Being the second-born son in a family of five is like being the useless older brother. The irresponsible one who needs to be put on a leash, and maybe they’re right. But in a world of rules, I thrive on the darkness of my choices, believing in only three things: money, women, and more women.
My life is perfectly chaotic until she comes around.
A man with a gun, they say, is dangerous, sure. But have they ever met an obsessed man who wants to be put on a fucking leash for one woman? There’s no safety in this kind of madness. I thought I knew what I wanted, but now… now I’d burn everything just to have her. Just to have one woman.
Maybe I’m not the one in control anymore.
**
JUNIPER:
Today is a special day in my life.
One, it is my last day being nineteen, and the day I finally get to ‘do it’ with my boyfriend, Cillian.
Cillian says he will be busy tomorrow, and we are celebrating my birthday today so we can ‘do it’ by twelve midnight the moment I turn twenty.
“Juniper, we need more drinks!” Cillian’s voice echoes from the living room to the kitchen, where I am trying to cut out my cake for his guests.
Just as I finish arranging them on the platter, the door to the kitchen swings open, and my roommate, Susan, walks in. She walks towards me, then rests her back against a counter in the kitchen.
“Seriously, June, when are you going to stop slaving for this boy?” she asks, and I pause, staring at her.
“It is your birthday, June, and yet he treats you like a slave. Serving up drinks for his friends, and you haven’t had anything to eat. This is your last year in your teens, and he has ruined it,” she says. Then I scoff, forcing a smile onto my lips.
Everyone thinks Cillian is manipulating, but I do not see it that way. I see it as my act of love for him.
He is three years older than me, making him twenty-three this year. We started dating last year when I turned nineteen, and even though I was legal, he never pressured me to have sex with him, contrary to what everyone says about him being a fuck boy who will leave me. But none of that happened, given he is the hottest and richest guy on campus, and I am nothing but a weird art geek.
Today I am ready for him, and just the thought of this makes my belly flare up with heat rising in between my legs.
I’m about to speak when Cillian walks into the kitchen.
“What’s taking so long, baby?” he asks, walking past Susan like she is invisible.
The hate relationship between them is mutual.
“Here,” I hand him the tray of cakes, then I take out some drinks, placing them on the tray, then he kisses my cheek.
“The party is almost over, and I cannot wait to have you,” he whispers in my ear, causing Susan to roll her eyes while my belly flutters with a pleasant emotion driving through it.
He leaves at once, and I turn to Susan.
“I do not care, and I love him,” I say, and she scoffs.
“Do not say I didn’t warn you,” she shrugs before leaving while I concentrate on cleaning up the kitchen.
Halfway through cleaning, the dish soap finishes, then I make my way out of the kitchen to see the guests are gone, making me wonder who Cillian got the last batch of drinks and cakes for. I try not to think too much, then I make my way up the stairs to get more soap from the store.
Just a few steps into the hallway, I hear Susan’s voice in a way that leaves my blood cold.
“Yeah, right there, fuck me!” Susan moans out loud, and I try to convince myself she is with someone else, but Cillian’s voice comes right after hers, shattering every fiber of my heart.
“Say you belong to me. Say it!” he demands aggressively as the sound of flesh slapping together fills the entire room.
My leg is weak, and I drag it to the entrance of the room, opening the door to see them in flesh and blood with Cillian buried inside her. The air in my lungs thin out, and I stand there with my skin pale while he finishes in her with a loud groan, falling on the bed beside her. Susan reaches for the tray of cakes on the nightstand, and this is when they both notice me standing with tears in my eyes.
“June,” Cillian calls out. “You.. You aren’t supposed to be here…un..” He gets to his feet as he struggles to get the words out.
Susan reaches for him.
“Why are you going to her? She is a good girl, and she doesn’t deserve a guy like you. You are mine, Cillian, and she can never give you what I have given you,” she says, and I shake my head at the coldness in her voice.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed Susan and I would have a fallout over a man, let alone my boyfriend.
He yanks off his hands from her, then he makes his way to me, but I take a step backward, taking to my feet, trying to wash away the image I had seen from my mind. Susan and Cillian? Who would have guessed? I had been a puppet in their little game.
He grabs me as I reach the stairs, then he tries to kiss me, but I push him away, my hand landing on his cheek, causing him to grab me roughly, pushing my back against the wall.
“You wouldn’t have sex with me, and you expect me to wait a year?” he raises his voice. “A guy has needs!” he growls, then I scoff.
“Then go be with your needs; I am done,” I say to him.
“No, you cannot be done, and we will never be done until I say so!” he runs his hands around my body roughly, planting kisses allover me with his breath ragged. “You are mine, June!”
I knee him in the groin at once, causing him to pull away in pain.
With blurry eyes, I make my way outside the house, rushing to my car, then I open it and get into it. I try to start the ignition, but Cillian is outside grabbing the handle of my door, but I lock it in time before he can open it.
“Baby, please, I swear it will never happen again. It was the devil, I swear. I want us to talk,” he pleads, and I glance at him through my clouded eyes.
“You are the devil, and fuck you!” I step on the gas, causing him to let go as he falls on the ground and I reverse my car out of the compound without looking back.
“You are mine, Juniper. Mine!” he yells as I hit the road, and his voice becomes a memory.
**
I drive for a while, unsure of where to go, then I spot a bar. A good place to drown my sorrows, I say to myself, making my way to it. I park my car, then I walk into the bar, heading straight to the bartender.
“Give me the strongest, and cheapest drink you have,” I say to him, taking out some notes from my purse as I place them on the table.
In no time, I have gone three glasses down, and yet I feel nothing. The pain of Cillian’s betrayal still hangs, and his lying face is still clear in my memory. Suddenly, I get a feeling I’m being watched, then I turn to see a man in a corner of the room, sipping from his glass with his eyes on me. I turn away immediately, downing the remaining content in my glass.
“An order from the young man in the corner,” the bartender says to me, handing me an extra glass of wine. I glance at the man in the corner, then I grab the glass.
In that moment, my phone beeps — it is twelve midnight and my fucking birthday.
A thought crosses my mind, and I get to my feet, feeling the entire world spin around me, but I manage to make my way to the man, placing the drink on the round table, before placing both hands on it, lowering my body to face his eyes glistening in neon lights.
“How about we leave here, and you can drink this off my chest?” I say to him…
