Page 63 of The Dark Obsession

I ignore his attempt at humour. “You okay?”

“This scar is just a constant reminder of who I am.”

“And who’s that?” I inch towards him.

He smiles at me, this time with feeling. “A fearsome and ugly beast.” He laughs.

I laugh with him. “Really, I don’t think you’re fearsome.”

“But you do think I’m ugly.” He winks.

“On the contrary, I think you’re gorgeous.” I smile and step forward, my finger outlining his cold, jagged scar. “Even the scar.”

His answering smile is enough to send anyone to Heaven. I gasp in awe, my chest threatening to explode from the thundering of my heart.

“You didn’t see anything before, though. Right?” His gaze is now on his feet as he hitches up his jeans.

I hand him his shirt. “No, just your hands. Not that my focus was there.”

He holds it out and looks at me bemused. “Your brother can’t be this small.”

I laugh and shift awkwardly. “He likes his shirts tight.”

Watching Rafael squeeze his muscular body into my brother’s tight white shirt has me in hysterics, I bend over, clutching a stitch that smarts painfully in my side. Rafael huffs and puffs, completely red in the face, his hair is all scruffy and standing on end when he finally finishes fighting with the shirt and manages to pull it down his stomach. I bite down hard onto my lip as my eyes travel over each dent and muscle which are clearly visible in the extremely stretched fabric.

My father call’s to announce his arrival just on time, Rafael’s face is still quite a bright shade of pink when we get down into the kitchen to wait.

Chapter 22

My father and Ben rush through the open door, the cold wind blustering through the house.

Rafael’s hands, which were on my shoulders, drop to his sides.

Bens notices Rafael’s wet hair and borrowed shirt and smirks at me. “Nice shirt, bit too tight for my liking,” Ben chortles.

Rafael snorts. “It’s still not as tight as your jeans.” He smacks Ben’s bum.

“Rosalie, sweetheart,” my father says, pushing past Ben and Rafael to hug me. He drops his bags, and Rafael grabs them and walks them to the kitchen with Ben.

“How have you been?” I ask, still held in his embrace.

“Fine. Your brother and I were just working out things with the police and talking about what we’ll do when this is all over.” The wrinkles that outline his face have never been more visible.

“Right, of course.” I nod, swallowing hard.

My dad coughs lightly, his arms tightening around me. “I saw Dale,” he whispers, his face suddenly colourless.

My stomach flips fast, and my mouth becomes dry. “And …?”

My father eyes dart around the room before landing upon me. “He says Rafael’s bad news. And that you don’t know what you’re doing.”

My face heats fast, my blood boiling beneath the skin on my cheeks. A strange fog fills my vision, and I shrug my father’s hands off me. “He hurt me.”

“He is trying to protect you. He’s told me all about Rafael.”

“What about Rafael?” My voice shakes.

He glances at the kitchen door, then refocuses on me. “He’s a bad man, Rose. Using you—”

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