Page 48 of Distorted Obsession

Jade snorts

“What?” Camiel asks.

“Portia’s mom driving aPorsche. Seriously cliche,” Jade quips.

Any other time, I’d find this amusing, but not knowing if the witch is hurt stops me.

Jade glances at me. “Don’t feel an ounce of remorse for that gutless trash. I heard what she said about your best friend after you left, and she doesn’t deserve one ounce of sympathy.”

“What did she say?” I inquire, still curious about the cause of her death.

“She made disgusting comments about—” Jade pauses, obviously checking my reaction before she continues.

Is this what I’ve become again?

Biting the inside of my cheek, I hide the hurt I feel at her reluctance because of what it means…I’m too fragile.Poor Eva Rose can’t handle the pressures, so now everyone tiptoes around her, trying to spare her feelings.

“Just say it,” I request.

“—about Farrah. She was saying repugnant things about your best friend.”

Fisting my hands at my side, I swallow the crater-sized lump of rage, trying to lodge itself in my throat.

“This dorm is supposed to be nut-free. How did this happen?” Portia’s mother shrieks at the campus police officer.

The officer’s response is drowned out by the collective gasp of the crowd when EMTs push a stretcher outside. It’s only then that we realize the severity of what’s happening—Portia’s dead.

I stand, unable to move, as I watch Portia’s body being wheeled down the sidewalk toward the ambulance. A sheet covers her, but murmurs of how swollen her face was when they found her float around the crowd.

Allergic reaction?

“She had a nut allergy—a seriously dangerous one,” I hear someone behind me say, confirming her mother’s words.

My attention shifts to the woman chasing after her daughter. Tears stream in rivulets down her flushed cheeks as she repeats, “How did this happen? How could this happen to my baby?”

No parent should have to go through the loss of a child. Reminders of how the Jacobis had to do the same freeze me in place. My paralysis forces me still, making me watch as it breaks past the barrier I erected and fortified after talking to Dr. Singh. Gone is the newly built confidence.

“It’s time for you all to leave,” the officer instructs. “Please return to your dorms and wait for further instructions.

Students begin to disperse, and the crowd dwindles, clearing a path.

“Come on, Evie. Let’s go make a cup of tea,” Camiel suggests, tugging my arm when she recognizes my distress.

Slowly nodding, I turn, still processing Portia’s death as my feelings oscillate between compassion for her family’s loss, the relief that she can no longer terrorize me, and guilt for feeling that relief.

Sighing, I push those thoughts in the giant clusterfuck box part of my head and begin to walk away when the hairs on the back of my neck rise, and I freeze in my tracks when I look up and see two identical faces… olive skin with icy-blue eyes and wavy onyx-colored hair.

Two faces I never thought I’d see again appear before me.

“Hello, Eva.”

20

colter

Eva stands before us,and her knees wobble before they straighten as she fights to remain upright. Our presence at Groveton is making her unsettled.

Good, as it should be.

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