Page 48 of Quiet Obsession
She didn’t pull away like I expected. Her fingers tightened around my arm, and her breath caught when I leaned down and told her to breathe. And then Hyde said she was worried, and it made me feel so fuckinggood.
No one worries when I’m in that cage. Everyone knows the rage living inside me. They know it needs an outlet and that I rarely get hit, so they’re not concerned.
Millie was.
The look on her face hasn’t left my head since. Her eyes followed my every move. She watched every punch,every drop of Trevor’s blood hitting the concrete. She saw my violence, saw exactly what I am up close and now...
Now she’s in Noah’s bed.
“Why?” I finally ask, forcing the word past clenched teeth.
He shifts on the couch, stretching his arms over his head. “Abby was having an orgy in their room. Hyde had some chick with him and Millie was going to sleep in the library, so I offered her my bed and hijacked your couch.”
My eyes narrow. “You couldn’t sleep on your couch?”
I have no idea why I’m asking. It’s not like I’d prefer him to sleep in the same room as Millie. That thought has me clenching my fists. It’s bad enough she doesn’t speak around me but has no such qualms about Noah. He gets to hear her voice... and now he gets her in his bed.
His sheets will smell like her for days.
Kicking aside the blanket he must’ve stolen from the bottom of my wardrobe, he plants both feet on the floor. “That was my initial idea, but...” He rakes a hand through his hair, taking a long, cliffhanger pause.
“But what?” I snap, yanking on a pair of sweatpants, my hardon long gone.
“But shesawAbby getting fucked by two guys. She was really turned on and couldn’t calm down, so I gave her space.”
I drag a tee over my head and march away, starting the coffee machine, my jaw working, teeth aching from how hard I’m clenching them.
“You spend every evening with her,” I say, pulling two cups from the cupboard and setting them down hard. “You play chess, sit in the library for hours. She went toyoulast night and you...what?” I glance over my shoulder. “Decided to leave her horny and needy? Don’t fucking bullshit me, Noah.”
“She didn’t come to me,” he says, his voice calm.
It pisses me off, so I turn back to the counter, watching the machine sputter while Noah gets dressed.
“I was coming up from the common room and found her in the elevator.” He grabs a bottle of water from the fridge and drains the whole thing in one go. “And yeah, I spend time with her, but nothing much happened last night.”
Nothingmuch?
“But something did, right?” I grit out.
“I offered to play chess with her, but she couldn’t calm down. Locked herself in my bathroom, tried cooling off, but it wasn’t working, so I...” he trails off. “Anyway, she stopped me, and I knew it was you she wanted.”
“Stopped you? What...”the fuck!“...did you do?”
He meets my gaze. “Pinned her against the door,” he says, weighing every word. “Pushed my thigh between hers...”
I grit my teeth, my blood boiling.
“She stopped me, Creed,” he reiterates quickly. “And nothing else happened...yet.”
Yet. Even he knows she’ll choose him.
Rage coils around my neck like a fucking noose. I held her once. For a short moment,I held herand she stayedwhen she should’ve moved away.
I’m no good for her.
Noah is.
Once she heals, she’ll choosehim. For now, she’s struggling. She’s not broken the way Hyde thinks, but she’s not whole. She’s torn between what she should be, what she wants to be, and what she is deep down. That little ghost hiding beneath oversized clothes, head down, lips sealed, isn’t her. Too bad seeing through that mask doesn’t give me any rights.
