Depraved favors, p.1
Depraved Favors, page 1
Depraved Favors
Immoral Starts
B. Sobjakken
Copyright © [2024] by [Brooke Sobjakken]
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email author@bsobjakken.com
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyediting and proofreading by the one and only Justine Luke – justinejustreads@gmail.com
Contents
Author’s Note
Chapter 1
Peyton
Chapter 2
Peyton
Chapter 3
Peyton
Chapter 4
Owen
Chapter 5
Peyton
Chapter 6
Owen
Chapter 7
Peyton
Chapter 8
Peyton
Chapter 9
Peyton
Chapter 10
Owen
Chapter 11
Peyton
Chapter 12
Owen
Chapter 13
Peyton
Chapter 14
Owen
Chapter 15
Peyton
What’s Next…
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by B. Sobjakken
Author’s Note
Hello Filthy Friends,
I’m not gonna lie I was a little nervous for this one.. not because it’s crazy or anything, but because it’s NOT.
This one is a little tame in comparison to my other works, but I hope you guys enjoy anyway. Peyton and Owen are very sweet <3
Content warnings: Age gap, best friend’s dad, accidental pregnancy, parent with cancer, mentions of parental alienation.
If you are reading this from any website besides Amazon, then you’ve obtained a pirated copy. I encourage you to research how harmful piracy is to authors. Thank you. <3
Chapter One
Peyton
Winter Break
I watch as his fingers brush her elbow before he moves behind her and rests his hand on the back of her chair. She bites down on her lip and glances at him under her eyelashes, then laughs before turning back to her tray of food.
The longer I analyze the actions between them, the faster my stomach turns. My eyes lift to meet Caroline’s over his shoulder. She holds up her soda in a salute with a pitying smile and shrug. She’s the one who warned me about them, after seeing my best friend and boyfriend being extra chummy in the library.
I turn back to the two most important people in my life. Any other day, I would find their closeness endearing. I’d think I was lucky that they’re such good friends. Now I’m trying to remember all the times Jacob would choose to sit next to or near her over me.
I never cared before, never thought twice about it. We were a close-knit unit. Brit has been my best friend since middle school, and Jacob and I have been dating since freshman year of college. That’s nearly four years together, of our entire existence being entwined. I’ve attended all his fraternity events, all his football games. I gave him my virginity, which I didn’t really care about, but I feel like it means something that he’s the only man who has touched my body.
My chest aches as I stand abruptly from the table, my hip catching on the corner of the tray before slamming back down. They both grow quiet as I grab my backpack and storm out of the cafeteria without a word. I wipe furiously at the tears that escape, and I’m almost to the bathroom when I’m tugged back. Jacob’s face twists in confusion, and I shudder at his firm grip on my arm.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, pulling me into his chest and wrapping his arms around me.
Usually the familiar scent of him is comforting, but right now it feels like he’s suffocating me. I push him off of me, crossing my arms so he can’t try to grab me again.
“I’m gonna leave for the day. Gonna check on my mom.”
I don’t miss the flare of annoyance in his eyes, and he runs a hand through his hair as he sighs. “Can’t you call your dad? It’s just this is the first day in a while that I don’t have practice and you’re not too busy.”
Guilt stabs me in the heart, and I know I’ve been spending a lot of time with my mom for the past year and a half. But I feel it’s understandable considering she’s fighting cancer. Her latest scans have come back promising, and they’re going to slow her treatment, but she’s not in remission just yet.
“I know. I just—”
“Hey. What’s going on?” Brit walks up to us, and an agonizing fury roars back in my chest when her hand slides across my boyfriend’s back before she stands next to me. “You okay?” The touch is too familiar, something a girlfriend would do. I’d never touch someone else that way.
It sickens me. My throat aches and my mouth waters with the threat of vomiting right then and there. I feel foolish and naïve that I didn’t catch the obvious signs before someone else pointed them out. I step farther away from Jacob.
“I’m going home. I’ll catch you guys later.”
“So you’re going to come back to Jacob’s apartment later?” she asks, her eyes watching me with concern. Now I suspect that concern is only about getting caught.
I shake my head. “Nope, you two have fun.”
Jacob sighs, and Brit lets out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, right? If you’re not going, then I’ll probably just do some last-minute shopping before I leave.”
My boyfriend stares at me, not objecting to either of our plans, and I stare back. I don’t know what he sees, but his eyebrows dip down and he frowns.
“Text me when you get home, then,” Jacob finally says. He moves to kiss my forehead again and I stand still, my heart hammering away with anger or despair. I can’t tell anymore.
I nod and turn away from them before they can say anything else. The walk to my car through the college campus is a blur, and I barely remember driving home.
