Page 31 of Obsession

My panic is subsiding as he begins to talk to me, his voice quiet, “I had a daughter once. She would be around your age if she had lived. She’d probably be just as fiery as you, too.”

It takes a few seconds for his words to register and for me to respond. “I’m sorry. What happened to her?”

“She died a few years ago.” His hand pauses, and then he says, “She used to have panic attacks like the one you just did—bad ones. I’d get her ice cream when she had one, and then I would tuck her into the couch and put on her favorite movie, and she’d watch it until she fell asleep. She loved Jaws.”

Lars puts down the towel, and I follow his movement, feeling hollow but better now.

“Why are you telling me this?”

He studies me. “I don’t know. You just reminded me of her for a minute.”

My heart tightens in my chest at this surprising glimpse of the gruff bodyguard, but it’s only for a moment. His posture stiffens, and once again, his usual unpleasant demeanor returns.

“Why are you letting someone beat up on you?”

“I’m not beat up.”

“Come, I’ll fix you up in Mr. Middleton’s office. He’s waiting.”

“It’s just a scratch,” I protest as he pulls out a small first aid kit.

“Actually, it’s a bruise with some deep lacerations that you’re going to have to keep clean, or they’ll get infected. And you need to ice that ankle too. So it’s either me or the emergency room. Your choice.”

I huff in exasperation. Lars knows, by the way he just found me ten minutes ago, that I’m not stepping foot into a hospital. So I guess I have no real choice if I want to keep my job.

“Fine, let’s go.”

“After you.”

When I enter Mr. Middleton’s office, I notice that he looks a bit agitated. Maybe I’m just projecting my own unease.

“Are you okay, Miss Taylor?” He asks with a tight face.

He swiftly approaches and brushes the calloused pad of his thumb underneath my fresh bruise. My body shudders in surprise, and I stumble over my response.

“Yes, sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

“It’s fine,” he says abruptly. He backs away from me and takes a seat at his desk. I notice how he flexes the same hand he used to touch me as if touching me was painful. Oddly enough, I find myself yearning for him to touch me again.

“I see Lars found you,” he says with little effect. “Do you have a problem with him patching you up? He has experience at that sort of thing.”

It throws me off when I realize that he’s being considerate, and I shake my head mutely. Two nice gestures from two very dangerous men in one day? That’s a little hard for me to process.

Mr. Middleton watches intently from his desk as Lars cleans my bruise and applies a liquid bandage to seal the cuts. When he checks my ankle by slowly rotating it, I wince.

“Ouch.”

I had known that my words would come and bite me in the ass, but I hadn’t expected that Ashley would corner me in the bathroom after classes. It wasn’t like I’d never been bullied in school when I was young, but I was under the impression that all of that nonsense stopped when you went to college. I mean, aren’t we all grown?

So, when Ashley grabbed me by my hair and dunked my face into the toilet bowl, I was so shocked by it that I didn’t immediately fight back. When I finally started to struggle against her, she smashed the side of my face into the marble edge of the toilet bowl.

“Stop chasing Ricky. He doesn’t want you!”

Her words didn’t make any sense to me. She sounded angry and threatened as if I held some power over Ricky. I don’t. All I am is some girl he taped, sucking his dick and nothing more. Doesn’t she see that?

At the time, though, I didn’t know how far she planned on taking her assault on me, and I definitely didn’t have any plans to sit around and find out. I kicked one of the girls holding me in the crotch and ran outside, twisting my ankle in the process. Fortunately for me, classes had just ended, and I managed to hide myself in the crowd of students who were leaving.

My plan had been to go home, take a shower, and then figure out what to do about my face. I never expected to run into my terrifying boss right at the entrance of the college although Idon’t really know why I’m surprised. Mr. Middleton does what he wants.

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