Taboo Stories
Stories that explore forbidden desires and social boundaries.
Stories tagged “Taboo”
SAY THE WORD
She plans her meals two weeks ahead and sorts her socks by day of the week. Tonight she is going to do exactly one reckless thing, and it is going to take five weeks to find out what she started.
THE PARAGON
I went to time the walk to my first proper job and ended up flat on the marble of a Sandton lobby, looking up at the man who owns the building. By Thursday he had told me exactly what he wanted from me — no dinner, no flowers, no romance in it anywhere.
93 DAYS
Vusi Hadebe has ninety-three days before they fly him to the Gaborone gallows. He will only talk to one reporter — a woman two months into the job, who has never understood why her. By the time she does, it is far too late for either of them to be saved.
NO SIGNAL
The car dies on a Waterberg gravel road with no signal, no traffic and one weathered board pointing eight kilometres down a farm track. The farm is not what the board says it is.
SINDISWA
He told her once — one time only. She took five days, then she took the neighbour, and the worst part was what it did to him, watching.
UMOYA
The spa burned down the morning we were meant to leave, so I booked the first upmarket place with a vacancy and a discount. Nobody explained what “play is allowed everywhere except the dining room” actually meant until we had already unpacked.
GOOD GIRL
He runs a members-only club where people pay to be told exactly what they are worth. She is twenty-one, broke, and the last woman in Durban who should have knelt on his office carpet.
ZASHA HOUSE PART 1
Mandla booked the resort to fix a marriage that had gone quiet. Standing on his side of the wall, listening to his wife come apart for a stranger, he finds something better than a fix.
ZASHA HOUSE PART 2
Kagiso booked the Lodge to give his new wife a honeymoon she'd never forget. He just didn't expect to be watching when she found out what she really wanted.
ZASHA HOUSE PART 3
A black envelope every morning, a new experience every night — and Nomsa is about to discover exactly how far she'll go at Zasha House's coastal retreat.
SAFE LOVE
I was six the day I learned what men can take. Twenty-two years later, I let one give. He didn't tell me he was married until I was already in love.
THE TENANT
He paid six months' rent in cash and asked no questions about the lease. I should have asked one.
THE WRONG ONE
She chose the man who ticked all the boxes. Then found the one who ticks the one box she didn't have. Now what?!
THE WRONG ONE: HIS SIDE
He walked away from the woman who made him laugh during sex. He married the woman who made him feel correct. Now they're both staring at phones in the dark.