Page 23 of Obsession

“Curiosity gave you this makeover too?” I couldn’t stop the words from coming out of my mouth because I did not like his smirk, especially when he scrutinized me from top to bottom as if I were a commodity on a shelf.

Maybe I was being too bitchy for my own good, but I felt too sick to try and be nice. I turned on my heel and tried to get away from him before the situation got out of hand.

“Wait a minute,” he growled, grabbing my wrist to turn me back.

“Joshua, he’s here,” another guy who had appeared out of nowhere whispered in his ear.

The one holding me glared angrily at the ground and I tried to get out of his grip, but he wouldn’t budge.

“I don’t care, I’m taking her with me,” the weirdo spoke again, eyeing me.

“Let go of me,” I struggled, but he didn’t seem to hear me, because his grip tightened.

Take who with you?

“Joshua don’t be stupid. You know he’s here for her; he’s exhausted after the transport; you know how angry that makes him. Don’t poke the bear now,” the other guy tried to persuade him.

Joshua looked at me angrily, like he knew me, and I had just slashed his tires. His eyes were a deep brown color, and his white complexion made his bruises stand out even more. He could have been beautiful if he wasn’t an asshole who tested my patience.

What the hell did he want from me?

“Katherine,” Kristen’s cry caught his attention, so I took a step back and kneed him straight in the family jewels.

He let go of my wrists, his hand quickly covering the injured area as he stumbled backwards, gasping in pain. I tried to walk away, but he recovered from the blow faster than I thought he would.

Something dark came at him from behind.

“You…” he barked, his face red as he straightened his spine and stepped closer, bloody murder on his features.

His eyes darkened, and fear crawled up my spine as I sensed that he was actually going to hit me, but before he had a chance to touch me, he was lifted up and pulled back – literally lifted up, like a rag. I froze on the spot when I saw him so close to me.

Harris pulled Joshua towards him, grabbing him by the collar of his t-shirt, and Joshua had to stand on his tiptoes to reach his height.

“I. Told. You. Not. To. Touch. Her.”

He growled, emphasizing each word clearly, his tone bearing the purest form of anger I’d ever felt. I finally heard his voice – thick, rough, terrifying. I couldn’t put my finger on it, though, because his words were more barking than speaking. Nevertheless, he immediately set my body ablaze.

I could feel my group standing next to me while his friends surrounded us. The whole school was probably watching us, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away from him to look. Joshua seemed to be wetting his pants. Only now did I realize how tall Harris really was, because he had to bend down to look Joshua in the eye.

“Not here, Harris,” Spikey, the blond guy from yesterday, stepped up next to them and spoke calmly to a rage-filled Harris – boiling rage that was.

I noticed a rapidly pulsing vein on his neck, becoming more and more prominent through his white skin. He slowly turned and looked at me, and I felt myself breaking down.

I felt the quote I had pasted on the black page. It was so easy to fall, far too agonizingly easy….

His eyes had filled my every thought for the last twenty-four hours. I knew they would turn my world upside down.

They were black.

His gaze was nothing more than an abyss, and I could barely distinguish the pupil from the iris. Now I could finally understand why he was nicknamed Demon. It suited him better than anything else. I hoped he wore contact lenses, because a man like that couldn’t be one hundred percent real. Like his hair, which I could finally see up close, and I was sure he’d dyed it.

He tried to control his angry face as he looked me straight in the eye.

My knees got weak.

It was impossible not to notice the dark circles around his bloodshot eyes. Despite all this, his beauty was still unreal, almost harsh. I could have studied his face for hours and photographed every angle, especially the pronounced jawline.

His gaze intensified as the air around us crackled and the electricity returned. I was paralyzed. I didn’t know what my face looked like, but I was unable to move a muscle. I could barely remember how to breathe.