Page 93 of Speak

Motherfucker.

I stand up abruptly and swing the door open, throwing him a middle finger, leaving them as they call out after me. “She won’t be pressing charges.” Damon sighs.

“Who are you?” Officer Truitt asks.

“Her doctor.”

Oh fuck that.

I turn back around, stomping right up to him and shove my middle finger straight to his disgustingly handsome face,thenleave the office.

“Jesus, what did you say to her?” Maverick asks.

“Iwasher doctor. I’m now the student counselor here, but I was one of the doctors on her treatment regime.” He corrects himself.

Yeah, prick. Youweremy doctor. Now you’re justadoctor. A gorgeous doctor that eats my pussy and melts when my lips are wrapped around your cock.

I don’t stick around to hear the rest of his explanation. I know I’ve probably just implicated him. I go straight to my dorm room, push my chair over to the smoke alarm, pull out the camera he installed because I always had my suspicions and he thinks he’s so fucking smart and inconspicuous. But I know him better than I know my damn self.

Funny how I’m labeled the psycho buthe’sthe one that put a tracker in me.

We’re both psychos, I suppose. For the other. Fuck, this is getting so out of hand.

I pack up all of my uniforms and textbooks, when Jonas comes in, I’m in a deep frenzy. I’m chaos. I’m mad. I don’t want to be in this stupid fucking dorm. I want to go home.Myhome. The one catered to me. The one I tailor-made for me.Me. Not Damon. Not Jonas.Me. Me and Axel. My safe space.Mine.

If Damon doesn’t want to believe me about my shadow,fine. But I know what I feel. I won’t be gaslit. I’m not crazy. I’m not psycho. I’m not. But I am. Shit. I just implicated Archer in front of the police. Campus police with no real jurisdiction, but still. I’m only glad the other officers and Dean Whitmore were with Jonas and Riordan in separate rooms.

“Baby, baby. Stop. Stop. Hold on.”

I groan inaudibly when his large hands come about my shoulders. My fight isn’t with him. It’s with Damon. Besides, he has that tracker in me. He knows where I’ll be. Unless he installed cameras there, too, when I wasn’t paying attention. Besides, I love it when Jonas touches me. I relax against him immediately.

“Where are we going?”

I point to myself.

“I go where you go.”

Home.

“Why?”

Damon thinks I’m crazy.

“How, baby? Wait, slow down. Slow down. Can you write it down? You’re going too fast. Besides, the only real words I learned are ‘kiss’ and ‘my’ and ‘pussy.’ Oh, and ‘more.’” He smirks.

I blush tremendously. He’s a fast learner. We go to my desk where I pull out an empty notebook and a pen. I write it all down. The shadow. When it started. How I can feel and sometimes see it. What Damon said about it all while I’m sitting in Jonas’ lap and he's rubbing the tops of my thighs and kissing my head. He's hard beneath me but we both ignore it.

“Not that I don’t believe you, but if you feel your shadow, don’t you think we should stay on campus? There’s more people around might not attack if there are a thousand students around.”

I turn to look at him from over my shoulder and roll my eyes.

“Riordan is suspended for two weeks. Today was a fluke. I didn’t protect you. I didn’t see his arm coming out to grab you. I’m sorry.”

It wasn’t his fault. Riordan was a man on a mission. Besides, he didn’t hurt me the way he really wanted to hurt me. I’ve stared death in the face and then embodied her, letting her possess me for my own sick needs.Riordanhad that look.

Neither of us saw the attack coming. I had my back turned and he caught the end strands of my ponytail. It was a cheap shot and he took his opening.I write only totake Jonas’ bruised fist from my lap in my hand, then turn to straddle him and kiss it, then hold it up to my cheek.

“Fuck, baby.” He taps his forehead to mind. “I love you; you know that?”

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