Page 10 of Obsessive Love

A soft knock at the door interrupts my thoughts and instantly reminds me I'm in the back room of a club, completely naked with only a thin sheet to cover me. My wide eyes dart over to the door and I quickly scramble off the bed, taking the sheets with me.

When the door doesn't open, I sigh in relief and hurry over to my crumpled dress, picking it up and quickly shoving it over my body.

"Sophia! Open the door. We need to get out of here!"

Hearing Jaylen's voice diminishes all of the panic I was previously feeling and I yank the door open. He stares at me with a disapproving look and shakes his head.

"I would love to stand here and tell you how much of an idiot you are right now, but we really need to leave. It's almost midday and we need to get you to Dominic's so that you can clean yourself up before we go to your father's," he scolds, latching onto my hand and dragging me down the hallway.

"Jay, slow down. Why do I have to go to my father's house? What's going on?" I ask, dread settling in my stomach at the thought that he or my brother, Dominic, might've found out what I'd done last night.

He slows his pace, dragging me through the now-empty club and out onto the street where his car is parked. He opens the passenger side door for me and then sighs as he faces me.

"He wants to talk to you and make sure you're prepared to meet your husband tomorrow."

"What?" I screech, staring at him in shock. "I didn't think I had to meet him until the wedding! That's in like five days. Why do I have to meet him tomorrow?"

He screws his face up, a tell-tale sign he has something to say that he thinks may hurt me. I narrow my eyes at him, waiting for his response.

"Alessandro called for the meeting after Jericho tried to get out of marrying you and a few other complications came to light. Your father had no idea this meeting was even happening until last night, hence why he wants you at his house tonight so that he can talk to you about what to expect and how to act."

As I stand there dumbfounded, he nudges me towards the open door, urging me to get in. I climb into the car and pull my seatbelt across me whilst Jaylen closes the door and walks around to the driver's side.

"If Jericho doesn't want this wedding to happen, and if I don't want it to either, then why does it have to happen?" I ask him after he's settled in his seat.

He shakes his head and sighs as he twists the key in the ignition.

"I don't know, Soph. That's something you'll have to ask your dad."

I follow Jaylen as he enters Dominic's penthouse, keeping myself hidden behind him so I can hopefully avoid seeing my brother whilst I'm in such a rumpled state.

As we reach the entryway to the kitchen and living area, Jaylen stops and peeks around each doorframe, making sure the coast is clear. After a few moments, he nods and indicates with his hand for me to pass him.

I quickly shuffle along the corridor, making sure to stay quiet as I head for the stairs, hoping to reach the spare bedroom where I keep some extra clothes and toiletries for whenever I visit.

Jaylen calls out my brother's name as he walks into the living area, alerting him of his presence and hopefully distracting him as we discussed in the car.

I reach the staircase and silently start to climb it, skipping over the two creaky steps I have memorised.

When I reach the top, I sigh in relief and tip-toe towards the spare bedroom. Just as my hand grazes the doorknob, I hear a throat clearing from behind me.

"What do we have here?"

My shoulders slump and I turn around to face my brother, who's casually leaning against the wall and staring at me with a smug look on his face.

"Jesus, Soph. You look a mess."

I scowl at him and shake my head as I turn back to the door, open it, and walk in, planning to ignore my older brother. Unfortunately, he follows behind me, leaning against the open door and watching me as I search through the drawers for some comfy clothes.

"So, what did you get up to last night?" he asks, walking further into the room and opening the wardrobe. When I don't reply, he pulls a sweater dress from the wardrobe and tosses it onto the bed. "Wear this."

I dump the clothes I had in my arms back into the drawers and then turn to face him, placing my hands on my hips.

"Why does it matter what I did last night?" I ask.

"I'm only curious because Dad called me this morning to talk about this meeting that we have to go to tomorrow, and he asked me to pick you up from Jess' house. Obviously, I then called Jess, but she didn't answer. So then I called Jaylen, and he didn't answer either." he trails off, staring at me with furrowed brows. "We both know that Jaylen always answers the phone to me. The only time he hasn't answered was when he'd lost you and you decided to get yourself into some trouble in college."

"Dom, I need to get changed so we can head over to Dad's house," I tell him, trying to evade this conversation. I pick the dress up from the bed and attempt to slip past him to the bathroom, but he steps into my path, halting my movements.

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