Page 20 of His Obsession
He released me and brushed the hair from my face, tucking it behind my ear. “And he’ll use you to get to me. Don’t believe me? Keep doing what you’re doing.” He gripped my throat gently. “He’s done it before.” He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to mine. “Please, just give me this. Just answer your phone when I call, that’s all I’m asking.” Worry coated his words, causing me to pause and consider what he was saying.
My Xena Warrior Princess side was ready to wage war, fighting tooth and nail… blind, with no weapon. While my meek side wanted me to wrap my arms around him and let him do what he wanted. That side disgusted me.Shit.
“Fine!” I conceded, “I’ll answer my phone, but I’m not putting my life on pause or changing my life for this shit.” Why did I agree to this? I should’ve just kicked him out and called the police. Or better yet, I could keep him here and call the police, tell them he was a lunatic who broke into my home and disarmed me with his words.
He let out a breath and pressed his lips to my forehead. “Thank you.”
I pulled away from him to catch my breath and stop his hands from roaming my body. “And stop doing that!” I said, straightening my clothes. I can’t think when he’s so close. Just look, in three seconds or so, I agreed to be at the beck and call of a man I didn’t even know. All because he had his fucking hands on me. I’m pathetic. I shook the thoughts from my head and bent down, picking up the rest of the things he threw.
“No promises,” I heard him mumble under his breath.
“Well, you—”
The area he once held was vacant. “Asshole!”
I could still smell his cologne lingering in the air, making me take a deep breath to savor as much as possible. What is wrong with me? Step number three taken to the psych ward.
“What is taking so long, Lucy? The movie starts in thirty minutes,” I yelled at her up the stairs. She had locked herself in the bathroom for the last hour, doing God knows what. “It’s just the movies, you don’t need to look pretty. No one can even see you.”
Walking to the fridge, I pulled out a Coke and popped the top. Bubbles assaulted my throat, causing a hiccup to erupt from my chest.
Ow.
The front door clanged shut, and I watched Dale and his brother Jason strut through the living room. I was not told he was coming.
“What’s up, hot stuff?” Jason beamed at me.
“Hi Jason,” I said, putting down my can. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
“Last-minute changes. We are driving to work together tonight, so I figured I’d tag along,” Jason said.
“Yeah, well, the way it’s going, we won’t be seeing a movie!” I made the last words louder so Lucy could hear me. Dale took the hint and ran up the stairs, pounding on the bathroom door, leaving me alone with Jason.
I knew what Lucy was doing. She had been trying to get me to hook up with Jason ever since she met him. As much as Dale and Jason were alike, she wasn’t attracted to him like she was with Dale, and I had no desire to date either man. Sure, they were good-looking and had outstanding personalities aside from the cheesy pickup lines, but they weren’t my type. I didn’t even know what mytypewas, but they weren’t it.
“So, what movie are we going to see?” he asked, leaning his elbows on the counter. I finished my drink, crushing it and throwing it in the recycling bin. Our landlord promised to fine us if we didn’t recycle. I didn’t think she could do that, but we did it anyway. Saving the planet one can at a time.
“I was toldLights in the Lake,” I said, shuddering. I wasn’t a fan of horror, especially after my nightmare in the club, but Dale wouldn’t watch anything else. Once in the middle of the night, I woke up drenched in sweat and about to have a heart attack because all I could hear was screaming and chainsaws. Dale and Lucy were watching some horror movie about a man cutting people up, and the sounds had transferred into my dreams. I slapped them both upside the head and made them turn it down.
“Sounds frightful.” He laughed. “If you get scared, you can grab on to me. I’ll keep you safe,” he said, walking around the counter and pulling me into a hug.Safe,there was that word again. How many men were going to offer to be my knight in shining armor for me? Jason smelled good. His cologne covering his red t-shirt made me want to bury my nose in his chest. I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him back. It’s nice to just hug someone sometimes. “Careful, you might like this,” he said, ruining the moment.
“Oh, yeah, you’re right.” I released him like a hot potato and screamed for Lucy again.
Jason chuckled, the urge to hug him no longer there. Lucy and Dale came hopping down the stairs. She didn’t look fancy enough for her to take her an hour in the bathroom. Jeans and a Led Zeppelin crop top. What the hell was she doing up there?
“You get one in before we leave? I don’t want you to get the urge to do it through the popcorn container,” Jason teased, giving Lucy a tickle.
She slapped him off. “Shut up, Jason.”
We all squeezed out the door one at a time and piled into Dale’s cherry-red F-150. Jason slapped Dale on the shoulder. “Hey, turn this up, I love this song,” he said, biting his lip and playing the air guitar. His facial expressions reminded me of those guitar players who contort their features as they jam to the music. Dale hit the power button and turned the music off. “Dick move, man. I’ll remember that.”
I laughed at Jason.
“So, I see you had a busy night last night. You know, with the fight and all,” I said, trying to start a conversation. I didn’t have time to talk to Lucy about her crazy texting story, and it appeared to be a wild one I wanted to hear.
“Oh, Liz, the fight was awesome. Of course, two dudes were fighting,” Dale said as if that were the only fights that occurred. I’d seen two chicks tear the shit out of each other over a drink. Brutal. “This one guy came in with a girl, probably a couple the way they acted. Anyway, she started bouncing her ass off this other guy’s dick on the dance floor, and instead of getting pissed at his girl, he slugged the dude in the face. That man barely moved because he was a beast, picked up this little shit, and body-slammed him on the dance floor. I swear his lungs came out of his mouth. There was so much blood by the time it was over, it was a goddamn slip and slide.”
My face scrunched up in disgust. “Men are so stupid sometimes.” I sat back in my seat and watched the town go by. Dale and Jason were joking about how the man’s nose looked when they were calling an ambulance.