My father looks up from his newspaper as I hurry through the door. His eyebrow tics as I throw my backpack onto the floor, rushing to the stairs. I pause on the bottom step. “Is she awake?”
He nods, and I smile before stalking upstairs.
“Hey!” he calls after me and I stop, glancing over my shoulder. His glasses have fallen to the middle of his nose, staring at me from above the rim. “It’s a little early to be home from school.”
I twist my mouth to the side. “I just really needed my mom.”
His eyes soften, and he waves at me to continue before heading back to the kitchen. I knock on their bedroom door before opening it without waiting for a response. My mom looks up from her book and smiles.
“My sweetheart, what are you doing here?”
I collapse onto the bed next to her, inhaling the soft scent of her. I didn’t know how much I would miss it till her room smelled like a hospital room. Plain sheets to combat the constant vomiting and other things that couldn’t be helped from her chemo treatment. Though I never told her, the stripping of her colorful blankets and mismatched pillows made it feel like her room was dying with her.
“I think Jacob is cheating on me.”
She gasps, setting down the book to scoot closer and lie next to me. “What! Why? What happened?”
“Someone warned me about it. And I just—the signs are all there, Mom. I don’t know what to do.”
“What do you want to do?”
That’s where I’m conflicted because while I’m enraged and hurt at the thought of him cheating, it hurts more because of who he cheated with. If Jacob is my boyfriend, then she’s my soulmate. Someone I thought would be by my side for the rest of my life.
“I just want to disappear,” I tell my mom.
Her fingers dip to my forehead, trying to smooth the wrinkles caused by my sullen expression. “Where would you go?”
“The forest. Maybe a vampire will find me and tell me my blood sings for him and he loves me.”
She chuckles. “And what happens if some European vampire family comes and tries to kill you?”
My lips curl. “It won’t happen because we won’t make the mistake of having little hybrid vampire babies.”
My mom gasps, then pouts. “There goes my hopes of being grammie to those cute hybrid babies.”
Groaning, I roll into her chest, and she holds me, stroking my hair. “I just feel stupid.”
“You’re not stupid. No one should ever suspect their partner is cheating on them. That’s on them, sweetheart. It’s never on you.”
“I’ve barely spent time with him this year.”
She clicks her tongue. “Respectfully, Peyton, if he cheated because you were spending time with me, then fuck him. Like fuck him in the highest form of wishing someone the worst. He’s not worthy of you.”
I giggle, then swallow and tilt my head to look at her. “They said it’s with Brit.”
My mom can’t withhold her flinch, and her attention strays to something over my head. She sighs, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
“I don’t know who I am more hurt from, but I think it’s Brit. I do
“I think you should, if for no other reason than to go through her phone,” my mom suggests.
I sit up, and my mom follows me up so we lean against her headboard. “Go through her phone?”
She nods. “You guys will be spending a week together, wait till she falls asleep and go through it. Get the confirmation you need.”
“I can’t believe my mom is telling me to break into someone’s phone.”
“Hey, I’ve spent some time on this earth, and I thought it was going to be cut short. And I’ve learned one thing,” she says with a laugh.
“What?”
“Do the petty thing. There’s times I look back and wish I had spoken my mind because withholding my opinions or thoughts resolved nothing in the end, but it could have made me feel better.”
I scrunch my nose at her. “So go through her phone and confront her with the truth?”
My mom shrugs. “Or just get what you need and do whatever you want with the information.”
Chapter Two
Peyton
“You know, if you boys weren’t so caught up about going to Vail, you could come with us,” Brit teases Jacob as I toss my bag into her trunk. I grit my teeth to hold in my anger at them both.
My boyfriend laughs. His hand slides around my waist as he pulls me into his chest. If I wasn’t looking for it, I would have missed the flash of jealousy and anger in her eyes. “What do you say, babe? Want us to switch to Big Bear with you guys?”
I try to smile, but fail. So I roll my shoulders, lightly brushing out of his hold. “I mean everyone already paid for Vail. It would look bad on you to switch. Plus…” I trail off, glancing at my best friend watching me curiously. “Some space would be good for us.”
Usually I spend winter break with my parents, but when I found out Jacob is going to Colorado to ski with his football buddies and Brit is visiting her father in Big Bear, I took the opportunity to spend some alone time with my best friend. Originally, it was going to be the last trip of college to have fun just us girls.
Now I’m turning it into a recon mission. If I could get into either of their phones, it would be hers. I know everything about her and her life, other than she might be fucking my boyfriend. I just feel more confident in hacking her passwords before his. Jacob and I have never been a couple that looks at each other’s phone, and the nights we sleep over at each other’s place, his is never just lying about for anyone to grab.
