Page 31 of Obsessive Love

"Yes, of course! Is there anything specific you want? A certain colour or pattern, perhaps?"

Her question has an idea sparking in my mind and my hand instinctively reaches for my butterfly pendant necklace, squeezing it as I nod my head.

"Purple and white for colours and pattern wise, I'd love it if you have anything with butterflies on it."

"I've got the perfect things in mind for you!" she says, clapping her hands. Her face lights up and she twists around, walking towards the left side of the store and beckoning for me to follow her.

"Can you stop videoing me and help me put this stuff in the car?" Jaylen asks, huffing and puffing as he lifts the cream butterfly footstool into the boot of his car. I end the video, send it to Jess and then quickly type out a message that I missed her not being here before I put my phone away and pick up some of the bags the store clerks left beside the car.

"What do you think people would say if they sawme, the sweet and innocent Mrs Rossi, packing my own shopping into the car?" I ask in a mocking tone.

He glares at me through the windshield as he shoves the footstool further into the boot.

"Sweet and innocent, my arse," he scoffs, closing the boot and walking around to the driver's side. "You could probably kick the shit out of me if you wanted to, Soph. There's nothing sweet or innocent about you, and I don't think there ever has been."

"Hey, don't be so rude. I could be sweet if I tried to be," I tell him, climbing into the passenger seat and nudging him in the arm as he gets in the car.

"Yeah, right."

He shakes his head as he chuckles to himself and starts the car before reversing out of the parking lot and heading out onto the streets of London.

I grab the butterfly clip from the cupholder and then pull down the sun visor to see myself in the mirror. Pulling back a few pieces of my hair, I clip the hairpiece into place and twist my head around, trying to see if it looks okay in the tiny square mirror.

"Soph, close the visor for a second and sit back."

"One minute, I'm trying to see if this looks okay now that I ripped the veil off of it."

"Sit back so that I can see in my damned mirror!" Jaylen shouts, reaching his arm across me and pushing me back into my seat. I turn to him, about to have a go at him for pushing me and not waiting, but when he curses and then presses his foot down on the accelerator, I choose to let it go, no longer worried about a little shove.

"What's wrong?" I ask, watching as he expertly swerves through cars, continuing to put his foot down and gain speed.

"Someone's tailing us."

I snap my head around, trying to see over the footstool and the bags of shopping to get a look out of the back windshield. I'm flung forward into the dashboard as the car jolts forward and pain flares in my hip.

"Shit, Soph. Are you okay?" Jaylen asks, his panicked eyes darting between me, his mirrors, and the road as he continues to drive.

"I'm fine," I grunt, pushing myself back into my seat and fastening my seatbelt.

"Call Kaleb. Tell him we're being followed and they're gaining on us and ramming into us."

I quickly get his phone out of the glove compartment and shove it in front of his face to unlock it. I click on his call log and see Kaleb's name in red, quickly pressing it and putting the phone on loudspeaker.

It only rings once before Kaleb answers and his gruff voice filters through the car speaker.

"What the fuck do you think you-"

"Kaleb, we're being followed!" I shout, interrupting the angry rant he was no doubt about to go on. "They've rammed into us once already and they're gaining on us again. We can't shake them with all this London traffic. We need help, or advice, or something!"

"Are you okay?" he asks, a slight hint of panic in his tone.

"I'm fine! I just need you to help Jaylen get us out of this situation."

"Okay, I can see where you are. Jericho and I aren't close by, so you've got to try and lose them. Am I on speaker?"

"Yes, you're on speaker. Just tell me what the fuck to do, Rossi!" Jaylen growls, swerving around a black Mercedes slowing down in front of him.

"Take a left at the next set of traffic lights and then continue straight until you get to the turning for King Street. You'll have to be quick and make sure they're not too close behind you so that you can quickly swing the car into the small side street on the right at the beginning of King Street. If you manage that, they should hopefully drive straight past and then you need to back out and make your way back to Jericho's."

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