Page 134 of Quiet Obsession
Millie is.
Millie in that short denim dress that accentuates every curve and that wasp waist I can cinch with my hands.
Millie, with Noah hovering beside her the whole fight, their shoulders brushing, his lips moving by her ear. He didn’t move from her right-hand side until I left the cage.
So yeah, I was fucking distracted.
I saw Noah leaning close, listening to whatever Millie was saying and Felix drove his fist into my stomach. She smiled at him and Felix’s fist rattled my teeth.
I never came out of the ring so bloodied.
Or worked so hard to keep my shit together. It was all I could do to stay inside the cage instead of tearing out of there, hauling Millie over my shoulder, and taking her to bed.
Now, we’re at the afterparty, and again, I’m distracted because Noah, with Millie tucked under his wing, trails behind me, Hyde, and Dash as we move in formation toward the back of the room. Every one of my muscles is locked harder than stone.
They’re friends.Just friends. Noah bowed out. He wouldn’t fucking do anything. I trust him, but it’s not abouthim. It’s abouther. Every time she smiles at him, I hear her moaning his name.
“What’s wrong?” Hyde asks, leaning into me. “You look like you want to kill someone.”
Many someones. Millie clearly doesn’t realize how gorgeous she is or how many heads turn to take anotherlook at her in that cute dress. I have half a mind to tell Hyde he should send her away, but he’ll ask why, and then what?
He won’t buy it if I tell him she’s not safe here.I’mhere and that means she’s as safe as can be.
He won’t buy it if I tell him it’s not her scene. He’s elated whenever she steps out of her comfort zone: the library, Noah’s dorm, the cafeteria (and lately my bed, though he doesn’t know about that). Tonight, he’s double happy, father-level proud, because she’s wearing that fucking dress.
So I can’t demand she leaves or he’ll ask questions, and my temper’s so volatile I’ll probably spill the hard truth right in his face‘Get her out of here before I fuck up anyone who breathes too close to her.’
Wouldn’t that be a shortcut to hell?
I push toward the table at the back of the room, bending under the weight of kegs, then further still, until I reach the Coke cans stacked in a mountain encircled by whiskey bottles, the amber liquid calling my name.
I don’t listen.
Things are hard enough to control without alcohol running rampant in my veins. The way I’m feeling tonight, it’d take one drink to loosen my self-control and then... I’d riot through the crowd, picking every guy I saw eyeing Millie.
They’d all bleed.
Spinning around to keep an eye on her, I lean against the table, whiskey out of sight and out of mind.
“There’s my fucking killer,” Brock’s voice reaches my ear.
He comes closer, a drink in his hand and a grin on his lips. He’s the guy who started the fight club and the whole campus wonders who’ll take over when he graduates in May.
“That was quite a show,” he says. “I’m glad you finally pulled your head out of your ass because you had me worried.”
“Worried?” Hyde scoffs, taking a long swig from his beer bottle. “Don’t insult him.”
“Wasn’t my intention. Tonight was more entertaining than watching him walk away unscathed. Better for my wallet, too.” He laughs, squeezes my shoulder, then moves along.
My eyes go back to Millie. She’s tugging on Noah’s sleeve, summoning his attention and he leans in, but his cold, hard eyes are on me, not her. I’m pretty sure he knows he’s the reason behind my extremely fragile temper.
I’m also pretty sure he’s deliberately testing my patience.
He says something to her, and her pretty face lights up in a cute little smile. I white-knuckle my Coke, the can denting beneath my fingers.
People come and go, patting me on the back and congratulating me on the win. Rich, a guy I’ve bumped into at the gym twice, wraps his arm around my neck like we’re best fucking friends, then disappears into the crowd with a bottle of whiskey. Someone else laughs and ruffles my hair. I barely acknowledge them. My attention keeps sliding back to Millie, no matter how many times I force myself to look away.
She leans in toward Noah, closer, her shoulder brushing his as she rises on her toes to speak in his ear. Someone bumps into her from behind and Noah wraps his arm around her to keep her steady. He leaves it there and she doesn’t fucking move away.