Brit frowns, her gaze connecting with his over my shoulder. I step away from him and scrunch my nose at my best friend. “Ready to go? You know I like to be at the airport early.”
“Sure, yeah. Let’s go,” she says, the uncertainty rising in her tone.
Jacob grabs my elbow and I sigh, facing him with an annoyed expression. His gaze roams over me as his eyebrows pinch in confusion.
“We okay?”
I shrug. “Are we?”
His eyes narrow. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, why are you asking that? Is there something making us not okay?” I tilt my head, letting the question linger as I watch him.
He blows out a long breath, shaking his head gently. Stepping forward, he kisses my forehead. “I feel like we’re always fighting lately.”
“No, I just stopped giving you my full attention, and you pout about it,” I scoff, pulling away from him.
Jacob runs a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, okay? I know there were times I was…when you were spending time with your mom. But it’s hard to go from being with your girlfriend every day to barely seeing her for weeks.”
“It’s hard to have a mom with cancer,” I bite back.
He groans, dropping his head back. My lips twitch with the urge to smirk. I know I shouldn’t pull that card as often as I do with him, but he’s been getting on my last nerve.
“That’s not fair, Pey. We’ve both just missed you,” Brit says, trying to defuse the situation. My gaze cuts to her, as I try to bury the fury that’s threatening to surface. Whatever she sees causes her to flinch, and she walks toward the driver’s seat.
“Well, text me when you guys are taking off and when you land.”
My heart thaws a little at the request, and I hate myself for it. I’ve never questioned that Jacob cares about me, but it hurts to see him still act like the perfect boyfriend. “Same with you. Don’t break anything while skiing.”
He smiles, cupping my face, and some of the old flutters come back. His lips brush against mine lightly, and when I don’t pull away, Jacob takes it as a sign to deepen our kiss. My fingers twist his t-shirt and his hand slips to my ass, squeezing it before pinning me against the car. I gasp, letting out a small moan when his mouth trails down my neck and sucks on my collarbone. I push at his chest, hating how he knows the exact point to make me want him.
Jacob chuckles, pulling away from me and kissing my forehead one more time. “You should have spent the night last night, and we could have had a proper goodbye.”
We both jump when the car horn goes off, and Brit rolls down the passenger window. “I thought you wanted to leave? Not fuck against my car.”
“Just giving my girlfriend something to remember me by,” Jacob teases and opens the door for me.
Brit is staring out of the windshield, her jaw tight when I climb in. He rests his arm on the roof, leaning into the open side with a smile. “I’ll miss you,” he whispers, his eyes glancing at my lips again.
“Yeah, I’ll miss you too.”
With one last kiss, he shuts the door and taps the roof before heading to where he’s parked on the street.
Brit huffs out a breath. “God, I thought he would never leave. Basically pack himself into your suitcase.”
“I’m sure he would if he could.”
“You’re so lucky to have someone love you like that.” She sighs.
My fists curl in my lap and I stare out the window. When I don’t reply, she turns on the radio, leaving us to listen to the music on our way to the airport.
By the time we check in for our flight and grab a coffee, some of my anger has diminished and I feel more at ease with chatting. It’s odd to go from talking to her about everything to struggling to come up with conversation so she doesn’t feel the tension between us.
“Is everything okay between you and Jacob?” she asks as we sit by the boarding gate.
I shrug. “I guess. I don’t really know what okay feels like anymore.”
Brit rests her head on my shoulder, and I try not to tense at the touch. “I know it’s selfish of me, but I’m really glad you came with me. I was just about to cancel before you texted.”
“Cancel with your dad?” I ask.
She nods. “Yeah, It’s just… weird. I don’t know. It’s always awkward. We have nothing to talk about. Usually I try to spend as much time out of his house as possible while I’m there.”
It doesn’t surprise me, most of our friendship consists of her coming to my house. I’ve met Elise a handful of times, but never her father. Brit goes out of her way to avoid anything to do with him, and the one time I asked her about it, she told me he’s just a deadbeat dad.
“Well, I’ve never been to Big Bear so you’ll have to show me around,” I say with as much enthusiasm as I can muster.
“I’ll wait for our bags,” I tell her as she nods, heading to the bathroom. I walk to the baggage claim, rubbing at my arms when I realize how chilly it is.
“Cold?”
My head tilts to face the man that spoke, and my breath stalls. I’m not sure how far we are from LA, but he has to be a model or actor because holy shit. My self esteem has never really struggled, but the man before me makes me feel unworthy of his attention.
“You cold?” he asks again, nodding to where I’m still absentmindedly rubbing my arms. He doesn’t wait for a reply, just shrugs off his jacket and offers it. I shouldn’t take it, but I shamefully want to know what this god among men smells like.
