Page 31 of His To Unravel
Who does that?
Who even thinks like that?
And why does it feel like he’s rewiring something inside me just by being here?
“You’re serious about this, aren’t you?” My voice is softer than I intended, my gaze searching his for any sign of doubt, but his expression remains steadfast.
“Completely,” he murmurs, his eyes warm with that familiar intensity. “I’m not here to play games, Olivia.”
As the professor starts class, I lean back, fingers still tingling from his touch. In the dim glow of the projector, with Nathaniel’s steady presence beside me, a quiet confidence takes root within me—a feeling that perhaps I don’t have to keep second-guessing everything.
Yet, I can’t deny that a part of me is still afraid. It’s not the depth of Nathaniel’s devotion that scares me—it’s knowing he has the power to completely consume me.
ELEVEN
nathaniel
The morning lightcasts long shadows over the streets as I drive my Aston Martin toward campus from Back Bay, my fingers curled around the leather steering wheel. Outside, commuters and students fill the roads, each one absorbed in their own insignificant routine. Mine, however, is anything but.
Passing Beacon Street, I slip out of the neighborhood’s stone facades and into the sleek city sprawl. My movements are smooth and unhurried. Anticipation hums beneath my skin, knowing that I’ll see her again and everything I’ve orchestrated has gone according to plan.
Every class, every glance, every interaction will serve as a reminder of my presence. My claim.
And that knowledge? It stirs a deep satisfaction within me.
As I steer onto the last stretch toward Halford, my thoughts snag on a brief exchange from yesterday. A moment as minor—and as irritating—as a pebble in a shoe.
Landon Foster.
Too familiar. Hovering too close. His easy grin and casual charm, an attempt at intimacy as weak as it was transparent.
Pathetic.
I hadn’t acknowledged him. I don’t plan to. Giving Landon my attention would be granting him a relevance he hasn’t earned. Letting Olivia remain uncertain regarding my thoughts on him is far more effective. It keeps him inconsequential, as he deserves, and leaves her guessing.
That uncertainty? It’s mine to control.
But even so, the simplicity of him walking beside her, his steps synced with hers, aggravated me more than I’d expected. It was a reminder, however minor, that my hold on her isn’t yet absolute.
But it will be.
And that loose end—Landon, with his misguided claims on Olivia’s time—is something I intend to handle with precision.
I shift lanes, a smirk crossing my lips as I recall the café with Carolyn and Sophie.
Winning over her friends had been equally strategic. Watching their faces light up as they warmed to me—it wasn’t about them, not in the slightest. It was about her.
Her social circle, her small, insular circle of safety, now includes me.
Then there’s the matter of her schedule.
I merge onto campus and park in my usual spot, a wave of satisfaction washing over me as I remember her expression yesterday—the disbelief, the thrill when I revealed I’d transferred into all her classes.Every. Single. One.
Stepping out of the car, I walk across the parking lot, the cool morning air sharpening my focus.
My presence in her classes is no casual convenience—it is a declaration. I don’t care who notices. I wantherto notice. I want her to know I’m not going anywhere, and I don’t intend to give her the chance to slip away.
It is more than obsession now.
