Page 137 of The Rival's Obsession
My mom.
Her face is pale, but her eyes—her red-rimmed eyes—are wide with shock. Tears stream down her cheeks like she’s already been crying, like she walked in on something she never imagined and still didn’t see coming.
“Oh my God,” she chokes, voice jagged with disbelief.
The door slams shut behind her like a gunshot.
And she’s gone.
“Fuck,” I breathe, the word scraping out of me like it’s got claws.
How the hell am I supposed to explain that?
That it’s not what it looked like? That I wasn’t?—
I slide off the toy too fast and wince, my whole body clenching. Still shaking. Still hard. The cold rush of panic slaps everything else away.
“Mom!” I call, voice cracking.
I grab the towel I laid out earlier—now sticky and pathetic—and throw it over the dildo, yanking the whole thing off the floor and tossing it behind me. My shirt and shorts come next, arms fumbling through the sleeves as I hop into my clothes, not bothering with boxers. There’s no time. I need to catch her before?—
“Mom, wait!” I shout again, but I can’t hear her over the music. I stab at my laptop to silence it, the sudden stillness ringing in my ears like an alarm that already went off too late.
I wrench the door open, tugging my shirt down as I bolt into the hallway.
“Stop, Mom!”
But the sound that stops me isn’t hers.
It’s a yelp.
Choked and terrified—then a heavy thud.
A sound I’ll never unhear. The kind of sound that empties the air from the world.
I run.
Faster than I’ve ever moved, feet pounding down the hall, using the railing to catch myself as I reach the landing.
I look over.
Expecting to see her on the stairs. Still running. Still angry.
But my eyes catch yellow.
Her sweater.
And I already know.
Before I even turn my head fully, I know.
She’s on the ground.
Crushed against the marble floor. The white stone cracked beneath her head, red bleeding out in all directions like a blooming nightmare.
Her legs are twisted wrong. Her arm—I can’t even see it. It must be pinned underneath her. But her face... her face is turned up.
Right at me.
