Taboo

Rodrigo kept watching me every time I crossed the living room. I’d known for months, and that afternoon I decided it was time to collect a debt.

That summer we rented the same little house as always, and she got out of the car with a new smile. My cousin. Forbidden. And yet, everything I wanted.

When she came into my room that night, wearing nothing, I knew it wasn’t just because she was afraid of the thunder. My mother knew everything. And so did I.

Claudia thought of herself as a respectable, religious, faithful mother. But that afternoon, kneeling in front of her own son, she understood she could no longer ignore the darkness in her.

I was the impeccable stepmother, the woman who made the rules. But when my stepson appeared naked before me, I knew my rules were made of paper.

They tried to pry a secret out of me. What I didn’t know was that they were hiding something much bigger—and that afternoon would change our family forever.

The key turned in the lock at the worst possible moment. Or the best. Dad didn’t even stop when my uncle appeared in the doorway and saw us.

When I heard the door opening, I knew it was my son. It was already too late to stop what was happening, and I didn’t want to.

Rodrigo held her hips during their workouts and she pretended not to notice his erection. When she found her panties in his room, she could no longer ignore what was happening.

Twenty years old, zero experience, and a cousin who looked at him as if she knew exactly what was on his mind. The summer was going to be long.

Silvia was riding me when I saw the figure in the doorway. My father. Naked. Staring at her, one hand moving in a way that left no doubt.

The brothers surrounded me in the stable and told me what nobody in town knew. Their sister belonged to everyone. Their father gave the order. And I was eighteen, with my eyes wide open.

When his mother came down the stairs in that tight dress, Marcos knew that trip to the movies was not going to end the way he expected.

We’d spent years avoiding each other’s eyes at every family dinner. That New Year’s Eve, when everyone had fallen asleep, she set down the glasses and kissed me in the kitchen without saying a word.

She only came to drop off some papers. When she sat on the sofa and crossed her legs, I knew the problem was going to be mine, not hers.

Bruno was waiting at the door with a bouquet of roses and a smile that was not a brother’s. The apartment still smelled like paint, and we had the whole afternoon to break it in.

When she came out of the bathroom in the clothes I’d left on the bed, I knew that afternoon she’d obey every order without a complaint.

It was raining outside, and she was looking at me in a way no one in my family ever had before. I knew what she was about to ask, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to say no.

The music was playing far away, the family was toasting downstairs, and I was still sitting on the bed, not understanding when his kisses had stopped being a game.

When I crossed the hall, I heard every taboo I had crunched beneath my feet. I reached his door naked, with only my hair over my shoulders.