Page 136 of Unholy Obsession

I push harder. “You’re too intense. Toomuch. And frankly, it got boring.”

A muscle ticks in his jaw. But still, he says nothing.

Good.

“Go back to your perfect little church house,” I snap, turning my back on him. “Find some sweet, devout thing who’ll let you own her like you want. Because it’s not me.”

Silence.

Then, softly, so quietly I barely hear it?—

“You’re a liar.”

I walk away.

I force one foot in front of the other, my vision blurring, my chest a gaping, open wound. He doesn’t chase me anymore. He doesn’t call my name.

I break him and leave him standing there.

It’s for the best.

But then why does it feel like I just killed the only thing that ever made me feel alive?

FIFTY

BANE

What doyou do after the love of your life stomps on your heart and leaves you broken on the floor?

I begged her to stay. I put everything on the line. I fought for her. Told her Ilovedher. Looked her in the eye and would have sworn I saw it in her eyes, too.

But was she right?

Was she just a story I made up in my head?

Was the real Moira just a body inhabited by my dream woman for half a year before she stepped back out of the Pygmalion version of her I’d shaped in my mind? Far too real to ever be caged by my foolish imagination?

Far too wild.

Far too magnificent to ever trulywantme.

She volunteers at the women’s shelter because she loves people. Because she sparkles from the inside out. WhereasIvolunteer at the prison to purge my soul. Because it was where I should’ve ended up if my father hadn’t stepped in. Because Iam and always will be a privileged little prick. My path always smoothed before me.

No one ever says no to me.

Until her.

And here I am again.

The entitled little shit. Sad boy. All alone.

Like my father, who could buy the whole world, but there’s still not an actual soul in that world that genuinely loves him. Like father, like son.

At the end of things, I’m back at the beginning.

So I do the only thing I can think of because drowning myself in a bottle of whisky is so fucking cliché I can’t even bear to crack open the bottle.

I don’t want to feel numb.

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