Page 224 of Obsession

“Where’s V?”

“She’s not feeling well.”

I looked at him, startled.

“Did something happen?”

“No, nothing you’re imagining, she just didn’t feel like coming to school. We can go see her after school if you want.”

I remembered that he had kept talking about her yesterday; every time he talked about Joshua, her name came up. We really needed to see her.

My friends stared at us intently, but Harris didn’t give me a chance to change my path. He carried my tray in one hand while the other rested on my lower back as he led us to his table.

“Hey,” I waved to the others because I hadn’t had the chance earlier.

They all smiled and greeted me, which is when I noticed Jay’s knuckles were red, like he had punched something repeatedly.

Something or someone. I swallowed the lump in my throat and wanted to sit down, but Harris pulled me closer to him and seated me on his leg. It wasn’t different from how I’ve sat yesterday, but now the circumstances were different, I could feel it. The atmosphere had chanced.

And V wasn’t sitting on Jay’s leg right next to me. Now I was alone, on Harris’ lap, at a table with four boys who looked like they’ve been taken out of a modern Assassin’s Creed version.

Harris opened his energy drink, and I finished the rest of my coffee. My legs rested between his, my back protected by his torso as he held an arm around me. Ken and Jay took the seats on our sides, and Ty in front of us. It didn’t take long for me to figure out it was a protection tactic.

Protection for me.

At the next table sat a few other friends of his whom I knew from the race track. It seemed I wasn’t that safe after all.

“You probably want to know what happened to Joshua,” Harris whispered in my ear after he pushed my hair to the side.

I looked at him wide-eyed, since I hadn’t expected him to bring up the subject, and nodded.

“He’s still in custody. Fucking Walker won’t let him out.”

He was alive.

That was the first thing that came to mind. Until that moment, I had subconsciously thought that Joshua… no longer existed.

I was shocked at the relief the news brought, despite everything that psycho had done to me.

“Why? Has he admitted anything?”

“No, but he knows what will happen to him if he releases him.”

The lump in my throat returned.

“Harris, you are not going to—”

“After what he did to you, I’m going to make him beg for a bullet.”

His grip on the can tightened, and I looked around inconspicuously, since this wasn’t a conversation you could have with other people around.

“He can’t keep him there forever. I’m patient,” he said with alarming calm, then took a sip of his energy drink, “please, eat something.”

I looked at the sandwich on my tray and my stomach turned.

“Pretty difficult after that information.”

I took a sip of his drink, which tasted awful after coffee, then bit into the sandwich, which was not at all what I’d hoped it would be.

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