The Forbidden Read online Jodi Ellen Malpas

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Angst, Romance, Suspense Tags Authors:
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Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115737 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
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‘Nice.’ She nods approvingly when I answer, though she looks a little vacant.

‘You okay?’ I ask, stepping out.

‘Yeah, fine.’ She looks effortlessly gorgeous, her black bobbed hair wavy today, and her brown eyes dramatic with heavy eyeliner. Her bright pink shift dress and leather biker jacket is perfectly edgy and perfectly Lizzy. ‘You’ve made quite an effort too,’ I observe as I link arms with her and we start down the path together.

‘Just threw something on,’ she says, waving off my compliment. ‘Nat’s meeting us there. And whatever you do, tell her you love her hair.’

‘Why, what’s she done?’ I look at Lizzy in horror. Nat’s hair is her pride and joy. Thick, blonde, glossy and down to her bum, it’s groomed better than the Queen’s corgis.

‘John’s kid got his bubblegum stuck in it.’

‘Oh, shit,’ I breathe, seeing Nat’s face clear as day in my mind’s eye. It’s angry. Very, very angry. She’s met the man of her dreams, but the man of her dreams comes with an added extra: a six-year-old boy who is a little bit of a handful. Scrap that. He’s a lot of a handful. Nat’s not exactly maternal. ‘How much?’ I wince, waiting for it, and then I gasp when Lizzy’s cutting gesture saws at her shoulders. ‘Oh, no.’

‘And I’ve split up with Jason.’

I stagger to a stop. ‘What?’

She shakes her head, tears threatening. ‘I don’t want to talk about it tonight.’

I snap my mouth shut quickly and, though it pains me, I refrain from pressing. ‘Okay.’ She needs a girls’ night out, and I’m more than happy to oblige. ‘Wait. Does Nat know?’

She nods and quickly wipes under her eyes. ‘Let’s just have fun tonight, please.’

‘Done.’ I grab her arm and march on, determined to distract her for tonight, my mind racing with what could have happened.

It’s a challenge, but I manage not to choke when I clap eyes on Nat’s dramatic, unplanned transformation. Her long locks are no more, and the scowl on her face tells me that she hasn’t come to terms with it yet.

‘Tell her it looks great,’ Lizzy mumbles under her breath as we head towards her.

‘It looks great!’ I shriek, resting my bum on one of the tall stools. Everyone falls silent, Lizzy rolls her eyes and Nat growls at me. ‘What?’ I ask, shrinking.

‘I look about fifty,’ Nat mutters.

‘No you don’t,’ Lizzy and I sing in unison, so fucking over the top. She really does look older. Perhaps not quite fifty, but definitely older than her thirty years.

‘I love it!’ I declare, happy that I sound sincere enough, prompting Nat’s hands to go up to her hair and feel the lack of length.

‘Really?’ she asks, looking for reassurance.

‘Yes, makes you look more sophisticated.’

She smiles, grateful, and Lizzy knocks my arm as she passes me, her way of congratulating me on a job well done. ‘I’m getting drinks,’ she declares. ‘Who wants what?’

‘Wine!’ Nat and I chant.

Lizzy heads for the bar, and I take the opportunity to interrogate Nat. ‘What’s happened with Lizzy and Jason?’ I ask, leaning forward over the table.

‘I don’t know.’ She shrugs nonchalantly, ever the compassionate type. ‘She refuses to talk about it.’

‘But I thought they were solid.’

‘Yeah, me too. Apparently not, eh?’

‘You sound so concerned.’ I give her a disappointed look, and she just shrugs again. Nat’s not exactly the emotional type. She’s a loss adjuster for a huge insurance firm. A real tough cookie, and she struggles to separate that from her personal life. Most men are intimidated by her. Most women too, actually. Tall, leggy, blonde and a bit of an emotional retard.

‘My hair was massacred,’ she snipes, ‘so I’m moody.’

Our conversation is cut short – not that it was going anywhere – when Lizzy slides a tray onto the table, loaded with not only wine, but shots too. I look at Nat, who nods her understanding. Lizzy is on a mission to total drunkenness. We both accept the shots she hands us and throw them back as ordered. Then I ponder who of my friends is in the most turmoil, therefore needing my attention. You’d think this would be an easy decision, but Nat was probably as much in love with her hair as I thought Lizzy was with Jason. I flick my eyes between them; both distracted. Nat is still stroking her new bob, and Lizzy’s now daydreaming into her wine glass.

It’s no good. I can’t hold back. ‘What happened?’ I ask Lizzy, knocking her knee.

She snaps out of her trance and looks at me, her usually bright eyes dulling. Then they well up, her bottom lip trembling. ‘He cheated!’ she wails, bursting into tears. ‘And it’s not the first time, either!’

‘Oh my God!’ I cry, jumping down from my stool and taking her in a hug. She shakes and blubbers all over me, finally losing the ability to hold it together. ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’


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