Page 17 of Whispers of Obsession

Did all that really just happen?

“Finally!” She grabs my hand, yanking me out of the chair, and starts dragging me out to the dance floor. My feet ache, since these heels were absolutely not made for running.

Andrew follows closely behind us, and once we’re in the middle of the crowd, she starts dancing with Andrew, who’s holding her hips as she sways to the music. I just stand therewatching them. I think I might still be in shock. My mind is having a hard time returning to reality after coming so close to the barrel of a gun.

Lizzy tugs my arm, trying to get me to dance, but I shake my head, standing here awkwardly.

“What’s the matter, Cora? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Slater teases, as he steps up behind me and pulls me against him. I look over my shoulder at him and hate how good he looks tonight.

“I’m fine.”

Slater isn’t buying it though. He spins me around so I have to face him.

“You shouldn’t be pouting on your birthday.” He lifts my chin with one hand and holds me to him with the other. I pull my head out of his grasp, but he seems unbothered.

He remembered my birthday? Why?

“Why did you ghost me? Why are you doing this now?” I ask, since I already feel out of control tonight, I might as well go all out. Ask the questions I’ve been dying to have the answers to.

His face darkens, and he refuses to meet my eyes now. He looks over my head, staring at something.

“Does it matter?” He sounds angry, still refusing to look down at me.

“Yes. It matters to me. I thought we were friends. Then over that summer you stopped talking to me, and when we got back to school, it was like you hated me. Your friends started bullying me, and you didn’t do a damn thing to stop them. Then you vanished. Now you’re… I don’t even know what you’re doing back. It makes no sense. Your best friend is dating mine, so you’re just using it to your advantage?” I step away from him, but he follows me, not letting me get away.

“Just enjoy your birthday. Have fun tonight. We can deal with the serious stuff some other time.” He’s dodging the questions. I shake my head.

“Is that a yes then? Well, I’m not going to let you back in, Slater. Not tonight, not ever,” I insist, and Slater just shrugs. Ass.

It’s clear I’m not going to get any answers tonight, so I decide to do what he says. I force myself to shake off the craziness of what happened at the baseball field and try to enjoy the dance. I try, but my mind constantly wanders back to the dugout. How close was I to being raped. Or bleeding out from a bullet wound?

Two hours later,Lizzy is begging me to go with her to the party at some rich kid’s lake house. Andrew has been all over her tonight, and I think I know exactly why she wants to go to the party. I’ve been dancing with Slater as well. It’s actually been a lot of fun, better than being on my own anyway, and I’ve almost managed to put the events from earlier tonight to the back of my mind.

I don’t want anything to ruin my birthday. Turning eighteen is a big deal. I want to make the most of it.

Not wanting to spoil my best friend’s fun, or go home yet, I agree to go to the party.

Apparently, she counted on me agreeing to go, because she packed a bag just for this occasion. She leaves me and Slater in the school hall while she and Andrew go grab the bag from her locker. A bag she left here before the end of classes yesterday. Sneaky bitch.

“You really do look beautiful tonight.” The compliment catches me by surprise, a definite change of attitude from earlierwhen he was avoiding my questions, and I look down at my dress.

There’s a smear of dirt on it from the Baseball field, and I use my hand to cover it. Hopefully Slater won’t notice. The dress doesn’t hold the same magic it did at the start of the night, but Slater’s compliment washes away some of my sadness.

“Thank you. You don’t look horrible, I guess,” I tease, looking up at him. He’s so tall, even with me in heels.

“Wow, that’s quite the compliment. I’m so flattered.”

“Don’t get used to it.”

After Lizzy and I get changed in the back seat of Slater’s SUV, Andrew and him get in the front seats and drive us to the lake house.

“Couldn’t you have packed jeans?” I complain, tugging the miniskirt she gave me down as far as I can. I would have been better off in my dress at this point. It’s really on the short side, and even though the shirt is comfortable, I can’t help feeling a bit exposed. Especially considering that the masked man that I refuse to think about stole my underwear, and I opted out of wearing a bra with my dress.

“I thought you might say that. And no, I couldn’t. Have fun tonight, Cora. You look hot as fuck. Let Slater get you off in the bathroom,” Lizzy wiggles her eyebrows at me, winking suggestively when I gape at her.

This is the problem with best friends. They know all your secrets. Of course Lizzy has never forgotten that I used to have a crush on my stepbrother, and is using his sudden reappearance to throw it back in my face.

“You shameless hussy,” I tease her, even as the thought makes me blush.

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