Page 11 of Blades of Obsession

The voice is unmistakable.

I close my eyes, breathing out for a second.

When I open them, there, sitting on a couch is the man whose presence now casts a haunting shadow over my life on campus. Who has a couch in their bedroom, anyway?

“Sit on the bed,” Blade tells me, nodding towards the bed, and there’s no mistaking the order in his tone. He talks like he expects the person on the receiving end to just…comply.

For a moment, I’m frozen in place, my mouth slightly parted as I process this situation. A million thoughts are whirling through my mind, each trying to overpower the next.

When I don’t move a muscle, he exhales and starts counting down. “Five… Four…”

For some reason, the soothing sound of counting brings me back to my senses, makes all the racing thoughts stop, and makes me sit on the bed. Am I in some kind of trance?

“Fuck, you’re perfect.”

“What do you want?” I ask, breath shaky.

“I think it’s well been established that I wantyou, Amelia.” He states it like it’s so simple. Like it’s a matter-of-fact thing he doesn’t even have to think twice about.

“I barely know you.”

“You can get to know me,” he retorts.

I draw in a deep, ragged gasp of air. Just being in here with him, alone, is starting to mess with my brain.

“I-I have to go,” I blurt out, pushing myself up from the edge of the bed.

“Aren’t you worried about your friend? You won’t find her until I say you can.”

His words freeze me in place. “Look, I only even came to this stupid party for her. I need to check on her to see if she’s okay. Your crazy friends—oh my god.” Panic surges through me, clawing at my insides as my mind flashes back to the gun. Oh my God, my friend is alone with a guy who could hurt her, or worse,shoot her.And I’m alone with a guy who could do the same.What did we get ourselves into tonight?

“Calm down, she’s okay, and you’re okay. Just breathe.” The bass in his voice goes straight through me again, giving me full-body chills. I nod and bite my lower lip, steeling myself.

Like I’m under a freaking spell, my breathing settles and my shoulders relax. Why the hell are his words having such an effect on me?

“Your friend is down there enjoying herself right now. You deserve to enjoy yourself, too. Without thinking about everyone else first for a change. You seem to do that a lot.”

“You’re tracking my life now?”

“I know what’s going on with you at all times.”

“So, you’restalkingme?”

“Just keeping a close observation of my future wife.”

Future wife? Is this guy nuts?

“Do I have a say in all this? Being… yours?” I would come right out and reject him, but I’m trapped in the room with the crazy man, and those crime documentaries taught me that wouldn’t be so smart.

He gets up and starts walking towards me at a slow, steady pace, never breaking eye contact. Like he’s a predator that just found a lonely gazelle sitting unguarded. “We can pretend you do if that’s what you want,” he says, sitting on the bed a couple of feet from me.

Great. Justgreat.

I have a stalker, who apparently won’t take no for an answer. And to make it worse, he’s my bully’s ex. I swear to God, if she starts trying to pick on me more for this, I’m learning Kung Fu and knocking them both out.

He reaches into his pocket, and for a second, I’m scared he’s pulling out a weapon. Until I see it’s a silver necklace. It has a small opening in the front that allows the chain to weave through and hang down.

“I want you to wear this.”

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