Page 9 of Deadly Obsession
“I got here early last night actually. Stocked the house and made sure everything was good to go,” I said, lifting my beer to my lips as I sat on the small couch and leaned into the cushions with my other arm draped across the back.
Brian paused in the middle of unpacking and raised a curious brow at me. “Oh, I see. Well then, you must have been here to greet Sera? Sure she appreciated that. Being in a foreign country, all alone up in the woods.” He resumed his unpacking, claiming some of the drawers for himself and stowing away his things.
“Yeah, I reckon she appreciated it well enough,” I said, not eager to give him all the details of last night’s activities.
He stood in front of the dresser, pulling out another drawer, when something seemed to click in his mind and he began to scan the room. With a fair idea as to what he was looking for, I continued to sit and sip on my beer.
“Mate, where’re your things?” he said, his eyes finally landing on me again.
“Oh, they’re upstairs, in the main bedroom,” I said with an uninterested shrug.
“Well, now, would seem she appreciated you coming here early rather much, hm?” Brian said with a laugh.
I was just about to respond when we heard banging on the stairs before a tall, slender, long-haired man appeared in the doorway.
“Well, the fuck do we have down here? What’s up, bro-bitches!” Robert stepped into the room, arms outstretched. He instantly grabbed Brian and slapped him on the back.
I stood and moved in his direction, offering my free hand only to be pulled into a one-armed hug, managing not to spill my beer—thanks to my quick reflexes. “Rob, good to meet you face-to-face. I take it Lyndsey is up with the ladies?”
He nodded and looked from the top bunk to the couch, asif deciding which he wanted. “Yeah, man, she took her shit to her room and went searching for the other girls. She tells me you got up here early to surprise Sera, huh? You dirty dog you. How’d it go? You smash or what, bro? Don’t skip on the deets!” He punctuated his words with a light jab to my shoulder, and I allowed it.
“Makes sense you’d have Danielle help with your planning. Take it she didn’t originally know she wouldn’t be staying with Sera, though?” Brian said from behind Robert with a smirk.
“What? Broooooo, Danielle is going to be pissed at you,” Robert added.
I just smirked and shook my head. “Well, Danielle will get over it. I’m sure she won’t mind too much. As for last night’s events, I’m not one to kiss and tell, but I will say Sera and I are getting along just fine.” I paused, my eyes looking from one guy to another. “So, hands off, clear?” My tone dropped deeper than intended but with the proper amount of threat in it. And from their expressions, I knew they understood clear as day.
Brian nodded. I wasn’t so much worried about him, though. He’d had a thing for Lola since the conception of the group. He was quiet and sophisticated. And unlike myself and Robert, he was strictly a Booktok guy. All of his content was focused on providing really in-depth reviews and ratings of every book he read. Not just romance or dark romance either, which was something else impressive about the guy. He read anything from character development, to science fiction likeStar Wars, to dark romance books where the main male characters were ogres or demonic clowns.
His page was actually pretty big for being more tame, around 30k followers in just a few months. To add to his list of accomplishments, he was typically ARC reading for at least three authors at a time and paid to do it in many cases. He was by far my favorite of the guys.
Robert, on the other hand, hit on anyone and everyone, as if his only requirement for a woman was that she had a pulse, and even that was questionable. Apart from that, though, everyone enjoyed him. He was the class clown. Whether it was his comical masked, Deadpool, surfer guy, stoner contentorhis unpredictable comments and memes in the chat, he was easily the life of the party as far as the men went. He’d hit on all the women on this trip but never in a way that had crossed the line.
Either way, if I had to put money on it, I’d say Lyndsey was his focus. When we’d all picked Shingletown as our getaway destination, he’d immediately told Lyndsey he could pick her up since he lived in San Diego and she was in Los Angeles. They didn’t seem like they’d be a totally bad match either; though one was certainly more Beverly Hills and the other more beach bum.
Normal conversation resumed, as the guys unpacked their belongings and I got comfortable on the couch and pulled out my phone. Placing one earbud in, I opened the app to the hidden cameras I’d installed all over the cabin before Sera had arrived and began flipping through each of their feeds one at a time. I didn’t place a camera in either of the other girls’ bedrooms. I was no pervert and had no intention of spying on any of the other women here.
Just when I was about to close the app and return my attention to the guys, however, I heard my name on the feed and paused, curiosity getting the better of me.
SIX
SERA
“All right, spill the tea about you and James!” Lyndsey demanded, her arms crossed over her chest. She’d arrived not long after the four of us moved into one of the two rooms so that Lola and Danielle could start unpacking, while we got each other all caught up on the gossip.
“He just came up here to make sure I was safe, since I was all alone in a new place. You know him, quite the over-protective big brother type.” I laughed nervously, knowing thatIwouldn’t even buy that was all there was to it. All of a sudden, my folded hands in my lap were so interesting that I couldn’t be bothered to look up at my friends.
“No point in holding anything back. I know he hit up Danielle forever ago to make sure she wouldn’t come up here early with you.” Lyndsey smiled and leaned against the wall, and I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks.
“Oh my god, I fucking knew it, bitch!” Lola’s eyes felt like they were burning into me and her tone seemed… resentful almost? “I told you girls!” In the blink of an eye, Lola was sitting beside me on the bed without leaving any space to breathe.
Before I had the opportunity to move, Danielle was on myother side. “You two have been sharing each other’s content a lot more! I wasn’t surprised when he told me he planned on surprising you,” she added, her voice sweet like honey with an American southern drawl that I couldn’t deny still did something to me.
It complemented her strawberry-blond hair and brilliant freckles. The sight of her had always made me feel some strange way, and at one point, we’d entertained the idea of beingmore. In the end, we’d established we were best as good friends. But sitting here beside her put other thoughts in my mind. Thoughts I couldn’t shake.
Jade dropped down on the bed across from me, White Claw in hand while appearing hesitant to speak but she did anyway. “Actually, Sera, I wasn’t going to say anything. It’s not really my business at all but…” She paused to look around at the other girls, then seemed to non-verbally add:since everyone else is.“He doesn’t really share everyone else’s stuff nearly as much, and I don’t think he’s even collabed with any of my videos before, yet he’s done so with many of yours. I’m not complaining. Honestly, I think it’s cute.” She got quieter towards the end, as if she suddenly regretted having said anything at all or maybe she was just afraid she was being rude.
Jade was an inch or so taller than I was with a slightly heavy build, dark hair, the friendliest smile, and the sweetest voice to go along with it. The other girls and I had been telling her that she should get into voice acting or narrating for months now, but she was far too shy. I loved that about her, truthfully. While Danielle was certainly my best girlfriend in the group, Jade was a close second. Though I’d never tell the other girls that. They were all amazing in their own right.
