Page 240 of Obsession

“How many?” I asked, looking down.

“Five.”

The pit in my stomach widened as he held my hand tighter.

“Not like I did with Olsen. I’m just holding them captive until I can deal with Joshua.”

I lifted my gaze to him.

“Harris, you can’t…” I froze, unable to say the words.

His eyes darkened.

“I have given him plenty of chances to stop. He doesn’t seem to want to. I’m not going to risk it again. I will not risk anything else when it comes to you.”

I stood up and ran my fingers through my hair.

“Did he admit anything to Shane? I am assuming he’s not just locking him up to protect him from you.”

“That’s exactly what he’s doing,” he muttered, standing up to move closer to me. “He hasn’t admitted to anything involving you except the things he did at school, but Walker kept throwing shitty accusations at him to keep him locked up. He can’t do that forever.”

I know that very well, and I wanted Shane to find a way to put him in jail.

I started laughing as I revisited the situation I was in.

“Has Amber ever had to deal with anything like this? Have other girls… before her?”

His frown answered my question.

“No. There were episodes, but never anything like this. That’s why it drives me crazy that you’re the one,” he stroked my cheek with his fingertips, “going through this.”

“Why?” I asked angrily.

“Because he found out that you’re… different. Ever since the first night I hit him just for daring to talk about you. Then it only took the little details that followed for him to realize that you were much more important and special to me.”

I blinked rapidly to stifle the tears. Harris leaned forward, pressed his forehead to mine and closed his eyes.

His silence was worth a thousand words.

I could feel the wound pulsing inside him, the pain he couldn’t overcome. The helplessness to protect me from what lay ahead.

Because I knew and felt that Joshua had only been the first, but not the last.

His love was as dangerous as poison in honey. All he represented was a perfectly sweet camouflage that hid the demons that lurked within.

“I want you to tell me what happened to Joshua and his brother. What does that have to do with the colored dust and the photos?”

He sighed and nodded.

“But not now! Take me out of here, take me somewhere, I just want to get out of this house,” I mumbled, lifting my gaze to him as he stroked my hair and kissed my forehead.

“We can go anywhere you want.”

That sounded so tempting.

“To the end of the world,” I smiled, and he did the same.

“That can be arranged.”

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