Page 103 of Corrupt Obsession

There was a flurry of activity around her, and then she was lifted into the air. Strong arms wrapped around her and her face was pressed against an all too familiar chest. In a distant part of her mind, she realized the awful sound had stopped.She didn’t want Jesse touching her, but she wasn’t in control of her faculties. She was trembling, covered in cold sweat and… sobbing? When had that happened?

“Oh, Vi,” Mom choked. “What should we…?”

“Give us a moment,” Jesse rasped.

He moved swiftly. Violet’s ponytail swished from side to side as he carried her somewhere. He cupped the back of her head as he spoke to her, but she couldn’t hear a word when she was drowning in a churning sea of emotions she’d suppressed for far too long. They were back with a vengeance, ambushing her at the worst possible moment.

Her wailing had turned into pitiful whimpering by the time a door closed.

“Thank you, God,” Jesse murmured fervently as he lowered her onto something soft.

Mortification, confusion, and despair sloshed around inside of her as she tried to wipe her eyes, which was difficult since Jesse was trying to cover every inch of her face in kisses. She realized they were in her bedroom, and he’d settled her on the edge of her bed.

“I… I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she said raggedly.

“Say it,” he pleaded. “I need to hear you admit it just once.”

“Say what?” she said fretfully as she swiped at her dripping nose.

“Tell me you love me.”

“What?”

She jerked back and raised her hand to slap him, but he anticipated that and seized her wrist.

“Don’t fight. We don’t have time,” he said urgently.

“How dare you say that to me?”

Even in the midst of her fury, she kept her voice down, aware Mom and Dad were probably hovering at the end of the hallway.

“You’re crying for me,” he pointed out, staring at the tears that continued to trickle down her cheeks.

“I’m cryingbecauseof you, notforyou, jackass.”

His fingers flexed around her wrist. “You screamed like someone plunged a dagger in your heart, Vi.”

A part of her had suspected that she was responsible for that bloodcurdling, banshee shriek, but she hadn’t wanted to admit it to herself. She scraped her mind for a plausible explanation for her breakdown. Ten minutes ago, she could have gone jogging and now, she felt like she had the flu. She was feverish, shaky, nauseated, and her body ached like she’d been beaten with a bat.

Jesse cupped her clammy cheek. “You care for me, Violet. As much as you want to deny it, as much as you wish you didn’t, you do.”

Her free hand twisted in his damp shirt as she bared her teeth at him. “How could I possibly love someone who’s hurt me as much as you have?”

His mouth twisted in a bittersweet smile. “Because when you love, you do it with your whole heart. You give so completely, there’s no taking it back.”

Even as his words speared her heart, she held his gaze as she enunciated in a voice that trembled, “I donotlove you.”

“Okay,” he said gently.

“I hate you,” she spat.

His fingers brushed through her waterfall of tears. “I know.”

She desperately tried to get a hold of herself as her emotions ravaged her insides. “I need you to go.”

“Is that what you really want?”

“Yes!”

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