Page 98 of Obsession

Ricky’s face is as white as a sheet, and I can see a large bruise forming on his left cheek. He’s quaking when Hunter bends down, grabs his jaw, and says, “This is a good look on you. Remember who gave it to you.”

Then Hunter stands up and shoots a mocking look at Ricky. “One last thing. It doesn’t matter who touches her: you or one of your other little art friends. If word gets back to me, I’ll come for you. It would be smart to ensure that nobody tries to treat her the way you just did.”

When he turns and walks towards me, my heart is lodged in my throat as I stand there frozen in a mixture of shock and awe.

“Come, Megan.”

Chapter 35

Ulterior Motives

MEGAN

Hunter places his hand on the small of my back, guiding me toward the exit of the building. My body moves forward on autopilot, and it’s difficult to even utter a single word. It’s almost as if my brain is frozen.

He opens the car door for me, and when I sit down, he reaches over to buckle me in. The familiar scent of his cologne has my legs tightening, and when he pulls away, his face hovers above mine, meeting my gaze.

My eyes dart toward his lips and then back to his eyes, my heart racing. His proximity to me feels dangerous, especially when I’m in such a vulnerable state. That one moment between us makes it difficult for me to breathe, and there’s a knowing look in his eyes as he straightens up and closes the door on my side.

I meet Parker’s eyes in the rearview mirror, and he asks carefully, “Is everything okay, Megan?”

I press my lips together and shake my head. Fortunately, he doesn’t pursue the topic when Hunter takes a seat beside me, anger still rolling off of him.

He doesn’t say anything, yet I keep waiting for an explosion. Finally, he firmly orders Parker, “Put up the divider and keep driving until I tell you otherwise.”

I watch as a dark mirror suddenly springs up from behind the headrests of the front seats, and it locks into the roof. He’s never used this before. I didn’t even know he had one of these and now I can no longer see or hear Parker.

“What’s going on?” I ask warily.

He turns to face me.

“That was your ex-boyfriend back there?”

“What?” I ask, taken aback by his question. “No! He was–He’s–We never exactly dated.”

His hand darts out and grasps my jaw, his thumb tracing over my lower lip.

“Then what exactly was your relationship with him? Has he touched you? Have you touched him? Did you wrap your pretty little lips around his cock like he alluded?”

My lips tremble, mainly because of his last particular question.

“It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it like?” He asks, his tone deadly.

The memory of a small bathroom stall hits me like a ton of bricks, and I push Hunter away, suddenly feeling dirty and used.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

“It was a dare, all right?” I snap, humiliation flooding over me. “I was new, and he was nice to me. I was the scholarship girl without a single friend. His friends wanted to see how easy it would be for him to screw me, to screw the desperate scholarship kid from the hood. And I fell for it because he wasnice to me, and being at the receiving end of kindness is a fucking luxury to me.”

My hands are shaking, and I wrap them around my middle, remembering everything from that afternoon down to the cold bathroom floor that hurt my knees to the way he grabbed my head and tried to get off on my mouth. Then, there was the shock and betrayal of seeing myself on video.

Hunter doesn’t seem to be phased by my embarrassing revelation, so I continue talking, but I don’t look at him as I tell him this part.

“He tried fucking me for weeks, but I would always find a way to subtly refuse. Finally, he persuaded me to give him a blowjob and somehow made it feel like I was the one who initiated it.”

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