Page 65 of The Obsession

“Wh—what?”

The fact that you failed to save me.Her voice came out in an angry hiss that made me jump.

“I tried, I really did, I—”

And now you’re going to let the same thing happen with Delilah. After I sent her to you as a gift.

“You sent her to me as a gift?” I repeatedly, stupidly. Then I realized, of course. I’d known it all along. Delilah was my gift. I just hadn’t known she was from Sophie.

Are you going to make the same mistake, Lolo? Are you going to let her slip through your fingers like I did?

“No. NO. I won’t. I’m going to save her. I’ll do it. I’ll even destroy the video, I’ll tell her, so she won’t die hating me. We’ll be like Romeo and Juliet, our love will be preserved forever.”

Forever…

The last word echoed in a mix of my voice and Sophie’s before melting away into the night. I clenched my hands into fists, digging my nails into my palms until some semblance of clarity returned. Sophie wasn’t really here. That was just a dream. But Delilah was real, and after tonight, Delilah would be mine forever.

* * *

Once I showed Delilah that I fully, 100 percent trusted her, I would be unshackled. I could fly, I really could. If I had a running start, if I launched myself at the sky, I’d stay there.

I wanted to run all the way to Delilah’s house and tell her what I was going to do, but I still had enough sense to realize this was probably not the best way to tell her. Might freak her out to find me outside her room at four in the morning, screaming about how much I loved her. And I did love her. So fucking much. Delilah! We were finally going to be together as a true couple, without anything between us.

I was too keyed up to sleep. I ran back and paced around my room for a while, but then Adam, who was next door to me, pounded at the wall and yelled at me to be quiet, goddammit. I tried, I really did, to calm myself down enough to go to sleep, but I couldn’t keep still, not when my blood had been replaced with champagne, so bubbly, so much fucking joy! I took out a foil-wrapped package from my bag. Dee had baked red velvet cookies for me. God, I loved her. I ate half of the entire batch, they were so good. Then I put on my hoodie and went outside. I hurried to the gym, but it turned out to be locked. Finally, I went down to the track and ran laps until the sun rose and chased the darkness away. I raised my hands at the sun in greeting, then I took out my phone. My chest expanded as I scrolled down the screen and found her number. The thought of speaking with Delilah sent darts of excitement shooting down my limbs.

“Hello?” Her voice was slurred with sleep, which was when I realized that just because the sun had risen didn’t mean it was a decent time to call. Oh, no, had I fucked this up already?

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” I babbled.

“No, it’s okay,” she mumbled. “What’s up?” Hardly the affectionate greeting I wanted, but at least it was no longer her saying, “What do you want?” or worse, “Ugh, what?”

“I—um, I have something to tell you. I want to do it in person,” I said. Surely she could hear the joy in my voice. The world could hear the joy in my voice!

She was quiet for a while.

“It’s—it’s good, Dee. Really good. Huge. You’re going to love it,” I said.

“Okay,” she said, her voice cautious. “How about telling me tonight? Meet by the river at eight?”

Well. This was new. I didn’t bother fighting the dopey grin that stretched across my face. Delilah wanted to go out with me. For once, I didn’t have to fight to spend time with her. She was taking the initiative to suggest going out, and the river was the perfect spot. Delilah had been waiting all this time to open up to me, to truly connect. I’d been the one holding us back.

Since it was a Saturday, there wasn’t much going on. I spent the rest of the day working out, trying to get rid of some of the excess jittery energy. I had to be on my best game tonight. I loaded on weight after weight onto the bar until the other guys at the gym came over to take a look. After some time, Josh came forward and said, “Let’s go, Logan.”

Confused, I let him lead me out of the gym. “What’s up?”

“Dude, you look bad,” he said, his voice low. “Stop using. Everyone can see it, okay?”

I shrugged him off. “I’m not using.”

Josh shook his head. “Come on, I know when someone’s using.”

This fucking guy, I swear. He thought he knew what was best for me. The old concern was back on his face. I pushed him away lightly, but he stumbled back and crashed into the weights.

“Whoa, hey! The fuck, man?” he said, clambering to his feet. Heads turned to face us.

“Everything okay?” A couple of guys came over, both of them looking at me warily. What was going on? Couldn’t they see I was perfectly fine? I took a step forward to assure them I was okay, and suddenly, the two guys were in front of me, their hands on my shoulders, their grip soft for now, but with a promise that it could get a lot harder if I continued coming forward.

“Logan, chill out, please,” Josh said. He looked so worried. Frightened, even.

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