Page 76 of Grave Obsession

“What?”

“I bought you snacks.” Of course she did.

“Babe, I have to go in, it’s urgent.”

“I know, just give me your keys and I’ll put the bags in your truck,” she urges. Like I could ever deny her anything. She extends her hand, palm up, and I drop my keys into it.

“Just put them on my desk when you’re done. Carla will show you which one it is.”

“Okay. Hope you like homemade trail mix,” she says as she bounds off toward her car, giving me a little wave as I disappear inside.

The Captain has the squad gathered in the briefing room. His mouth is a stiff line as we lock eyes across the bull pen. He holds up his hand and I freeze in my path. He bends down, speaking with Sgt Jefferds who is leaned over a man furiously typing on a laptop. He returns his gaze to mine, points to his office, and I nod. Turning sharply, I move to his office, opening the door and finding a seat to await his arrival. The minutes crawl by as a pit of anxiety begins to form in my stomach. We don’t have a tech specialist here, so I’m assuming that whoever Jefferds was monitoring so closely is from the city. Mallory’s text tone sounds from my pocket and I pull out my phone to silence the ringer, reading the message on the screen before I slide it back into place.

Mallory:

We need to talk.

Yes, we do. But... When? That I don’t know at this point in time. Our relationship is in limbo until I figure out whatever the fuck is going on here and with the case. At least we’re making progress and she wants to tell Ghost about Nox.

Something big must have happened for them to bring in another guy from the city. Although I have no fucking clue what this new evidence could be, and what the hell is taking my uncle so long.

Mallory

At first I was just going to place the bags in the truck and head home, but honestly, I’d rather stay here and put together the munchies for Nox. I drop the tailgate on the truck and climb in, spreading my ingredients out around me. I dump equal amounts of mixed nuts, cereal, raisins, chocolate, granola, and dried cranberries into resealable plastic bags. Then I place them back in the shopping bag with the drinks and place it on the passenger seat of his pick-up. Locking up his vehicle and collecting all my garbage, I dump it in the large bin by the door before heading inside the police department.

“Good evening, Miss Knight, what can I do for you?” Carla greets me as I enter the station. Quickly I look for Nox but I don’t see him.

“Hi, I have Officer Graves’s truck keys and some stuff for him. He asked me to put them on his desk. Can you show me where it is?”

“Sure, I’m just going to need you to sign in real quick first,” she cheerfully says while handing me a clipboard. I fill in my name, phone number, reason for visit, time, and signature then hand it back to her. She leads me around the corner, gesturing to an empty desk with Nox’s jacket slung over the back of the seat. Giddiness bubbles up inside of me as I scan the area for him, hoping to catch another glimpse of him without the jacket. My vision catches him in another room, the door is closed and his back is to me. I unfortunately can’t make out anything but the back of his head and the side profile of his handsome face.

I place a water bottle on his desk next to his keys and a bag of tailgate trail mix. The uneasy feeling of being watched creeps up and I try to shake it off. Who doesn’t feel like their every move is under the microscope in a police station? Even if you’re not a criminal, you’re worried you somehow have drugs on you and a k-9 is going to rip you to pieces for it. I quickly glance over the area, looking for anything that would have set me on edge, but there's nothing.

I say goodbye to Carla as the door closes behind me and I slide back into my vehicle. Before I pull out of the lot, I send a stomach churning text to Ghost, hoping this time I’ll get a reply.

Chapter Fifty-Three

Mallory

It’s been hours since I’ve contacted Ghost and still no reply. Lying in bed, I’m struggling to fall asleep, tossing and turning with pent up emotions. I scroll back to the beginning of our text messages, reading through them makes my heart heavy. I miss him so much I could cry. His ability to simultaneously build up my confidence and heat my blood like no one else astounds me. I’ve never been so tangled up and confused in my life.

Ghost:

Such a filthy mouth, I wonder what

other kinds of filthy things you can do with it.

I continue to scroll, his words warming the ache in my chest. There has to be a reason he’s been away from me for so long. He couldn’t just lose interest in me overnight. Right? I mean, he stalked me for who knows how long before I realized he was there. His obsession can’t just be over.

Ghost:

Fuck, you’re perfect.

Nox said the exact same thing to me today. I hope I can get Ghost on board with this three way relationship I’m attempting. They both clearly feel the same way about me. They even both call me baby.

It seems almost too good to be true that Nox agreed so quickly, especially since he was so adamant about not sharing and not giving me his cock until I chose him and only him. Well, he’s singing a different tune now. I guess the time apart recently has made him see things in a new light.

Ghost: