A Year of Love Read online

  “If that’s okay?”

  “That’s more than okay.”

  Then his mouth was on mine, and everything was swept away.

  6

  I knew I couldn’t live life how I was going, but I was going to try. At least for a short while.

  My mom wasn’t a bad person. She wasn’t even a bad mom, but she had struggles and sometimes they were more severe than others, but for now, for this one semester, I wanted a break.

  I didn’t look at my blocked call notifications the next day. I just cleared them, and she was limited on getting through to me in other ways, like texting or private messages on social media. It’s a shitty experience having to do that to your own mother, and every time I did, a little part of me died.

  I wasn’t being a good daughter.

  But I wanted one semester. Just one.

  I wanted to be a normal college student and worry about college things, like the person she was sleeping with, about the friends she hung out with, the classes she was studying for, and all the other mundane college shit. That girl, someone who was normal. I wanted to be her.

  I wanted to get a job. I wanted...to be normal in the way I knew how to be normal.

  Maybe it wasn’t for everyone, but maybe I wasn’t for everyone.

  I didn’t know what would happen with Cruz, but for now, I was okay with that.

  I was more than okay with that.

  And all of that was just fine.

  For now.

  I hope you enjoyed Mara’s short story.

  This is a set-up for her and Cruz’s full-length novel which will come out at a later time!

  Bring on the college drama!

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  Other Titles By Tijan

  If you want to read more about Blaise and Taz, and even see an earlier Mara, check out:

  The Crew Series (Taz is in here.)

  Rich Prick (Blaise’s story.)

  Other books by Tijan:

  Sports Romance Standalones:

  Enemies

  Teardrop Shot

  Hate To Love You

  The Not-Outcast

  Young Adult Standalones:

  Ryan’s Bed

  A Whole New Crowd

  Brady Remington Landed Me in Jail

  College Standalones:

  Antistepbrother

  Kian

  Mafia Standalones:

  Cole

  Bennett Mafia

  Canary

  Jonah Bennett

  Frisco

  Fallen Crest/Roussou Universe

  Fallen Crest Series

  Crew Series

  The Boy I Grew Up With (standalone)

  Rich Prick (standalone)

  Nate

  Other series:

  Broken and Screwed Series (YA/NA)

  Jaded Series (YA/NA suspense)

  Davy Harwood Series (paranormal)

  Carter Reed Series (mafia)

  The Insiders (trilogy)

  Contemporary Romances:

  Bad Boy Brody

  Home Tears

  Fighter

  Rockstar Romance Standalone:

  Sustain

  Paranormal Standalone:

  Evil

  Micaela’s Big Bad

  More books to come!

  Copyright © 2021 K.F. Breene

  All rights reserved

  Published by K.F. Breene

  Possession is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the author’s twisted imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

  1

  “No way.” I leaned forward and clutched the seat in front of me so I could see through the passenger window. Two large guys sat on either side of me in the back seat of the BMW X5, squishing me in.

  My best friend Piper half turned in the front passenger seat, excitement sparkling in her baby blues. “Yes. You’re doing this. You need to confront your fears. Besides, this is the last Halloween before you move to Oregon. You have to go to this party, bitch. We’re doing it.”

  “Her fears?” Piper’s boyfriend, Jack, glanced at me in the rearview mirror, one of his eyes ringed in deep purple. “What do you have to be afraid of? It’s just a club.”

  He was the local featherweight UFC fighting champion, which wasn’t saying a whole helluva lot because it was a tiny circuit with a bunch of newbies who only came to impress girls. They showed up with big dreams and left with fucked-up faces.

  “That isn’t just a normal club,” I said, my fingers turning white.

  “No shit,” Jack said with a chuckle. “It’s the most exclusive club in the whole damn county. And this won’t be a normal party, either. Halloween at Possession is literally the hottest party of the year. People from all over the world come to this party.”

  “I heard the invitations are rimmed with gold,” said Noah, a big dumb blond dude with a football player’s body. He’d never actually played the sport, but he worked out with guys who did.

  “People literally watch their mailboxes for an invite, and I got one,” Jack said smugly. “This means good things.” He mumbled the last phrase, and the way he said it, as if he were affirming a decision he’d made, put me on edge.

  “So was it rimmed with gold?” Noah pressed.

  No, the invites weren’t rimmed with gold. They were dusted in it. But not everyone got one of those, just the VIPs.

  I’d know. I got one every. Damn. Year.

  My heart thudded in my chest as a thousand memories tumbled through me.

  Jack didn’t need to tell me anything about the party. I’d gone once. Just once. That’s where I’d met him. Emeric, the uncrowned king of Firefell, Nevada. I’d been twenty and full of bad decisions. He’d been incredibly handsome, cavalier, and deliciously passionate.

  It had been one wild fucking night.

  In my dreams, I relived the sensations. His gentle touches and hard thrusting. The trail of fire his lips had blazed up the insides of my thighs. The incredible climaxes that had gone on and on.

