Page 251 of Obsession

“Joshua threatened to do it. That night, he swore that he would wait for the day someone would come into my life. I didn’tpay any attention to him then, he was just an angry kid, and he never came near me after that. He didn’t tell the police either, even though he found me next to Marcus’ body. Now I realized that he just let me forget while he patiently waited. He was waiting for… you. He knew it from the first night when I lost my shit as soon as he mentioned you. It’s my fault. Everything is my fault.”

“I see no blood on your hands for this.”

He listened carefully to what I said.

“Why?” he whispered.

“Because… sometimes when you kill a monster, you save a lot of other lives. You killed a rapist. I’m glad you did. I don’t give a shit that he left behind a vengeful, psychopathic brother. We’ll take care of him, too.”

Harris looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time, the way he’d looked at me when he learned I’d protected him from Shane. He leaned his head against mine, as if he was high on my essence and my words.

“We’ll take care of it, baby. He’s going to regret not moving on with his life and coming after you.”

I couldn’t disagree, I didn’t have the strength.

He clenched his fist around the pendant again, then pulled it out and twirled it between his fingers.

“She never wore it. Only once, but around her wrist. She kept it in a black velvet box. Sometimes she would stare at it for hours, as if she was afraid to hang it around her neck. She wouldn’t allow me to wear it either, but she never explained why. It was very important to her, and when I went to my old house, I found it under her pillow, on the bed where she died. I could never bring myself to sell the house. It holds so many bad memories, but also the most beautiful ones. That house is the only place where she still lives.”

I smiled and pressed my head further against his shoulder.

“I haven’t taken it off since I found it. I don’t know what it meant to her, but this necklace has helped me remember who I am and what my purpose is. I promised my mom that I would never go looking for the scumbag who ruined her life, but I know that sooner or later our paths will cross. The end will come. Neither of us deserves to walk this earth. He’s a devil, and I’m the demon he created. I don’t even want to think about him being out there somewhere, free, ruining other girls like he did my mom. He’ll die in my hands, even though I know I’ll die with him… that’s all I want.”

I immediately embraced him as I trembled.

“Harris, stop judging yourself because of your past. It’s not your fault. Your mom loved you and I’m sure she still does, no matter where she is now.”

He sighed bitterly.

“Maybe that’s true, but you know what really matters at the end of the day? That she’s not here with me.”

My eyes grew moist again, and I blinked a few times to stop it. He looked at me urgently, and I wished it was completely dark so he wouldn’t see me crying next to him.

Even though my face was already wet from the rain, he found the tears with his fingertips.

“Please, don’t cry.”

The plea in his voice clung to me like lead. I swallowed as his finger still tenderly stroked my cheek.

“Since my mom’s death, I have been a shadow walking the earth. My only goal was to destroy myself and others in the process. I felt nothing and loved no one. Until you.”

My own heart threatened to burst out of my chest when I heard that. I didn’t know if he had just said what I thought he did, or if I had just misunderstood.

He looked at me for what felt like an eternity until the darkness swallowed us whole.

He pulled me completely into his arms and electricity flared in my temples.

This place was very important to him, the only place where a demon could let his tears flow.

The fact that he revealed his feelings for me here was something I could not easily bear. He continued to stroke my cheek as his warm breath brushed against my lips.

“I have never hated myself as much as I have in the last few days when I realized the danger I put you in. I have fought myself, tortured myself to the limits of my being to resist you, to stay away from you and keep you safe, but I have never felt a greater power than the one you have over me. I have never felt happiness as profound as the one you bring me, greater pain than the one I felt on the days you avoided me, a more catastrophic attraction or a sweeter torment.”

I closed my eyes and he pressed his forehead against mine.

“I have fallen in love with you.”

Time stood still.

---