Forbidden Love

34

Luna

My eyes go wide, and my heart starts racing faster than it already is. I'm so screwed.

My dad stares at us through the window and motions for the window to go down. Jaxon awkwardly lifts his hand from my waist and lowers the passenger side window.

Dad clears his throat. "Hi kids. Am I interrupting something?" He looks at Jaxon and his eyes almost go wide. "Jaxon Gray, huh? Thought you left for Canada."

"I got back recently, sir."

If this wasn't a really mortifying situation, I'd get butterflies from hearing Jaxon say "sir".

"Recently," Dad repeats. I can feel my face heat up. I'm so embarrassed. My embarrassment only deepens when he says, "Well, Luna, if you're done using Jaxon Gray as a seat, I suggest you move over here and climb on out."

I squeeze my eyes shut and untangle myself from Jaxon. As I'm moving on to the passenger seat, I nearly trip over my own legs. I don't even glance at Jaxon when I leave the car and basically run inside the house. I hear my dad say goodnight to him and follow me in.

"That was...interesting," Dad says as he throws his keys on the tray at the front door.

"I'm sorry," I cough out. "I just—"

He cuts me off by laughing. Full on laughing. Like I just said the funniest thing on the planet. I stare at him as if he's lost his mind, and when he sees my facial expression, he starts laughing even harder. Not gonna lie, it's nice hearing his laugh. I haven't heard it in so long. In years maybe.

I just wish it wasn't about this.

When he gets it together, he shakes his head. "I just didn't expect to see you in that...position." I cringe and he continues, "I mean maybe Juliana, but not you. You rarely even go out."

"I know, I'm so sorry,"

"No, no. Don't apologize."

"You aren't mad?"

"Oh, I'm furious, and if I had a less stressful day at work, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be laughing." But he's exhausted. I get it. "Seeing a teenage boy put his hands all over my little girl isn't the highlight of my week. But..." He trails off and his face goes serious. "I saw your smile right before you started eating his face again."

I groan internally at the 'eating' part. I'm sure it wasn't that dramatic. But my smile? I try to think of when I was smiling, but honestly, whenever I'm with Jaxon I always am.

"I haven't seen that smile since your mother got sick. You've been curled up in your own little world for so long. I'm glad you've found your way back. Don't apologize for it."

His words hit harder than I thought it would. I don't want to be back. I want to stay. Stay in my own little world where nothing and no one can hurt me. Where my mother can't leave me. I want to read and write the type of books where nothing is wrong. I need my distraction from this horrible situation.

Jaxon will not bring me out. I refuse to let him.

Dad continues, "Will you tell your brother about this little...romantic encounter?"

My eyes go wide. "No! Corey cannot know. That means no one can know. It was a one-time thing. I'm just tutoring him, but Corey can't know that either."

"Hmm," He thinks for a minute. "I won't say anything, but I'm telling you now that it's gonna come back to bite you in the butt. Work it out with your brother. We didn't raise you to be a liar."

He's right. I know he's right. Still, I don't want to make this thing with Jaxon real. "I'll be okay."

Dad always lets me make my own mistakes which is why he only responds with a simple, "Alright," He watches me for a minute before a big smile appears on his face. "You know, when I was in high school your mother and I—"