Page 131 of Obsession

Aris pulls back, offering me his hand. I stare at it like it’s a snake—mouth wide, yellow venom running down its fangs. I’ve never not wanted to touch Aris before, but something feels…

“Don’t be scared,” he murmurs. His hand stays suspended in the air, though he could grab me so easily, though he could force me.

He wants me to take it.

Choose it.

But what am I choosing?

I don’t want to do this—whatever this is. I want to run my fingers through his dark hair, smoothing the soft strands down. I want to press my thumbs by the corner of his eyes, musing on the lack of wrinkles and laugh lines. I want to run my fingers down his straight, strong nose, before cupping his pale cheek and pulling him close for a kiss.

His hand falls back to his side, and he lets out a huff. “Can you think of nothing else?”

“What?” I say, surprised.

“You are so plebeian. Utterly hindbrain. It is amusing in a way, but,” he says, hands clenched into fists, “you met my sister. Is there nothing else to think of but how I smell and how silky my hair is?”

I just stare at him.

He lets out a noise like a snarl and grips his hair hard, pulling until my heart tugs from worry that he’ll tear it out. “I don’t even care if returning you is part of some scheme she concocted!” hisses Aris. “I can’t have you like this anymore.”

I can’t have you. I can’t have you.

My breathing comes out shaky, tears appearing in my eyes. A horrible, unacceptable thought strikes me. “Do you not… want me anymore? Do you want someone else?”

Aris sighs, the sound all aggression. “And, of course, you misunderstand. It isn’t that I want another partner, but I want my Mary, and you aren’t her.”

Am I not Mary? I don’t understand.

“Come now,” he says, suddenly less angry and more exasperated, “let’s end this and put things back how they were.”

“What do you mean by that? ‘End this?’ What—?”

“You’ll see. Come.” He raises his hand again, eye twitching when I move back. “Mary.”

Another moment passes, and my confusion festers. I don’t know what I’ve done wrong. “You can tell me about your sister if you’d like,” I say carefully, my attention flicking to his broad shoulders.

He still wants me. Whatever this is, I’ll still have him by the end of it. Once it’s passed, we’ll be together again. I’ll have him above me, working me, and I can hold him close and tight, gripping the muscles in his forearm and—

“Mary,” he says sternly, a reprimand. His palm strains as he motions it toward me again.

Finally, hating the way he’s looking at me, knowing that I can trust him, I take it.

Our fingers intertwine, folding neatly, a chill rushing through me from the contact. Aris looks at our hands, jaw ticking, and then his eyes shut. I see him mouth something to himself, but I can’t make out the words.

And then…

And then,

My memories hit with a jolt, my consciousness, morals, and experiences returning.

I immediately let go of him, gasping as I run through the last few—what, weeks, months?—that I’ve been with him as a zombie. My eyes fill with tears that immediately fill over, flooding my cheeks with warm wetness.

“How could you?” I demand.

Strangely, he smiles. “It’s nice to see you again.”

I scoff, devastation replaced with anger—so he’s mocking me, is he?—and go to move past him, but he grabs my arm and holds me still, his fingers sinking into my skin until I know I will bruise.

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