Page 90 of His Obsession

I pulled her hands off my chest, begrudgingly. “You are trying to get me to stay, and we need to go.” I placed a light peck on her cheek, and aboom, boom, boom,came from the door.

Ugh, “I’m coming, Randall, fucking hell,” I yelled, pulling open the door. Tonk stood in the hallway in a deep blue suit and tie with his arms across his chest.

His face was dark and solemn. His eyes flicked to Liz, then back to me. “Charity is here,” he whispered. I shook my head.

Fucking wonderful.

If Charity was here, it was because she needed help or was about to cause trouble. I dated that girl once, but she had some crazier demons than I did. I still kept in contact with her dad, who just so happened to be a detective, but I hadn’t spoken to her in a long while. She was Tonk’s little protege, by choice or force, depends on how you looked at her situation.

“Why?”

“Why else? She wants my help.” He placed a hand on his hip and ran his other through his hair.

“Yeah, well, get rid of her. I don’t want her around.”

Liz came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist.

“I’m going to get something to eat, I’m starving.” She kissed my cheek and moved around Tonk and I, and walked down the hall.

“Where is she?” I asked, praying to God he didn’t say the kitchen.

“In the kitchen.”

Fuck. I pushed Tonk out of the way and rushed up behind Liz, reaching her on the steps. “Maybe we could go to breakfast instead,” I said, grabbing her arm, turning her towards me.

“What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing, there is someone downstairs I’d rather you didn’t meet.” That wasn’t what I wanted to tell her, but the truth seemed to had been set free, and didn’t want to be caged again. This could get me into trouble.

“Who is downstairs, and why don’t you want me to meet them?” she asked, her brows narrowing.

A pounding from boots sounded on the tiled floor, and a woman’s voice rose to the rafters. “Hi, baby. Did you miss me?”

I flipped my gaze to the brunette woman below the stairs and glared.

Charity stood with her hands on her hips in holey obsidian-colored jeans, an olive-green tank top, and a leather jacket. Her innocent features and body cried sex to anyone with a dick and balls. Liz looked at me and made a face. I couldn’t tell if I disgusted her or Charity.

“Yeah, baby, did you miss her?” Liz said, mocking her. This was a test I would not fail. Before I could give an answer, Tonk was down the stairs standing in front of Charity, grabbing her by the arm and hauled her away back to the kitchen—I could hear her laughter all the way across the house. “What was that about?” Liz asked. Jealous maybe?

“No, I don’t miss her to answer your question.” I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “That woman’s name is Charity, and she isn’t here for me. She needs Tonk for her work.” I really didn’t want to tell her that, six years ago, she and I were together. “I dated her six years ago.”What the fuck is wrong with me?

The tension left her shoulders, and she shrugged. “Okay,” she said.

Confused, I asked,“Okay?”

“We all have people from our past.”

She walked down and into the kitchen while I stood in place, dumbfounded. I ran my hand down my face and prepared myself for the chaos I was expecting in the kitchen. I made it to the last step of the stairs when I heard female laughter coming from the kitchen.

Was that a good sign?

Charity and Liz sat on the barstools, and Liz was laughing. “So I wanted to say to him in Russian was,” Charity continued. “I want to fuck you.” She laughed uncontrollably. “But what I actually said was he was a chauvinistic pig.” Laughter erupted from the ladies. I shook my head and grabbed the orange juice from the fridge. “I can’t speak Russian,” she laughed.

“What happened after that?” Liz asked while chuckling.

“Oh, he tried to beat the shit out of me and then—”

“Okay, enough storytelling for the day, Charity Gibbons,” Tonk interrupted.