Page 277 of Obsession

“Only good things, which is fucking weird coming from this one,” he pointed at the guy strangling my waist.

I started laughing and Harris rolled his eyes.

Mike resembled Harris physically, only with fewer tattoos. His hair was wet and cut very short, and his blue eyes sparkled in the laser beams. Harris had told me he’d graduated a year before us, but Harris had missed a year of school, which meant they were the same age.

“Fuck, you got another tattoo?” Mike suddenly jumped up and grabbed Harris by the chin to turn his head so he could see the tattoo better.

“Is that a …” he leaned forward as if he were seeing things, “K.”

He almost whispered, then immediately turned and looked at me. He’d made the connection pretty quickly, even in his drunken state.

“What did you do to him?” he asked, and even though it was weird, I couldn’t contain my laughter, and neither could Harris.

“She drove me crazy,” Harris explained.

“You were crazy before, but now you’re batshit crazy,” Mike’s eyes were still as wide as they could be, and in contrast to his drunkenness, he looked downright ridiculous.

Then he smiled, astonished and apparently happy.

“So youfound her, huh?”

Harris just nodded. It took me a while to figure out what he was talking about, but then I remembered that Harris had said he was only supposed to get that tattoo if he fell in love.Mike had known that, V and Jay hadn’t, which meant he was a much closer friend.

I felt embarrassed and happy at the same time as they both looked at me.

“This deserves a public announcement,” he grinned, turning his back to us and shouting as loud as he could, “Everyone listen up. We finally have the girl who managed to mark our demon. Ladies, gentlemen,sluts… Katherine,” Mike yelled like a real MC, grabbing my arm and lifting it up like I’d won a boxing match.

I tried to get out of his grip, but he wouldn’t let me go.

Everyone was looking at me and Harris didn’t seem to mind. I tried to hide behind his back, but he pushed me forward.

“It’s true,” he confirmed.

Oh, for fuck’s sake!

“I belong to her, but she’s mine too,” the end of his sentence sounded like a threat, then he pulled me into his arms and pressed his lips to mine.

“Translation: if you touch her, you’ll die a very painful death,” Mike concluded, pointing at us.

Another wave of cheers rang out as Mike jumped around us and pointed at the tattoo on Harris’ neck.

But no matter how awkward the whole situation was, he managed to distract me from it all with his kiss.

Harris waved his hand as if to dismiss them, and everyone complied and went back to their previous activity.

Mike led us to one of the tables outside, where dozens of plastic cups were stacked on top of each other, alcohol bottles and beer cans, sodas and energy drinks. He gave Harris a Monster Energy can, because he didn’t seem to want to drink here either.

“You want a drink, Katherine?” Mike asked, pointing at the huge selection of alcoholic drinks.

“No, I’ll have an energy drink too, thanks,” I smiled as Harris popped his open and handed it to me.

Mike gave him another, and when I took a sip, the liquid hit my throat like it was battery acid. It was strong, fizzy and sour, but in a way that burned. I wasn’t a fan of energy drinks, but there were no other interesting non-alcoholic alternatives.

After a few more sips, I started to get used to the taste, while Harris and Mike carried on a conversation I wasn’t paying attention to.

“Kath,” V came up to me out of nowhere and pulled on my arm, but I couldn’t move because Harris’ arm was still coiled around me.

“What are you doing here? Let’s dance,” she demanded.

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