little as I folded my arms and gave Jasper Wells a pointed look.

I told you I was bringing someone home, I said to him. Why are you still here?

He was looking at me all confused while he paused his chewing. Um...it's my home, too. I pay half the rent in case you've forgotten.

I waved a hand in the air. I thought we had an understanding. You're never here for my hook-ups and I'm never here for yours.

Jasper sat back a little. I don't have hook-ups anymore. I have a boyfriend.

A snort escaped me at his valiant claim. You've been dating him for two weeks.

So? He sounded irritated and I held up my hands.

So you know best about the status of your relationship. But please, for the love of God, I need you to not be here for at least...two hours.

He made a face at me, reluctantly getting up from his comfortable position with his food and laptop. Seriously. You need the entire cottage to fuck this guy? he asked me bluntly.

Er...yeah, I responded in a tone that stated it should be more than obvious. I'm doing you a favour. I don't think you'd want to be here when I make him cry.

He looked at me for a while and then smirked. I've been a bad influence on you, Jasper murmured in amusement before heading out the door into the night.

I highly doubted that. My badness was all on me. Jasper was one of the good ones. Our attraction had fizzled out two years ago. A few months after moving in, I'd grown irritated at him constantly dominating me in the bedroom and demanded to be on top during sex but he hadn't been able to get an erection. I discovered that he had that problem sometimes for no apparent reason and it bugged him so much to the point of speechless embarrassment but one day, I had dragged him to a clinic and the doctor had concluded that his problem was most probably due to high cholesterol levels in his blood. It was another risk factor for stroke so now Jasper Wells had to be on medication and a proper diet and exercise routine. The hardest part was keeping from away from alcohol.

There were some nights he couldn't go to bed without getting drunk out of his mind and those were the scary nights. He was trying otherwise. He worked his ass off, had established himself as a world-famous photographer, even won a couple of international awards and travelled extensively. About five months since we'd moved to Ireland, he'd started to bring home dates. I always disappeared off to a pub or the beach to give him privacy in case my presence there contributed towards making him self-conscious or something and he started to have performance issues. For two years, it had just been the local girls once or twice a month and occasional hook-ups when he went abroad for work.

But a fortnight ago, he'd brought home a guy. Logan Hermann. Also a photographer, one hundred percent gay and a total party animal. I got along so well with him but Jasper and him were like polar opposites and I didn't understand their relationship much since I had always thought he found it hard to be with a man after Cole. But apparently, he had decided to move on in that department.

However, this was the first time in two years I had brought someone home to have sex with when Jasper was present. He wasn't really aware of the fact that I really did need the whole cottage. I mean, bedrooms got so boring after a while. I liked the openness of taking a man somewhere unexpected.

You can come out now, I called out to the guy.

He appeared in the living room, tall, red-haired with a lean, hard body and radiant smile. I pointed to a chair in front of the fire, my mouth curving in a smile as I imagined all the things I was going to do to him tonight.

Make yourself comfortable, I told him calmly and shrugged off my denim jacket. I'm just going to go get my supplies.

I had to hand it to him. He didn't appear at all rebellious when I came out of my bedroom a minute later with a bag full of sex toys which promised a long, slow torture.

****

Chapter Two

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Cole Sawyer

I was having dinner at the breakfast bar while reading a hardcover book which was propped up against a fruit bowl. One of the latest by Michael J Sullivan, Age of Empyre. The dinner, which would normally have taken me fifteen minutes to finish, had taken almost forty due to the engaging storyline of this fantasy.

I'd made casserole tonight at around seven but it was almost nine p.m by the time I could finally sit down to eat the damn thing. Running around after a two year old all day would do that to you.

Letting out a sigh, I took a few sips of water before glancing at my open laptop. My mind drifted away from the gripping events taking place within that book to focus on the little green dot I could now see beside Jasper's name on the Skype chat.

I smiled a little and pressed the video call option. Nine thirty p.m, every Friday, on the dot. He never missed a single call.

Jasper's face appeared on the screen after the call connected. He was seated at a table at the restaurant he usually frequented nearby his cottage in Ireland. It was an old, run-down place with a rowdy group of people but he seemed to prefer it.

