Page 54 of Obsessive Love

I smile and nod.

"That was kind of a stupid question, wasn't it?" he asks, chuckling.

"Yeah."

I look around my room, happy with the new bursts of colour and the personal touches I've added to it.

"Thank you for helping me today," I say.

"Anytime, Soph. You know I got you," he replies, walking over to kiss the top of my head. "Now take a shower and get some sleep. I'll be waking you up at seven."

Chapter Thirty-Four

Kaleb

Frustration seeps into my veins as I stare at the dark, fuzzy footage on my phone. When I got out of the shower moments ago, I intended to lay in bed and relax whilst watching my girl through the camera Miles installed into the butterfly ornament, but it seems she hasn't bothered to unbox the presents I got for her.

Why doesn't anything ever go to plan?

I climb out of bed, hurriedly put on a pair of jogging bottoms, and slip a T-shirt over my head, eager to get to her bedroom to find out why there's no footage.

I walk down the hallway, cross the landing at the top of the stairs, and stride towards her room.

I must be making more noise than usual because as I reach her door, Jaylen opens his.

He stares at me with narrowed eyes as he rubs his hand along his jaw.

"What are you doing?"

"Does it matter?" I ask.

He leans against his doorframe, looks at my hand on Sophia's doorknob and then back to me.

"Usually, it would matter, but I'm tired and I know you're not sneaking in there to kill her so I'm going back to bed," he tells me, stepping back into his room before pausing and pointing his finger at me. "You hurt her in any way, I will kill you. I don't care that you seem to think you're invincible, and I don't care that your family would come after me. What I do care about is her."

"You see, that loyalty that you have for my girl is the reason why I wouldn't kill you either," I tell him. "You can trust me not to hurt her. Physically, emotionally, and mentally. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did. That's part of the reason I saved Dominic,"

He frowns in confusion.

"What do you mean you saved Dominic?"

"Last night, Jericho and I included Dominic in our mission. It was obviously a huge mistake on our part because I had to push him out of the way of a bullet. The only reason I made that decision was because of Sophia. I knew that if Dominic got shot and potentially died, she'd be hurt. So I pushed him out the way and took the bullet for him," I state.

"Does she know?"

I shake my head.

"She knows I was shot, but she doesn't know why, and I don't feel the need to tell her. I don't want to make myself look like a hero because I'm anything but that and I'd hate for her to have that perception of me and then be disappointed in the future."

I turn my back towards him, tired of this conversation intervening with my task.

"Just be careful," Jaylen says, making me pause. "I don't want her involved with anything that could cause trouble for her." That said, he walks back into his room, softly closing the door.

I lean my head against the wood of her door and close my eyes as his words filter into my chaotic brain.

I stayed away from her for years to keep her out of trouble and to ensure that she wasn't in harm's way. When my father forced this marriage to happen, the trouble started. His plan interfered with my plan for Sophia as well as mine and Jericho's plan for our future.

I had to make adjustments to my plan. Otherwise, she never would've been mine.

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