Page 42 of Obsession

I frowned at him.

“That’s hard to believe, especially coming from you.”

He smiled briefly, then slipped the helmet on my head and over my face before I had time to protest again.

“Precisely. I’m a monster, so allow me to take you home before I…”

He paused deliberately and gave me another of his special smiles. As he tucked a few straps under my chin, I couldn’t help but wonder how he would have finished that sentence, and I hated myself for it, already feeling crushed by the tightness of the helmet.

“I am claustrophobic,” I said the first thing that came to mind, the words sounding like an echo in my head because of the helmet.

When he was finally satisfied with my safety, he took my helmet-covered head between his large palms and pulled me towards him. I felt like a naïve child about to throw a tantrum.

“You’re a very bad liar,” a cheeky grin ghosted his face as he leaned down and bit my nose, since that was the only thing still peeking out of the thing, then he pulled down the visor.

I huffed out an angry breath and he laughed and let go of me.

He stopped next to one of the bikes, which I assumed was his because it was black. Its mileage was higher than my father’s car.

He took it off the jack while I felt my heart crawl into my throat with fear and then he was gesturing for me to climb on behind him.

I clenched my fists.

“Don’t make me pick you up again,” he threatened, and I knew he would.

I let out an exasperated sigh, stepped closer and looked at the monstrous machine as I copied his move and tried to climb on. My version was less successful, and I would have fallen, but he caught my hand and helped me to settle behind him.

He adjusted his position and started the engine. It vibrated beneath me like an animal waking up, and my bones seemed to shake in unison with the bike. We hadn’t even started moving yet and I was already scared.

“Wait, you’re not wearing a helmet?”

He ignored me and kept pressing buttons.

“Is it safe to go out now?” I asked, even though we couldn’t hear anything from outside anymore.

Harris turned his head towards me.

“I wouldn’t go out if it wasn’t safe. No one’s going to attack us, okay?” I finally nodded. I was actually used to bad neighborhoods.

“Hold on to me.”

I gritted my teeth because I knew I would fly off the bike if I did not, so I put my arms behind his back and pressed my palms against him.

Exasperated, he yanked my hands from his shoulders, pulled them around his torso and hugged them to him.

“Hold on tight, Katherine! I’m not kidding,” he demanded again, and I could see the slightly diabolical smirk at the corners of his mouth.

I had not recovered from our earlier entanglement in the hallway, and already I found myself in another compromising position with him. He lifted my knees and placed my legs over his thighs, and I could have sworn he was far too satisfied. I squeezed my eyes shut and buried my face in his back, the helmet not being much help. I didn’t want to think about the sensations that were spreading throughout my body from holding him so close, practically gluing him to my body. Somehow, he’d managed to get back between my legs.

I wanted to survive. I was doing it for my life, not because it gave me any kind of pleasure.

He revved the engine a few times while my eardrums vibrated, and my heart pounded with fear. The sound was strong, even pleasant, but oh so frightening. Then I finally felt the cold air on my skin, and we started moving.

I didn’t think much of it until we drove out of the garage. Eyes wide open, I watched the empty road ahead as the speed increased and the air stung my skin. His curls swirled wildly in the wind, his body was stiff, and I could feel his muscles tense to stone under my grip. I couldn’t deny how pleasant it was to feel him like this, so close to me.

Wasn’t it just yesterday that I had scoured the internet for pictures and created a whole diary page for him? It all felt sosurreal to me. He was a jerk and an asshole, but God have mercy on me, he was incredibly attractive.

That singular thought made me subconsciously compare him to Adam, who was one of the most attractive non-asshole guys I’d ever met. Yet I had never felt even half the feelings Harris could evoke in just a few hours.

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