Page 66 of The Obsession

“I’m okay, hey, I’m totally fine!” I said.

“C’mon, Logan—” Josh’s hand wrapped around my arm, and I—

I blinked.

And suddenly, my knuckles felt like they’d just gotten crushed, and an alarm was shrieking through my head, and Josh was on the floor, andwhat the hell just happened—

People were shouting, someone else came at me, but I turned and ran away, every muscle in my body screaming tight. I needed a drink. I could down an entire gallon of water right now. When I got back to the dorms, I stood in the shower for a long time, trying to get my heartbeat to come back down, the room to stop seesawing. Was Josh okay? I should really go check on him. I remembered blood—

Shit. Did I hit him? I couldn’t remember. No, he must’ve fallen. Once I was dressed, I’d go check on him, make sure he was okay.

Back in my room, my phone was ringing.

“Hello?” I said.

“Logan? This is Ms. Taylor.”

The school counselor. I took a silent breath and made my voice come out pleasant, deferential. The way she liked me to sound. “Hi, Ms. Taylor, what’s up?”

There was no kindness in her voice now. She was all business. “We were just informed that you attacked another student. Please report to Mrs. Henderson’s office right away.”

I attacked another student? Me? There must have been some mistake. “Yeah, I’ll go to her office,” I said and then hung up.

I stood there for a while, unmoving, trying to piece together the last few days of my life. Hell, the last few hours. They were all broken up and mixed together, and Josh, there was something about Josh andoh.

I’d hit Josh. I remembered now, the white-hot moment where my fist met his face. That sickening thud underneath my knuckles.

Draycott had a zero-tolerance policy on physical violence. The realization hit me like a storm. I was going to get expelled. I would never be able to get into NUS. Hell, I wouldn’t get into any college. How the fuck would I protect Delilah then? I couldn’t just let her leave. Look what had happened to her with Brandon.

I had to go see Delilah. I had to save her. I had to make her mine forever. And before that, I’d destroy the USB drive in front of her, see the look of gratitude in her face before I did it, so I’d know that she died loving me. Yes! Joy rushed through my veins, breathing new life into my chest. Yes, this was perfect. This was how it had always been meant to be. I could fly, I really could.

I wasn’t sure how long I remained in my room, pacing, but when I next looked out the window, the sun had dipped low in the horizon. What had happened to the day? I quickly styled my hair and got dressed. Ten minutes of heavy searching and rooting around in the depths of my closet, I still couldn’t locate my favorite sport coat. What the hell? I stood surrounded by mounds of clothes, scratching the side of my cheek, trying to recall when was the last time I’d worn it. Was it two weeks ago? Three? Maybe yesterday?

Whatever. I picked a sweater out of the pile and pulled it on then checked my reflection in the mirror. I looked terrible. I was sickly pale. My lips were cracked, my eyes bloodshot and empty. It was all that time I spent obsessing about how to win Delilah over. But I was going to be okay now. Tonight was going to be special for both of us.

At seven o’clock, I started walking toward the river. I was going to be early, but I couldn’t help it.

I was literally skipping by the time I reached the river, a huge, shit-eating grin on my face. And lo and behold, she was there already. The sight of her stopped me in my tracks. She was so luminescent even in the dark, standing there, gazing at the flowing river, surrounded by late blooms and greenery. What a vision. And she was mine, mine, mine.

She turned when she heard my footsteps and gave me a small smile. Shy, sweet, and utterly lovely.

“You’re early,” she said.

“So are you. Come,” I said to Delilah. When she hesitated, I said, “I have what you want.” She swallowed, and I knew I had her. I held out my hand, and after a moment’s reluctance, she took it.

Hand in hand, we headed off the path, into the cozy dark. Delilah had brought a bottle of hot chocolate, and we passed it back and forth as we walked. I wasn’t sure how long we walked, I only knew we had to go far enough from the school, deep in the forest where no one would stumble across us while I did what I had to do. Once we’d traveled a good distance, I stopped close to the river and turned to her.

We smiled at each other, and I knew then, this was it. This was the moment.

“Dee—” I took a deep breath. “These past weeks, I could feel you’d been opening up to me. And you said you’re starting to fall in love with me, which—god, I can’t even tell you how much that means to me. I decided we couldn’t have this thing between us anymore, I have to let you trust me, and I—I’m going to do it.”

Her gaze burned into mine. I could almost see her pupils dilate. “What are you going to do?”

I caught my pendant in one hand and unscrewed it, showing her the USB drive hidden inside. “This is the only copy of the video.”

A short gasp escaped her lips before she caught herself and swallowed. She nodded ever so slightly. “Do it, Logan. Do it and I’ll be yours forever. All of me.”

“I know.” I took the drive in both hands and, in one swift move, broke it in two.

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