Hey, I said, spooning a mouthful of casserole.

Cole. What's up?

He was always so formal with me now. As though we were conducting a business meeting. Jasper Wells had changed so much. And I didn't just mean his appearance which consisted of a grimmer expression and sharper cheekbones due to the weight he had lost. He sported a stubble every day now, neatly trimmed, sexy as fuck and with that hair that was cut short, he looked incredibly handsome.

But what bothered me was the deadened look in his usually glittering dark eyes. A man who was simply going through the motions of life without taking anything in. He was basically my reflection now.

How was Spain? I asked him in a low voice. That was where he had told me he was going to be when we spoke last week.

Hot, he answered curtly. What's for dinner?

Casserole, I answered and watched as he inclined his head to take in my background.

You painted the kitchen.

I breathed out a laugh I didn't feel. Yeah, Skye insisted it needed a touch-up.

His expression grew more serious at that. I couldn't help talking about Skye. She was my wife. The mother of my child. The woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with. But Jasper never brought her up in conversation.

It had been two years now and we had come a long way, Skye and I. We had been determined to pick up the pieces of our broken lives after Jasper had left us. Five months in, I'd decided to man up and propose. We were going to do things the right way. She had started to experience post-natal depression a few weeks after the birth and I had needed her to know that we were a family. I was going to be by her side every step of the way. Put a ring on her finger and give her my name if that was what it took.

I had used the money Jasper had given me to purchase a bigger house in the city as well as buy her an art gallery where she could hold exhibitions and conduct painting lessons like she had dreamed for quite some time. When she'd questioned me about it, I'd told her the money was from Jasper.

That was when our problems had started.

How's Jacob? Jasper asked me and his eyes softened a tiny fraction.

Jacob Aimeric Sawyer. That was my son's name. Skye had been adamant that we do not call him Jasper so I'd gone with Jacob instead. I liked it. It suited him.

He drove me nuts today with his constant demand for activity, I grumbled and shook my head. Little bugger.

Jasper started to smile. You're good with him, Cole. I've never seen a more disciplined toddler in my life.

I laughed for real this time. Yeah, he is pretty serious most of the time, I guess. Having conversations with him feels like I'm talking to a grown up sometimes.

I was a stay-at-home dad now. Had been for over a year. Once Skye got used to the idea that the gallery was not going anywhere, she'd thrown herself into making something of it, thrown herself into building a career and becoming successful.

She came home late most evenings and left early in the mornings. After the way I had grown up without a proper family, I hadn't been able to watch my son feel neglected. My projects had sometimes taken me out of the city and Jacob had been forced to spend a lot of time with his nanny. I had hated it so much.

So I'd given up my career. It hadn't mattered to me to go on working for something I no longer felt inspired to do. It was like when Jasper had left, he'd taken a part of me with him. The rest I had given to Skye and Jacob. There was nothing left for me.

I should go now, Jasper said with a kind expression. Let you get on with your dinner. And please finish it before you start reading that book again, he added without thought.

I felt a pang within my heart. For all those times he had said the same thing to me and all those years we had been together. Nobody cared now whether I finished my dinner or not. Nobody saw me.

Stay a little longer, I whispered even though I knew I shouldn't. Our conversations had a simple rule. Don't get emotional. But I always ended up failing that test.

Jasper looked at me for a minute, his jaw clenched and eyes hardening. He stayed still for a moment before smiling and waving at someone who wasn't me. A guy appeared next to him, greeting him cheerfully before leaning forward to kiss him on the mouth. Then he glanced at the screen, realised Jasper was on Skype call and excused himself with a laugh.

I stared at Jasper with a stunned expression when his was the only face in my line of vision.

That was Logan, he told me gruffly. I've been seeing him. I need to go. We're having dinner together.

I nodded slowly as though in a daze, my heart exploding into a thousand pieces at the revelation I had just witnessed. Yes, I knew he wasn't living like a monk all this time. Yes, I was aware he slept with other people even though things were over between him and Jasmine. But...I had never imagined he was with a man. I had never seen him with one. Never believed he would one day flaunt one in front of me