Page 27 of Red Obsession

“Why’s that?” I ask, peering down at her.

“What do your friends call you?” she asks, hanging the turtle keychain back up.

“I don’t have friends,” I tell her, picking the stupid chain back up and heading back to the counter. Why am I even buying this?

“Is this it?” the clerk asks.

“Yes,” I tell him at the same time Izel says, “No.” She reaches down and grabs two packs of bubblegum.

The clerk glances between us, as if he doesn't know if he should ring it up. Izel shifts her hand reaching forward to take the gum back.

“And the gum.” I glare at the clerk for making her uncomfortable.

“Uh, yeah alright. Your total is… twenty-six even.”

Swiping my card, I hand the turtle over to Izel as we exit the gas station.

“Thanks, but you know you didn’t need to get this for me.” She sighs, holding the ugly thing up. “Anyway, uh, here let me see your keys.”

Without notice she reaches inside my tactical gear pants pocket, nearly missing the keys entirely when she grazes my cock. Both of us still. My breath hitches as I try not to hiss out loud and I’m sure I fail. Izel’s eyes snap up to meet mine, and they widen before she snatches the key fob out, nearly dropping them to the ground.

“Sorry about that,” she mumbles as she moves the keys around until the turtle is placed on the ring.

“It’s fine,” I mutter, willing my cock to settle the fuck down. It’s not like he hasn’t been grazed before, but the way he perked up it might as well be.

“Here,” she says handing my keys over. “Now every time you see it, you’ll think of me.” She bounces on her toes, and turning around she jumps into the truck. I stand there for a moment, wondering what the fuck is happening to me.

Five and a half hours later we finally arrive at my property. Most of my land is woods, and a creek running along the back property. But once you go just about to the middle holds my log cabin.

Gabriel hums in the backseat as he stares out the window. Izel sits in the front seat, bouncing around like a kid in the fucking candy store. I’m slowly realizing neither of them have seen much of the world. And as that thought comes, I want to know why and where they’ve been their whole lives. Who are they running from? Why won’t see tell me? All these questions I want to ask, yet knowing Izel, she won’t tell me anything. She’ll run and I have a feeling it’d be difficult to ever find her again.

“Holy shoot, I’ve never seen so much green in my life!” She laughs, her face practically glued to the window.

“How much land is this?” Gabriel asks from the back, his head popping out in the middle.

“Uh, sixty-one acres,” I mutter.

“Holy shit.” Gabriel laughs.

“Language.” Izel scowls, unclicking her seatbelt before rolling the window down. She all but lays out the window, and my hand automatically reaches for the back of her shirt.

“Red, be careful,” I snap.

Izel sits back, smiling over at me. “This is so beautiful.I can’t believe you own all this, I mean this is so pretty Z–” She stopped herself. Once again I hate that she won’t say my name.

No one speaks as we round the dirt road, and the trees start to fade. It’s not long before the house comes into view. I hear Izel gasp while Gabriel bursts out laughing.

“Holy fuck.” Gabriel continues laughing.

“Gabriel Hollow!” Izel screeches.

“Izel, come on! Do you see this shit?” he says, pointing in front of us.

I don’t see what the big deal is. Sure, it’s bigger than the three-bedroom house Ma and I had in New York when I was younger. But after I left and was able to get Ma into a home that she loved, I had nowhere else to go and to just be myself, so I bought the land and built the house myself. It was hard and took a few years. But I was able to do most of it by myself.

Three stories, massive windows that went from the floor to ceiling, allowing sunlight in. The porch on the front and the back were my favorite. The dark wooden logs matched the black trim.

Pushing the button on top of my visor, the garage door opens allowing me to pull inside. Turning the truck off, I shut the garage door before I even spare a glance at Izel and Gabriel. Only I find them already staring at me with wide eyes.

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