Page 126 of Obsession

I finally broke away from him because this conversation wasn’t going to get us anywhere. Either I would get angry and yell at him, or I would give in again and end up under him. I wasn’t sure which of the two options seemed worse.

I turned off the light because it was getting exhausting to see him so clearly, with all his overwhelming majesty in my humble bedroom. I switched on the lamp on my bedside table, which cast a dim, blood-red light into the room.

“It’s time for you to go,” I said simply.

He had not moved from the spot and jerked his head in the direction of the doll.

“What will you do if it cries again?”

I squinted my eyes as if to tell him that he couldn’t fool me. The doll hadn’t cried since he’d stopped it, and I had the impression that it was going to shut up for the rest of the night, just like the teacher had said.

“Go, Harris,” I repeated, with more authority.

He smiled, but I could not read his face, and that frustrated me.

“After you answer a question.”

I nodded and let my head fall back.

“Shoot.”

“What would you have told your father about me?”

His question caught me off guard and I glared at him.

“I would have supported what you said.”

He continued to smile as he stepped closer.

“Now I realize I didn’t come up with anything interesting. You told them I was here for at least an hour; he knows that for a fact. What did you tell him we did during that hour?”

I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

“He didn’t ask.”

His smile widened.

“Good to know.”

“What’s good to know?”

“That he doesn’t really care that I want to climb you up every wall in this house.”

His sentence no longer had the impact he was going for, and I clenched my jaw.

“Like you’re climbing Amber up the wall in her house? Or that redhead?”

The frustration on his face was obvious.

“Why do you always have to ruin these moments?” he asked, exasperated.

His eyes looked so dark in the red light, but still unmistakably beautiful.

“You said you liked that about me, remember?” I replied.

He giggled.

“I like everything about you!”

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