  In my nightmares, I remembered the horror of learning what I really was. What he was.

  I always woke with the crushing fear of what I might become.

  He’d said that he held my fate in the palm of his hand.

  I’d told him to shove his hand up his ass and find a new personality. Then I’d forced my way out of the place, swearing I would never go back. Glorious sex wasn’t reason enough to wear a chain around my neck. He could keep his grand plans—I had places to be. Like out of this fucking city.

  He hadn’t given up, though. His type never did.

  Each year afterward, I’d gotten that gold-dusted invite, delivered with a personal, handwritten note, elegantly folded into the envelope and splashed with his mouthwatering cologne. Each year he’d signed it Emeric, the King of Firefell.

  It was an expression of confidence that I would eventually give in. Because only I could raise him to the next level of power and make him a king. He couldn’t force me to, either. He might technically own me, but he couldn’t control me.

  Each year, I’d resisted the temptation to run after him like a woman chasing an ice cream truck handing out orgasms. For five years, I’d avoided him.

  For five years, he’d let me.

  I finally had the money to get the hell out of this place, though—to go far enough away that the bastard and his organization couldn’t touch me. I just had to stay strong for another month and I’d be free.

  “Take me home
,” I ground out. “I don’t want to go. I was fine at that other Halloween party. Actually, take me back there. I did too much work dressing up to go home now.”

  “You were fine at some waster’s house party when you could be at Possession?” Noah asked incredulously from my left. He chuckled and shook his head, scratching his dark five-o’clock shadow. “Girl, you’ve got your priorities all fucked up.”

  “Says the guy who once skipped a job performance review in favor of a blowjob,” said Tom, whom everyone called Bo, from my left. The reason for the nickname? Because that’s what his niece called him on account of his constant body odor. His friends thought it was funny, and while he’d fixed the problem for tonight, I couldn’t help side-eying a man proud of his lack of hygiene. His bushy beard probably had a small animal living in it.

  “I do not regret it, bro,” Noah replied smugly.

  “Seriously, Jack, take me back,” I said. “Or just drop me off here, I don’t care. I’ll get a ride. Or walk. It isn’t that far.”

  “It’s five miles, and you’re wearing stilettos! Are you out of your mind?” Piper turned all the way around this time, scowling at me. “Seriously, Jae, it’ll be fine. It’s been forever. That guy won’t be there, and if he is, he won’t remember you.”

  I hadn’t told her who that guy actually was. He would definitely be there, since he owned the fucking club, and he’d find my outfit hilarious—as he ripped it off of me.

  I smoothed my white angel costume against my upper thighs, keeping my knees close together so I didn’t give Piper a peep show. My fluffy white collar chafed my neck a little, but I’d left it on because it looked super cute. The halo, though. Ugh! The thing would not stay straight. I’d pinned it into my wavy brown hair within an inch of its life, but it was determined to slip. I was pretty sure the costume-in-a-bag company had not designed it as a crooked halo. Then again, it probably fit my personality better this way.

  “Let me out. I’m not going!” I pushed Jack’s shoulder harder than intended, shoving him hard enough that he yanked the wheel in alarm. The car careened left wildly. He pulled the wheel in the opposite direction just in time, the bumper nearly skimming a parked car.

  Whoops. Despite not working out, I kept getting stronger. My strength was awesome and terrifying, and I just needed to get away from all of this.

  One month.

  “What the fuck, Jaelyn!” Jack yelled, straightening out the car.

  “Oh my God—” Piper clutched the center console. She looked back with wide, searching eyes, then let out a breath and brushed her blond ringlets out of her face. “Okay, okay. Fine, okay? Jack, let’s go back. I’ve heard that club can be dangerous anyway.”

  “Are you out of your mind, bro?” Bo said, leaning forward and jostling me.

  “We are going to that party,” Jack said.

  “Jae doesn’t want to go, so we won’t go,” Piper replied. “It’s not fair that we tried to spring it on her anyway. I went along with it, but enough is enough.”

  Jack didn’t so much as glance at the street coming up, an easy place to turn around. I could see the muscles in his jaw working stubbornly.

  “Sorry, babe, but she has to come,” he said, resolute.

  “Just let her out, bro,” Noah said. “Who cares? This area of town has, like, zero crime. She’ll be fine. Or I can take her home and meet you at the club.”

  “You’d really miss out on Possession to get a piece of ass?” Bo asked incredulously, looking over me at Noah.

  “I’ll just make sure she gets home okay.” His sly grin wasn’t fooling anyone, but it so wasn’t going to happen.

  “She’s not leaving,” Jack said in a rough tone. “She’s our ticket into this place.”

  Silence rang through the SUV. My heart was a panicked rabbit inside my chest.

  “Come again?” I asked softly.

  Piper looked at him with a furrow on her brow. The SUV sped up, only a few blocks from the club. Jack wanted to get there in a hurry.

  “She got her own invite to this thing. Isn’t that right, Jae?” His dark eyes flashed in the rearview mirror. “The King of Firefell wants her there, and no one says no to him. My boss sent me to get it done.”

  “Your boss… You’re working for his organization?” My heart sank, and I took a deep breath. “Number one, Emeric isn’t a fucking king, and he won’t become one. Ever. Number two, if you didn’t cut yourself and drip blood onto a special sort of fire…”

  Piper’s confused and incredulous look dried up my words.

  Yeah, that sounded crazy. I knew it did. But I had childhood memories that sounded even crazier. Before Possession, I’d half wondered if they were a coping mechanism my brain had cooked up because I’d spent most of my childhood locked in the basement or outside, forced to stay out of my stepmother's hair. She hadn’t wanted kids, after all, nor had she wanted to marry a man with baggage (i.e. a kid). She’d married my father anyway, and it had come as an awful shock when he’d died early, leaving her as the sole provider for said baggage. The only thing was…the memories were from before my father had died.

  And then I met Emeric, and all of those memories made a lot more sense.

  Whereas most kids grew out of fairytales, I was supposed to be growing into them. Too bad these fairytales were more like nightmares.

  I cleared my throat to get back on track.

  “If you didn’t make a deal, you have a way out of this, Jack. Take the way out of this.”

  “What the hell is everyone talking about?” Piper demanded, her anger rising.

  “Since when do you have a real job?” Noah asked, clearly not thrown by the talk of cutting extremities and dripping blood over fires.

  Jack ignored them. His eyes flicked up to me again.

  I knew that look. He’d already bought in. He would take me in or get punished for failing.

  I had two options: fight my way out of the car, or go along with this so no one else would get hurt.

  If it weren’t for Piper, I’d take Option A. I’d learned a thing or two in the last five years. Jack couldn’t hope to overpower me, any more than Noah or Bo could. The problem was, I hadn’t learned any control. If I forced my way out of here, Piper might get hurt in the crossfire. Something Emeric was sure to have thought of. That fucking asshole.

  I sighed and looked out the window. I hated that he was going to win.

  Butterflies filled my stomach at the thought of seeing him again. Excitement. Dread.

  “What do you get out of this?” I asked softly.

  “Money, for one,” Jack said, taking a right on Cookie Cutter Lane. That name did not belong in this town.

  “Seriously, Jack, what are you talking about?” Piper demanded, her face turning red.

  “A higher weight class with higher purses and the ability to win, for two,” he went on.

  The ability to win would stem from a boost in strength, speed, and resistance to injury… All he’d have to lose was his humanity. No biggie.

  “And a new gig as a bodyguard.” His eyes flashed in the rearview. “What do ya say, Jae? Fancy your own UFC champ bodyguard?”

  I twisted my lips to the side. “That depends. Will you wear the cheesy belt? I’m awfully fond of dollar store championship belts.”

  He grinned. “That’s all getting an upgrade. The king is moving the fighting underground, stripping away some rules and pairing it with some high-stakes gambling. If I get the boost I was promised, I can bump up a weight class and make some real money.”

  “Or maybe, I don’t know, get a day job and keep your soul. Lots of options,” I said breezily.

  He turned right onto a large street named Devil’s Gate. It led to one destination and one destination only: Possession.

  “Okay then, this is happening,” I said softly as Piper argued with Jack.

  I calmed myself as we crawled toward the three-story nightclub, the front lit up with bright neon and blinking lights. The name of the club was painted halfway
across the building façade. Little devil horns rose above the last “o” in Possession.

  Emeric was not fond of subtlety.

  My stomach flipped, and I looked away. Memories crowded for attention: soft, full lips pressing against my flesh, a hot tongue swiping across my nipple, tricky fingers sliding into my panties…

  “You okay?” Noah was looking over at me as we rolled to a stop behind a Ferrari.

  I swallowed and barely stopped from fanning my face. Damn Emeric, I hated how much he affected me. How he called to me, demanding my presence and then my submission.

  How good it felt when I gave in.

  “YUP!”

  Everyone in the car went silent and looked at me, Jack’s eyes in the rearview again.

  “Whoops.” I cleared my throat. “My bad on the volume. Yes, I’m fine.”

  There was no fucking way I could go into that club. If I did, I ran the risk of giving myself to a demon all over again. This time he would make sure it was for good.

  2

  Jack stopped beside the valet booth and put the BMW in park. He looked at me. “Stay in the car until I come around for you. I need to make sure you make it into the club.”

  "Are you fucking serious?" Piper yelled at him. She half-turned and held up a finger for me. "No. I’m sorry, Jae, I had no idea what kind of cumsplat I was dating. Get out of this BMW, and we’ll walk down the street and get an Uber.”

  “You’re coming, too.” Jack glanced at her.

  “Like hell I am.”

  Jack grinned before getting out. His reaction said it all. He knew exactly what waited inside those doors. He probably thought it was cool.