Page 27 of Their Obsession

“I don’t want to break up with you.” I take a step towards Noah but stop short. “It’s just safer this way.”

“What’s safer?” Noah’s suddenly on his feet, closing the distance between us. He wraps his large hand around the back of my neck and pulls me in so that I’m eye to eye with him, our foreheads touching. “Do you care about me, Lil? Cause I’m crazy about you. I have been since the moment we met, and I have no interest in letting you go just because your asshole ex is in town. I want you, Lilly, and I’m willing to fight for you, for us. Are you?”

Tears are now streaming wildly down my cheeks, and I sniffle back my running nose. I’m sure I look a mess, but Noah doesn’t seem to care. He holds me close, letting me savor his warmth and strength.

“Noah, I don’t want to lose you—”

“So don’t. Be mine and only mine. I’m already yours, Sunshine. Just don’t let him take what we have.”

“People have gotten hurt, Noah. When we were in high school… another boy touched me. He left pieces of that boy in my locker.”

Noah rears back in horror. Just like I knew he would. I choke on a strangled sob, unable to handle his rejection.

“What? What pieces?” The disgust dripping from his voice is like a knife to my heart.

“Fingers,” I manage to choke out between sobs. “He left them in a gift box with a rose.”

I leave out the rest. He doesn’t need to know the full truth. I’ve never told another soul about what happened in the woods. I can’t bear to look at Noah. He is so nice and so good, and the demons from my past are too dark. I can’t stand to see the look on his face. I need to get the fuck out of here. I can feel the impending panic attack starting, the anxiety rising in my chest. The walls are starting to close in. If I have a panic attack here on top of everything else, he’ll really think I’m crazy.

Maybe I am crazy?

“I—I have to get out of here.” I manage to stumble through the words between choppy and shaking breaths.

I look around frantically, trying to locate my purse. It’s on the counter. I make a beeline for it, snapping up the cool leather in my hand. I haven’t felt this out of control over my own body and emotions in a long time. The all-encompassing sense of panic pulling my chest down is so oppressive, I feel as though I might suffocate. Red begins clouding the edges of my vision. I reallyneed to get the fuck out of hereright now.

“Lily,” Noah’s voice is somewhere behind me, but I’m already walking to the door. “Wait, you don’t have to go. You’re upset, we can talk—”

But I’m already gone.

The door slams behind me as I run down the hallway towards the stairs. I crash down the four flights, letting the surge of adrenaline push my body. I run. I run from my past and the pain. I run from the fear and the loss. I run from all of it. I run until I can’t anymore.

FIFTEEN

DMITRI

Her smell wrapping around my senses instantly calms me. She smells sweet—like strawberries dipped in sugar. I suck in a deep breath, savoring her scent, as I walk through her darkened kitchen. I’m not a good man, a patient man, or a particularly gentle man. But when I’m around her—I’m exactly who I’m meant to be. As much as she doesn’t want to admit it, I’m hers and she’s mine. Her darkness matches my own in ways no one else will ever understand. Just being in her home, knowing that it’s just the two of us, alone and together again,finally, has my body buzzing with anticipation.

Lilliana Pettersen has been mine since the first moment I laideyes on her. And tonight, I intend to remind her of that.

My fingers slide against the cool surface of her pristine stone countertops. The moonlight streaming in through the large windows casts grotesque shadows across the pale marble. It’s so silent at this time of night. My girl is smart. She picked an excellent apartment building to live in. The large windows look over the city, not a tree in sight. Nothing to remind her of the woods. It’s calm, quiet, and secure. In fact, this building has top-notch security, the type of security that’s more than adequate to keep out predators. Too bad for her, I own the entire building. The moment she bought this cute little space, my company bought the entire fucking place. I have a key to everything, including her apartment. Nothing will keep me from her. I’ve waited years for this moment, and everything has to be just right.

Opening her refrigerator, careful not to make too much noise, I check the contents. The bright light from inside hurts my eyes slightly as I scan the shelves and drawers. It’s pitiful. I make a mental note to have groceries delivered in the morning for her. My girl never has taken care of herself adequately, a fact that sets my nerves on edge. She knows better.

Angrily slamming the doors closed, I move through the rest of her apartment, checking everything. It’s a small place, but it’s updated and perfectly adequate for a working professional who’s living alone. She’s done well for herself—nice job, nice apartment, nice car, nice boyfriend. It’s all very nice and bland.

She must hate it.

I know Lilliana better than anyone else. Her soul and mine are two vines from the same root—entwined below the surface for all of time. She doesn’t need nice. She doesn’t want nice. She craves the darkness. Always has and always will. She needs to revel in the chaos. She fucking needsme.

And I’m back.

The boyfriend might be a problem. I would have eliminated him immediately but I’m not sure that’s the best course of action here. I hate to admit it, but I understand what she sees in him. His blonde hair and dimples radiate a type of boyish handsomeness that some might find attractive. And he’s been treating her well. I’ve been watching them closely,very closely, and he’s good to her. The way she looked as she rode his thick cock in her office has been replaying in my mind constantly over the last few weeks. I loathe to admit it, but he doesn’t seem completely awful. Not like the asshole she chose in college. That fucker had to go.

I make my way through the rest of her apartment effortlessly. I’ve been in here enough times to know the layout by heart. Usually, I come while she’s out, occasionally when she’s fast asleep. I could make my way through the space with my eyes closed at this point. Pushing my dark hair back out of my eyes, I stand in the doorway of her bedroom and take in the sight of her.

“Fuck,” I whisper on an exhale as I stare at her sleeping form. My hands are perched on the white frame of the doorway, stopping myself from running into the room and ravaging her.

It’s a warm spring night, warm enough that she wore very little clothing to bed. The tight cami she has on is pulled across her beautiful breasts. It’s pale pink—almost sheer enough that I can see through it. My cock twitches as I watch her peaked nipples rise and fall with every breath. On the bottom, she’s wearing a pair of those tiny little sleep shorts that don’t even cover her whole ass. Whoever invented those little shorts and marketed them as sleepwear is a fucking genius.

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