Page 45 of Wild Obsession

One of his bandmates, the pretty singer guy, Jacob, shrugs. “Probably left with some groupie or something. It happens.”

No one laughs. It isn’t a joke. Apparently, this is so ordinary to Jacob that it doesn’t even warrant his notice.

An angry stab of jealousy claws at my guts. This would be messed up even by Keannen standards. I consider texting him to chew him out, but when I look at my phone, I find the message I’ve been waiting for ever since that moment in the bathroom. It has a bunch of demands, but I’m reaching for my coat before I even get to the end of the list.

“Hey, are you leaving?” Cameron catches me by the arm.

“Ah, yeah, sorry,” I say, scrambling for an excuse. “I think I drank too hard at the start of the night.”

“You don’t need help getting back, do you?” his boyfriend Julian says. “We can walk you back or get you a car or something.”

“I’m fine,” I assure them. “Really. I’ve been drinking lots of water. I’m gonna head back a little early. It’s been along tour.”

They watch me for a moment. I know they’ll share this assessment with Erin and Kelsey, and I pray I was convincing. After a pause, they nod, and Cameron releases my arm.

“Alright,” he says. “Get back safe.”

“Text us when you reach the hotel, okay?” Julian adds.

I nod, trying to smile, but my stomach twists. I’m leaving behind people who care about me for a man who never will. Because I want him too badly to stop myself.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Keannen

I GIVE TIM SOME time before going to his hotel room. He’s lucky. Levi isn’t out tonight, just Cameron, so he ended up with a room all to himself.

That works perfectly for my purposes.

I knock, then stuff my hands in my pockets like I have no desire to be here in this hallway. That’s a lie, of course. I initiated all of this. I let myself go back to Tim yet again, let myself get sucked into this slow-motion disaster. When I saw him at the bar, all my earlier caution crumbled, and when he snuck off to the bathroom, I knew I had to follow. Why can’t I shake this guy? It’s so unlike me, but when Tim opens his door, my heart bounces around my chest like an overactive puppy.

I will never, ever admit that out loud.

Tim smiles, all nervous and uncertain, his freckles swimming atop a blush, and it makes my heart do more bouncing and bounding. I remind myself that I hate him before I speak.

“Did you do what I told you?” I say.

“Yes, I think so,” Tim says. “Though, I’m not really sure—”

I don’t let him finish. Neither of us can afford for this night to grow words all over it. Anything but action is a risk we can’t afford to take while in such a precarious state. I shut us both up by sealing my mouth against Tim’s, kissing him so forcefully it pushes us backward into his hotel room.

The door clicks shut somewhere behind us, the automatic lock engaging. Tim shudders at the sound, like he’s trapped in a cage with a tiger.

I shove him backward, hard. He yelps as he falls onto his bed, all messy and unguarded and splayed out. His hair spills across his eyes. His lips remain parted. When I crawl onto the bed like I actually am that tiger he fears, his chest broadens from a deep breath.

“I tried to do it the way you said,” Tim goes on, as though I didn’t already interrupt him at the door. “But I’ve never—”

“I know you’ve never, moron. That’s why I told you what to do. Now shut up.”

I kiss him again, this time pressing him down into the mattress. His hands flutter timidly to my sides, clinging tomy shirt. I drag my knee up, sliding it between his legs until it meets the hard bulge in his pants.

“Awfully excited for a clueless virgin,” I murmur against his mouth.

“I’m not a virgin,” he says. “You already took care of that.”

“Yeah, and I’m going to make doubly sure of it tonight.”

He shudders as I kiss my way down his neck. I skip his chest, broad and beautiful as it is, intent on something lower. I scoot back and push his legs wider so I can sit between them, looking him dead in the eye as I undo his pants. Tim watches every move avidly, but says nothing as I strip his bottom half bare. I leave his shirt for now, following the urgency of the moment when I lower myself between his legs.

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