Page 24 of Obsession

The anger on his face slowly faded and gave way to seriousness. In a flash, he turned to Joshua, wrapped his large palm around the back of his neck and pulled him down the hallway towards the exit. Joshua stumbled behind him, hunched over from Harris’s grip, trying to keep up. I stood there, my breath catching in my throat as I watched him pull Joshua outside while a couple of guys walked with him.

“All right! Show’s over, back to class guys,” Harris’ blond friend shouted, just before everyone got the idea to follow them outside to watch the fight that was about to happen.

The other stars followed him, but I was still stuck in time. I couldn’t understand why he was doing this. Why was he so angry about a stranger being attacked by a random guy? And his words “…not to touch her” … that meant that maybe he and Joshua had been talking about me.

Maybe Harris was the one who gave him the bruises.

No!

None of this made any sense. He didn’t know me, and I’d insulted him twice the day before, so where was this protective obsession towards me coming from?

But it wasn’t protection.

It was a game I had entered into without wanting to, and I didn’t know the rules.

CHAPTER 4

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FEROCIOUS SAVIOR

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I entered the French lesson, still confused by everything, while my mind had turned into a tornado of theories and ideas that all had the same starting point – these simple words that now seemed very dangerous to me: I told you not to touch her!

This sentence haunted me.

What had I overlooked?

I didn’t go outside to see them, but I could gather from the gossip that was spreading like a virus that Harris had beaten Joshua to a pulp. I didn’t see either of them for the rest of the free period, but it seemed that Joshua had to go to the emergency room and Harris was called to the principal’s office.

A battle raged inside me. On one side, I was grateful to Stone for saving me from a stranger and sorry he’d gotten into trouble because of me, while the other side remained proud and believed he deserved it.

Surely it was his fault that we were in this situation. After all, Harris was a stranger too – a stunningly handsome one, as if Lucifer had personally carved him to wear all his demonic greatness.

I sighed and slammed my book down on the desk.

Too many contradictions for one day.

“Miss Wrise, could you please stand up for a moment?” The teacher spoke, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I had already given her the form, what more could she want now?

Of course, I stood up and all eyes were on me. I was alone now as none of my friends had the same class. I couldn’t tell if that was good or bad, as they all seemed a little shaken up by the incident earlier.

“Could you please introduce yourself to your colleagues?” she asked with a smile, signaling me to stand in front of the class. “We’d all like to get to know you better.”

I sighed.

No, you don’t want to do that.

I walked through the rows as I covered the few steps up to her. At least I had found a seat at the back of the class.

The teacher smiled at me before I turned towards the classroom. She looked like she had just finished college, had red hair cut into a short bob, and glasses – brand name glasses – that seemed more of an accessory than a necessity considering her extravagant outfit.

“Well, I’m Katherine Wrise, as you all probably already know,” I added quietly, because everyone was looking at me after the demon had come to my rescue, “I moved here from New York and the rest doesn’t really matter,” I said hastily, feeling a little dismissive as my nervousness didn’t seem to go away and my classmates looked at me like I was some kind of brave freak.

“Okay, um, can you tell me how your French is?” she continued, trying to get me to talk.

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